Last April, GreenBiz.com launched "View from the C-Suite" with a profile of David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management. The objective: To capture the perspective of corporate leaders on sustainability in their companies and industries. 

As author and producer of the series, I have since had conversations with about a dozen CEOs or C-level executives from a broad array of brand-name, international companies: eBay, P&G, MillerCoors, Diversey, Owens Corning, Duke Energy, Virgin America, Autodesk, Grainger and Campbell’s. 

The collective takeaways from the past year’s interviews provide interesting insights on the challenges and opportunities in advancing environmental sustainability in industry:

The consumer is not driving sustainability — yet. 

I query each CEO about the factors that are driving their company’s increased commitment to sustainability. CEOs most often cite supply chain relationships (Waste Management and Wal-Mart), employees (eBay, Campbell’s, MillerCoors), efficiency (Owens Corning, Virgin America, AutoDesk) and/or concern over limited resources and/or regulatory changes (Diversey, Duke) as the primary drivers. 

The notable exceptions are those companies that market to the Millennials, the 20- to 30-year-olds who hold products and services to a higher bar. Denise Morrison highlighted the impact of this next generation on Campbell’s: “The millennial generation, which comprises about 80 million consumers, has heightened expectations with regard to sustainability. As we look to connect with this generation, we must be mindful that sustainability will be one of the key reasons they'll purchase our products and a key reason they'll choose to work at Campbell's.” 

Tom Long of MillerCoors similarly explained, “Our company attracts young people for whom sustainability is a passion point.” 

Other executives pointed out that although the market is not yet demanding sustainability, their company anticipates a shift. Len Sauer at P&G and Ed Lonergan at Diversey foresee a marketplace in which sustainability will be a more significant driver. They are actively looking for ways to facilitate the market shift by providing the consumer choices that require little behavior change from the consumer. 

As Len noted, “The majority of the market — 70-80 percent — is now eco-aware. That means they want to do the right thing but they're not willing to accept tradeoffs. We have chosen to target this 'sustainable mainstream.' The key is to develop products that enable this mainstream market to be sustainable without any inherent tradeoffs.” 

Ed Lonergan, a P&G alumnus himself, echoed a similar insight: “I learned from my years in the consumer goods business that one way retailers can win is to know what customers want before customers know they want it. I believe sustainability is one of those trends. If we can find ways to make our products more sustainable, and deliver the same or better value in the process, then customers will get on board.”

A common challenge is getting broad-based buy-in. 

According to a 2010 Accenture and UN Global Impact survey, 93 percent of CEOs see sustainability as important to their future success, yet they acknowledge mixed success in embedding sustainability into their business. 

Our C-Suite interviews corroborate this data. Most of the CEOs addressed the challenges of educating their major stakeholders — employees, partners, customers — and enabling behavior changes. 

A few companies, such as Grainger and Waste Management, have developed internal consulting teams to help their internal and external partners adopt sustainable technologies and practices.

There is increased importance and gain from cross-sector partnerships. 

As CEOs work to understand changing market dynamics, regulatory pressures and supplier requirements, they increasingly seek counsel from outside their own sector. 

Waste Management is working with Silicon Valley venture capitalists on waste-to-energy innovations. 

Miller Coors and Campbell’s are working with agricultural scientists on new farming technologies.