C-Suite Guide to Sustainable Growth: CMO-CSO Playbook

Senior leaders are under pressure to deliver growth and prove impact. The CMO-CSO Sustainability Playbook shows how to do both. Produced by the Institute for Real Growth (IRG) in partnership with Ipsos, Ad Net Zero and Google, it translates sustainability commitments into competitive advantage - grounded in data from 850+ senior leaders and 50 dedicated interviews with CMOs, CSOs and sustainability experts.

Why does the CMO-CSO alliance matter?

• Overperformers embed sustainability into long-term strategy and KPIs and grow faster.
• CMOs bring consumer insight, segmentation, storytelling and scaling; CSOs bring technical credibility, measurement and accountability. Together they unlock new revenue, reduce risk and strengthen reputation.
• The biggest opportunity for growth sits in the broad middle of the market, people who are open to change their behaviour and when the benefits are clear.

Read the playbook and find out:

• The business case for sustainable growth (and how to win stakeholder buy-in)
• The CMO-CSO partnership model: roles, rituals, KPIs and operating cadence
• Sustainable marketing in practice: from creative to media emissions and AI
• A checklist for your next 90 days
• Tools and standards from IRG, Ipsos, Ad Net Zero and Google

This is a must-read for CMOs, CSOs and CEOs who are focused on growth, resilience and reputation but also for Strategy, Innovation, Finance and Procurement leaders willing to enable cross-functional execution.

Download the playbook

The CMO–CSO Sustainability Playbook was developed by the Institute for Real Growth (IRG) with Ipsos, Ad Net Zero and Google. It builds on IRG’s Impact Study and the UNGC CMO Blueprint, combining research, case studies and practitioner tools.

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