Embedded engagement
Experienced sustainability leadership, embedded when you need it.
An embedded sustainability lead for organisations facing a leadership gap, new requirements or a programme that needs an owner. Not extra capacity: a defined mandate, clear priorities, practical delivery and a planned exit.
When this makes sense
When an interim mandate makes sense.
- Your sustainability lead has left and the work cannot pause.
- You are recruiting a permanent lead and need continuity in the meantime.
- You are building a sustainability function for the first time.
- A reporting or disclosure requirement is approaching and nobody owns it.
- A strategy exists, but implementation has stalled.
- A major programme needs one person to coordinate it across teams.
What Ontos can lead
What Ontos can lead.
Strategy and priorities
Agree what matters, what comes first and what can wait.
Governance and processes
Set up ownership, decision routines and the processes that support them.
ESG data and reporting
Organise data collection, GHG accounting and disclosure preparation.
Responsible investment processes
Policies, ESG integration, due diligence and manager monitoring for investors.
Management and board materials
Prepare the decision documents and progress updates leadership needs.
Internal capability
Build the skills and documentation your team needs to carry the work on.
How it works
How the engagement works.
01
Define the mandate
Agree scope, authority, reporting line, time commitment and what success looks like at the end.
02
Understand the organisation
Meet the people involved and review existing commitments, data and processes.
03
Establish priorities
Agree a short list of priorities with management, and be explicit about what waits.
04
Lead the work
Own delivery day to day: coordinate teams, prepare decisions and keep commitments on track.
05
Transfer capability
Document processes and build the skills of the people who will carry the work forward.
06
Review and transition
Review progress against the mandate and hand over to a permanent lead or internal team.
Engagement models
Engagement models.
Interim leadership
Cover a vacant sustainability lead role for a defined period.
Part-time embedded support
A fixed number of days each week or month, working alongside your team.
Project leadership
Lead a single programme, such as a first sustainability report or a new policy.
Transition support
Bridge the period before a permanent hire, then support their handover.
Strategy and execution
Set the direction, then stay to implement it.
Need someone to own this and make it happen?
Describe the gap, the timing and what success would look like. Ontos will tell you honestly whether an interim mandate is the right fit.