Aligning Organizational Culture to Achieve Sustainability Goals: Rosa Garcia Pineiro

In today’s corporate landscape, sustainability is no longer a buzzword but a business imperative. Yet, according to a recent LinkedIn poll[1] conducted by Pacific International Executive Search, defining a clear mission remains the biggest challenge organizations face when pursuing sustainability.

As part of the Leadership Insider series, which this time focuses on achieving sustainability goals, Margaret Jaouadi addresses this challenge in the conversation with Rosa Garcia Pineiro, a seasoned leader with 25 years of experience in the aluminium industry. Rosa provides a blueprint on how organizations can effectively tackle this hurdle by embedding sustainability into their core business strategy and shares her experience and approach to embedding sustainability within a company’s DNA—turning it into a key driver of business results.

Special thanks go to David Howells, CEO of Pacific International Executive Search, for introducing Rosa Garcia Pineiro to Margaret Jaouadi.

Margaret Jaouadi
Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us how you see sustainability.

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
My name is Rosa Garcia Pineiro. I’ve been in the aluminium industry for 25 years, working in mining and metals. I started my career in operations, and I’m an industrial and environmental engineer by training.

At the beginning of my career, I was focused on operations, this is, learning the fundamentals of the business, but then I transitioned into environment, health, and safety. From there, I moved into government affairs in Europe and eventually took on responsibilities for sustainability in the region. After that, I returned to the business side as the President of a company in Europe. Then, I became the global Vice President for Sustainability, and I was also the President of the company’s philanthropic foundation. I did this for 25 years, but at the beginning of 2024, I decided to step down from my executive career. Now, I’m focusing on governance and serving as a non-executive director for several international companies, ranging from stainless steel to pulp and renewable energy, and batteries for electric bikes.

Now, to your second point, how do I see sustainability? Well, sustainability is like a forest— it can encompass everything and yet be nothing at the same time. Every company must figure out how this broad concept of sustainability truly impacts its core business drivers. To create value through sustainability it is critical to focus on what impacts the results of the company. Sustainability attributes and practices could affect the P&L, the balance sheet, or even the overall enterprise value.

For one company, for example, sustainability might be critically linked to climate-related physical or regulatory risks that could affect their product’s place in the market.But for another company, sustainability might not be about climate change at all. It could be more about social aspects, like talent attraction or community impact.

So, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to sustainability. I believe each company needs to look at its own business through the lens of sustainability and identify which environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors truly impact its results. That’s how it can define the sustainability practice in a way that’s relevant to it.

Margaret Jaouadi
What are the biggest challenges organizations face when trying to align their culture with sustainability goals?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
I am not sure I would start here. The thing is culture is much bigger than sustainability. So, I don’t believe it’s the right approach to try to align an organization’s culture with sustainability objectives.

I had a professor who used to say, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Culture is who we are as an organization—it’s fundamental, and you can’t just manipulate it to match one specific goal like sustainability. Culture has to be understood and shaped in a much broader context.

So, instead of forcing an alignment between culture and sustainability, I would rather take a different approach. You need to start with the existing culture—the DNA of the company—and then figure out how sustainability fits within that. It’s about understanding what truly drives the business and identifying which sustainability levers can be integrated into the culture so that it resonates with individuals within the organization and deliver value to the stakeholders. It’s about embedding sustainability in a way that makes sense within the company’s existing cultural framework. This way, people can understand, engage with, and ultimately help achieve those sustainability goals.

Margaret Jaouadi
To follow up on what you just said, I think we can slightly shift the culture to embed sustainability throughout the organization. Not just as a surface-level initiative but as a real purpose that drives genuine impact. Once we’ve defined our goals and identified the key drivers, we’d want to embed them into the organization’s DNA. Because unless sustainability becomes part of the culture, it will be almost impossible to achieve those goals.

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
I completely agree with that approach, Margaret. We’re on the same page there. To me, the key is: who is driving this effort? I often get asked what skills a sustainability leader should have. And for me, the key to successfully embedding sustainability into the DNA of the organization is that whoever is leading the effort must deeply understand the business.

The person defining and leading the objectives needs to know the company inside out, understanding not just the purpose but how the company makes money. They need to grasp both the short-term and long-term business drivers. This gives them credibility when speaking to business leaders from different functions, using the same language, the business language, to get everyone on board.

