Chief Sustainability Officer Salary 2026

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Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Chief Sustainability Officer candidates, their day rates and availability.

0115 minutes, video or phone
02We scope the role and the days a week
03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs

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On the board · last 3 months

Sustainability leadership jobs on the board

0 Sustainability leadership · 9 fractional executive

No Sustainability leadership roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional executive roles instead.

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Sustainability roles on the board

Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a Chief Sustainability Officer brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

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01/ the role

What the seat is, and what sets the pay

A chief sustainability officer owns the organisation’s sustainability strategy and answers for it at the top table: climate targets, disclosures, investor and customer questions on ESG, and the function that produces the numbers.

Exec Capital separates two versions of the seat.

A board-level chief sustainability officer reports to the CEO with direct board access; a function head reports to the CFO, general counsel or CEO and owns the quality of the reporting.

That split sets the pay first.

Exec Capital puts base salary for the board-level seat at £150,000–£400,000 or more, and for the function head at £80,000–£150,000.

Before you set a budget, decide which of the two you are hiring.

The firm comes next.

Exec Capital puts base pay at £225,000–£425,000 or more at a FTSE 100 company, £200,000–£400,000 or more at a major FCA-authorised firm, £175,000–£325,000 at a FTSE 250 company, £175,000–£300,000 at a major private company and £175,000–£275,000 in a PE-backed mid-market business.

The seat answers for the reporting.

Under the Companies Act, a company that must publish a non-financial and sustainability information statement has to include climate-related financial disclosures in it.

The government has published the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, UK SRS S1 and S2, for voluntary use, and it and the FCA will consider whether to require them.

The profession’s chartered title is Chartered Environmentalist, registered by the Society for the Environment.

02/ scope

How to set the pay when you hire a chief sustainability officer

1. Decide which seat you are hiring

Write down what the role owns.

If it owns strategy, capital decisions and the board’s sustainability agenda, it is the board-level seat.

If it owns the disclosure cycle and the data behind it, it is a function head, and the pay band is lower.

2. Choose the route

A permanent appointment suits an organisation that needs the seat filled every day.

If the work fits into a few days a month, a fractional chief sustainability officer can cost less; see fractional chief sustainability officer salary.

If the seat is empty and a disclosure deadline is close, see interim chief sustainability officer jobs.

3. Set base, bonus and incentives together

Exec Capital puts the bonus at 50–150% of base at FTSE 100 and major FCA-authorised firms, and 50–100% at FTSE 250, PE-backed and major private companies.

Long-term incentives sit on top at listed companies, and Exec Capital notes that some FTSE 100 plans are linked to ESG measures.

In a PE-backed business, Exec Capital adds sweet equity.

What we do on a sustainability brief

We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary sustainability leaders, and non-executive directors.

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

For part-time seats on the board, see fractional sustainability jobs.

03/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 9 roles · fractional executive

Engagement

Fractional9

Seat

CFO3
CHRO1
General counsel1
HRD1
CISO1
Other1
Other seats1

Days a week

Stated in the posting4
Not stated5

Day rate

Verified rate1
Estimated (est)4
Rate not stated4

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote2
Hybrid5
On-site2

Newest posting on the board: 6 Oct 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

9 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

04/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional chief sustainability officer.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional chief sustainability officer holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional chief sustainability officer route Talk it through

05/ rates by stage

Chief sustainability officer salary by firm, seat and source

Permanent pay as each publisher states it. Exec Capital publishes base salary bands by firm tier and by the shape of the seat (2026). Irwin and Colton publishes bands for construction and infrastructure (July 2025). Shirley Parsons’ figure is an average from its 2025 survey of health, safety, environment, quality and sustainability professionals. ISEP is the sustainability profession’s professional body. Exec Capital, Irwin and Colton and Shirley Parsons are recruiters.

SeatPayBasisSource

Chief sustainability officer, board-level£150,000–£400,000+Base; reports to the CEO, direct board accessExec Capital, 2026

Chief sustainability officer, function head£80,000–£150,000Base; reports to the CFO, general counsel or CEOExec Capital, 2026

FTSE 100 company£225,000–£425,000+Base; bonus 50–150%; total £400,000–£1.1m+ with equityExec Capital, 2026

Major FCA-authorised firm£200,000–£400,000+Base; bonus 50–150%; total £350,000–£950,000Exec Capital, 2026

FTSE 250 company£175,000–£325,000Base; bonus 50–100%; total £300,000–£700,000Exec Capital, 2026

Major private company£175,000–£300,000Base; bonus 50–100%; total £250,000–£550,000Exec Capital, 2026

PE-backed mid-market business£175,000–£275,000Base; bonus 50–100%; total cash £250,000–£500,000 on target, plus sweet equityExec Capital, 2026

Chief sustainability officer, typical£200,000–£400,000Base; FTSE 250 packages often above £500,000Exec Capital, 2026

Director of environment or sustainability£120,000–£200,000Construction and infrastructure; car or allowance often on topIrwin and Colton, 2025

Head of environment or sustainability£80,000–£110,000Construction and infrastructureIrwin and Colton, 2025

Director and board level, HSEQ and sustainability£123,816Survey average, 1,000+ responsesShirley Parsons, 2025

Sustainability profession, every grade£60,000Survey medianISEP, 2026

06/ economics

What the salary costs the business, beyond the base

A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.

For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).

Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).

Many schemes pay more.

The bonus is pay too.

HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll.

With a bonus of 50–100% of base, employer’s National Insurance on the bonus is a real line in the budget.

