In recent years, sustainability has moved out of social reports and into board agendas. Companies no longer treat it as an ethical option, but as a decisive factor to access funding, reduce risks, and attract talent.
At the center of this evolution is a key figure: the Chief Financial Officer. Historically focused on budgets and forecasts, today the CFO is called to a new task: making ESG measurable, traceable, governable.
Why the CFO plays a leading role
Emissions, internal well-being, governance, diversity, supply chain traceability: ESG data touches every aspect of business. For the CFO, measurable ESG is not just a new metric—it is a new responsibility. Governance, diversity, supply chain traceability, emission reduction, internal well-being: ESG data enters the income statement and influences:
- credit rating
- access to capital
- investors’ ESG evaluations
- B2B customer decisions
The CFO can no longer remain on the sidelines. They are the figure who understands flows, manages numbers, and guarantees the reliability of processes. Today, these skills are also needed to handle environmental and social KPIs with the same rigor as financial accounting.
From financial reporting to integrated reporting
With the arrival of the CSRD Directive, sustainability data must be:
- collected methodically
- reported according to the ESRS
- subject to independent assurance
It’s not just about publishing a sustainability report: processes, tools, and rules are needed to integrate ESG into ERP systems, industrial planning, and management control.
A natural field for the CFO.
How Tecno Group supports CFOs
At Tecno Group, we help finance teams translate measurable ESG for the CFO into operational tools:
- customized dashboards for KPI monitoring
- shared training programs between ESG and finance departments
- digital systems for integrated reporting and audit
Shedding light on ESG data
Declaring ambitious goals is not enough. The real challenge is to build a system that measures them, monitors them, and embeds them in strategic plans.
Because managing ESG without numbers is like driving in the dark.
And who, in a company, turns on the lights on data?
The CFO.
