Leading Sustainability as It Matters: What the Director of the Sustainability and Climate Change at PwC

Insight: Sustainability leadership is often described as a technical agenda—targets, frameworks, disclosures, roadmaps. But in practice, it’s a leadership agenda.

The hardest part isn’t knowing what to do; it’s building the conditions for people to do it well, consistently, and under pressure.

Over time, I learned that real impact comes from three disciplines working together: clarity (turning complexity into decisions), capability (developing others so execution doesn’t depend on one person), and care (creating psychological safety so teams can perform without burning out). When those three are present, sustainability stops being a “project” and becomes a durable organizational muscle.

Some roles expand your technical toolkit. Others reshape how you lead.

For me, directing a Sustainability and Climate Change unit wasn’t just about delivering projects—it was a daily practice in building trust, creating clarity under pressure, and growing people into leaders. The lessons didn’t come from theory. They came from the responsibility itself: deciding what “good” looks like, protecting quality when timelines compress, and showing up for a team that needed both high standards and real care.

I’m sharing this reflection in an intentionally timeless way—not as a “closing chapter,” but as a snapshot of leadership principles I keep carrying forward: how I built, scaled, and sustained a high-performing climate team, and what that experience taught me about leading meaningful impact.

Building from zero, scaling with intention

When I stepped into the role, the unit was small—two consultants—and the mandate was big: grow a climate and sustainability practice that could be trusted in the market, deliver consistently, and evolve as client needs shifted.

What I’m most proud of is not simply the growth in headcount. It’s how we grew.

As my team later wrote in their recommendation letter , I “built our team from the ground up… expanding it into a high-performing unit of fifteen professionals,” and I “personally trained each team member, equipping them with the technical knowledge, strategic perspective, and confidence needed to lead projects independently.”

Recommendation letter Climate Change Team PwC.pdf

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That line matters to me because it captures the leadership outcome I aimed for every day: not dependence on one leader, but distributed confidence across the team. The goal was never to be the smartest person in the room—it was to make the room smarter.

And the most meaningful proof of that is what came next: “Three team members were promoted to manager roles under her mentorship,” the letter notes—an outcome driven by continuous feedback and real development opportunities.

A structure that creates leaders, not just deliverables

Scaling a team requires more than hiring. It requires a design that turns talent into capability.

One of the initiatives my team highlights as especially impactful was the Service Line Champion model—a structure that empowered small teams to take ownership of key service areas. Instead of centralizing expertise, we formalized it across the unit so leaders could grow while the practice matured.

That model supported the design and implementation of eight service lines, including Decarbonization Strategy, Climate Risk Assessment, Climate Finance, Carbon Markets, Circular Economy, Environmental Due Diligence, and Assurance of Environmental and Sustainability Indicators.

This approach became a leadership multiplier: each line had a sub-leader, a delivery team, and a clear identity—so we could move faster, deepen quality, and build commercial and technical alignment without burning out a single point of failure.

Leading with empathy—and operational discipline

I’ve learned that empathy isn’t softness. It’s precision.

Empathy is what allows you to hear what isn’t being said: when someone is stuck, when a client is anxious, when a team is tired but still pushing. But empathy without discipline is not enough—because sustainability work is often complex, high-stakes, and time-sensitive.

My team described my leadership as grounded in “active listening, empathy, empowerment, and a strong commitment to capability-building,” paired with project management and stakeholder engagement that ensured “deliverables were high quality, on time, and within budget.”

That combination—human-centered leadership with operational rigor—became the standard I held myself to. The work had to be excellent. But the way we delivered it had to be sustainable.

Well-being as a leadership practice

One of the choices I made early was to treat well-being as part of performance, not separate from it.

The letter mentions the “Psycotrainer” initiative, aligned with the firm’s “Be Well, Work Well” strategy, encouraging physical activity 4–5 times a week to build resilience, connection, and balance.

What I loved about that initiative is what it signaled: we can be ambitious without normalizing chronic stress. Strong teams don’t just need direction; they need oxygen. And a culture that protects people ultimately protects quality.

Feedback that reaffirmed my leadership intention

Among the recognitions I value, one stands out because it reflects how leadership is experienced—not just what is produced: my 360° feedback recognition for top evaluation results.

To me, that certificate isn’t a trophy. It’s a reminder that leadership is relational. You can build a practice, scale services, and deliver results—and still fail as a leader if people feel unseen or disposable. The highest-performance environments I’ve been part of are the ones where people feel trusted, challenged, and supported.

The legacy I care about most

If I had to summarize what this role taught me, it would be this:

• Build structures that scale people, not just output.

• Translate complexity into decisions others can act on.

• Hold high standards—while staying deeply human.

• Make leadership a daily practice, not a title.

One quote from the recommendation letter captures what I always hoped would be true: “Her leadership didn’t just drive project results—it built leaders.”

That is the legacy I care about most.

And one of the most personal reflections, from a team member, stayed with me because it defines leadership in its simplest form: “Thank you for showing us what true leadership looks like—one that listens, empowers, and inspires others to find and use their own voice.

I’m carrying these lessons into every challenge I take on next—because sustainability leadership will only become more complex, more strategic, and more consequential.

If you’re building a climate strategy, decarbonization roadmaps, governance, or sustainability transformation grounded in real execution, I’d love to connect.

Let’s build the future of sustainable leadership together.