Our Global Sustainability Team, headed by our Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), leads a group of 20 sustainability professionals in the development, coordination and execution of our sustainability strategy across the LS&Co. global organization and brands. The team interfaces with embedded resources across the company that focus on both the execution and measurement of our strategy, either as part of their core job responsibilities or as a part-time role in addition to their other responsibilities. The Global Sustainability Team works across the organization with functional leaders to embed sustainability approaches, policies and goals throughout our business, and regularly reports to and seeks input from the Executive Leadership Team and relevant committees of the Board.
LS&Co. Sustainability Team Mission: We endeavor to be a catalyst for positive change.
The LS&Co. Board of Directors oversees the company’s strategy and performance, including overall risks and opportunities. The Board organizes oversight of sustainability progress in the context of the company’s strategy through committees that focus on specific areas of risk and sustainability, including the Nominating, Governance and Corporate Citizenship Committee, which has responsibility for sustainability performance. The Committee also assists the Board in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities on corporate governance matters. This includes, but is not limited to, sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters that could have significant impact on the company. The Committee reviews with management the impact of the company’s business operations and practices with respect to issues such as climate change, health and safety, corporate citizenship, public policy and community involvement.
The Audit Committee has responsibility for risk control, including the controls related to sustainability risks, opportunities and disclosure. In this context, the Audit Committee regularly receives reports from the company’s Enterprise Risk Committee, which is responsible for identifying and ensuring that mitigation plans are in place for the company’s key risks.
Our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) holds the highest non-Board-level responsibility for environmental and social risks and opportunities (and serves on the Board as well). The Chief Operations Officer and CSO both have responsibility for assessing and managing environmental and social risks and opportunities, and work together to manage these across the organization and throughout our value chain. The Chief Financial Officer leads the Finance function’s efforts to accelerate the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and is measured against these objectives.
The Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors has responsibility for the overall oversight of our compensation programs, including the compensation of our senior leaders. In this regard, certain employees are eligible for incentive compensation for the effective management of sustainability issues. As a specific example, the Chief Operations Officer has an absolute operational greenhouse gas emissions reductions target and a renewable energy procurement target (as a percentage of absolute operational energy use) built into performance objectives. Additionally, the Compensation Committee has approved adding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion metrics to long-term compensation calculations.
