The New World of Corporate Environmental Officers

Once upon a time, there were two kinds of green, the green of trees and the green of dollars, and everyone knew that the growth of one came at the expense of the other.

Lately, however, this formula has begun to look like an anachronism.

The change is happening for all kinds of reasons.

DuPont became interested in the environment after catching hell for damaging the ozone layer with its chlorofluorocarbons.

Dell heard the word after CEO Michael Dell was lectured by his teenage daughter.

Even Goldman Sachs saw a green advantage in preserving, rather than logging, 680,000 acres in Chile's Tierra del Fuego.

Once top brass decide to integrate environmental goals into their company's business plan, someone has to be in charge of turning press releases into results.

Enter the new kids in the executive suite: corporate sustainability officers.

These are top managers who apply an environmental lens to every business decision their company makes - from the design of an office building to the development of new products.

Often they report directly to the CEO.

Sierra Magazine interviewed six sustainability officers at six companies in six industries.

Most say they got their jobs not because of their green pedigrees but because of their business acumen.