Exec Capital’s total-compensation bands show how far the package runs past the base: £300,000–£700,000 at a FTSE 250 company, against a base of £175,000–£325,000.

Budget for the package, not the salary.

07/ vetting

How we vet chief sustainability officers

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify Chief Sustainability Officer tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING
02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING
03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY
04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5

08/ chief sustainability officer salary uk

Chief sustainability officer salary UK: what the figures measure

No official statistic reports a chief sustainability officer salary UK figure.

The ONS classifies sustainability work by occupation group, and its groups cover every grade, not a board-level seat.

The figures that exist come from recruiters and from the profession’s own body.

Exec Capital’s bands are a search firm’s reading of the market by firm tier.

Irwin and Colton’s are a recruiter’s bands for one sector, construction and infrastructure, where it puts a director of environment or sustainability at £120,000–£200,000.

Shirley Parsons’ £123,816 is the average from its 2025 survey for director and board-level respondents, a population that mixes health, safety, environment, quality and sustainability.

For scale, ISEP’s State of the Profession 2026 survey puts the median sustainability salary at £60,000 across every grade.

ISEP, the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals, also found that 42% of its respondents’ sustainability functions report to the board or CEO, down from 48%.

09/ chief sustainability officer salary london

Chief sustainability officer salary London, and why the firm matters more

No source we can cite publishes a chief sustainability officer salary London figure, or a London premium for the seat.

The bands that do exist are set by the kind of firm, not by the city.

For a London role, start from the firm: Exec Capital puts base pay at £225,000–£425,000 or more at a FTSE 100 company and £200,000–£400,000 or more at a major FCA-authorised firm such as an asset manager, bank or insurer.

For a PE-backed mid-market business it gives £175,000–£275,000, and for a major private company £175,000–£300,000.

10/ head of sustainability salary

Head of sustainability salary against the chief officer

A head of sustainability runs the function.

In some organisations a chief officer sits above the role; in others the head is the senior sustainability hire.

Irwin and Colton puts a head of sustainability salary in construction and infrastructure at £80,000–£110,000, against £120,000–£200,000 for a director.

Exec Capital’s function-head band, £80,000–£150,000, covers the same ground.

At a listed company, pay for the executive directors is published in the remuneration report, and companies applying the UK Corporate Governance Code report against its remuneration principles.

A chief sustainability officer who is not a director will not appear there, so read peer companies’ reports for how sustainability measures are built into executive pay rather than for the officer’s salary.

11/ the other routes

Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat

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A permanent salary buys a sustainability chief every day, with notice on both sides.

An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim chief sustainability officer salary for the day rates.

A fractional chief sustainability officer works a few days a month on a day rate; see fractional chief sustainability officer salary.

Compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.

12/ questions

Chief sustainability officer salary FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a chief sustainability officer.

No source we can cite publishes a figure for the title alone. Shirley Parsons’ 2025 survey puts the average salary for director and board-level professionals at £123,816, across health, safety, environment, quality and sustainability combined. Exec Capital’s base band for a board-level chief sustainability officer is £150,000–£400,000 or more.

Exec Capital puts the base at £150,000–£400,000 or more for a board-level seat and £80,000–£150,000 for a function head. By firm, it gives £225,000–£425,000 or more at a FTSE 100 company and £175,000–£325,000 at a FTSE 250 company. Bonus and incentives are on top.

No source we can cite publishes a London figure for the seat. The firm sets the band: Exec Capital puts a FTSE 100 chief sustainability officer at £225,000–£425,000 or more in base, and one at a major FCA-authorised firm at £200,000–£400,000 or more. See chief sustainability officer salary London.

At the bottom of Exec Capital’s board-level band, £150,000, a chief sustainability officer earns £12,500 a month before tax (£150,000 ÷ 12, our arithmetic). Bonus and benefits are on top.

Irwin and Colton puts a head of environment or sustainability in construction and infrastructure at £80,000–£110,000. Exec Capital’s band for a chief sustainability officer who runs the function rather than sitting on the executive team is £80,000–£150,000.

Exec Capital puts the bonus at 50–150% of base at FTSE 100 and major FCA-authorised firms, and 50–100% at FTSE 250, PE-backed and major private companies, with long-term incentives or sweet equity on top. HMRC taxes a cash bonus as earnings through payroll.

Start with base: £150,000–£400,000 or more for a board-level seat, on Exec Capital’s figures. Add employer’s National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, at least 3% pension on qualifying earnings, the bonus and any benefits. We set out pay for every candidate on the shortlist.

They are paid on different bases. An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover; a fractional chief sustainability officer by the day for a few days a month. See interim chief sustainability officer salary and fractional chief sustainability officer salary.

Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5

Bring the brief. We architect the team.

A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

Book a call →Submit a brief

13/ related

Keep exploring

Adjacent roles and reading.

/interim-chief-sustainability-officer-salaryInterim chief sustainability officer salary

What an interim sustainability chief is paid by the day.

/fractional-chief-sustainability-officer-salaryFractional chief sustainability officer salary

Day rates, days a month and what the year adds up to.

/interim-chief-sustainability-officer-jobs-hireInterim chief sustainability officer jobs

Interim sustainability-chief roles on the board, and how to hire one.

/fractional-sustainability-jobs-hire-sustainability-directorFractional sustainability jobs

Part-time sustainability, ESG and reporting seats.

How we vet candidatesFractional sustainability jobsIR35 guideRate calculator

What a chief sustainability officer earns, in base, bonus and package