This leader also needs to be able to translate sustainability goals into terms that make sense for individuals across the organization. For instance, transitioning to a low-carbon economy—what does it mean for a factory floor worker? Maybe nothing, initially. What does it mean for an HR leader? They might not know either. But if you have someone who can put those goals in clear, business-oriented terms and show how they apply to different parts of the organization, that’s when people will start to understand, “Ah, this is what it means for me, and this is my role in achieving it.”

That’s the crucial first step. It can make or break the whole initiative. If you have a sustainability officer who’s highly skilled in the technical aspects, maybe even has a great academic background in sustainability and can write excellent reports—that’s all good. But if they can’t communicate in a way that resonates with the business and different teams, it will be very hard to truly ingrain sustainability into the company’s culture.

Margaret Jaouadi
That leads us nicely to the second question. We agree that sustainability can’t just be about policies—it has to be embedded throughout the organization. So, why is it critical to move beyond just policies? How can leaders effectively engage and align everyone, from top management to frontline workers, around a shared commitment to sustainability? How do they practically do this?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
To me, it starts with the fundamentals. Let’s say you’re doing your annual planning and building your budget for the year. The question becomes: how do sustainability initiatives fit into that process? When you’re planning your revenue, for instance, can you use sustainability levers to increase your top line? That’s one of the easiest ways to start. For example, can you differentiate your product or service with sustainability features? Maybe you can offer a low-carbon version of your product or something made with recycled content. Can you offset environmental impacts like biodiversity loss or deforestation? These are ways to create value that customers might even be willing to pay more for. That’s how sustainability can contribute to the top line.

Then, look at the cost side. Can you reduce costs through sustainability initiatives? For instance, can you improve energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption, or implement projects that pay back quickly? What’s your energy strategy—can you transition to low-carbon energy? Similarly, can you reduce your dependency on water, especially if prices are expected to rise? It’s about examining each cost driver and asking how sustainability can help mitigate risks or reduce expenses.

You also need to think about supply chain risks. For example, if water levels drop in a key river like the Rhine, will that disrupt logistics? Or what if geopolitical factors affect shipping routes like the Suez Canal? You start integrating these sustainability considerations into every layer of the planning process, from supply chain to operations.

This approach has an immediate impact on the P&L. It’s not just a top-down directive—it becomes part of the company’s DNA, part of the regular planning process that everyone is involved in. Sustainability initiatives are woven into the business plan from the bottom up. The goals are clear, and they’re tied to real, measurable outcomes like cost savings or revenue growth.

The same goes for the balance sheet. For example, in a mining company, you’d have to build provisions for future mine rehabilitation. If you can minimize the mine’s footprint now, you reduce the amount you need to set aside for that. This strengthens your balance sheet. It’s about building sustainability into every part of the financial planning process, step by step, and making it a regular part of business operations.

Ultimately, these sustainability objectives should be part of each department’s annual goals. Whoever is responsible for reducing water consumption, for example, is now accountable for delivering that result, because it impacts costs. This way, sustainability is no longer an isolated initiative but fully integrated into the company’s day-to-day business, helping to improve both profitability and risk management.

Margaret Jaouadi
Ultimately, when you think about the wider society, people don’t evaluate companies based on their P&L. They just look at things from the outside and say, “I’m not going to buy from this company because they don’t care about the environment.” Do these external pressures influence company leaders when planning for long-term sustainability and their ability to thrive in the next 100 years?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
It all comes back to what customers and society think about your product. If I’m a business leader, I need to understand that my customers might be questioning my product for a variety of reasons—maybe it has high energy consumption, parts are sourced unsustainably, or it’s associated with other environmental concerns. If I fail to grasp what my customers care about, I’m not just failing at sustainability, I’m failing at the core of business fundamentals—understanding customer preferences.

When I say we need to view the business through a sustainability lens, I mean leaders have to grasp how these customer demands and societal pressures are going to affect their business. I mentioned earlier the idea of producing low-carbon products to boost sales, but the flip side is just as true. If you don’t adapt, your sales could drop because society no longer wants what you’re offering.

It’s a two-sided equation: there are both risks and opportunities. Sustainability measures can drive growth but ignoring them can just as easily lead to declining demand. This understanding is essential for long-term business survival.

Margaret Jaouadi
What role does leadership play in driving the cultural change needed to achieve sustainability goals? Can you share examples of leadership initiatives that have been effective in your organizations?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
Leaders play a crucial role in driving cultural change, especially when it comes to embedding sustainability into a company’s operations. They have the responsibility to challenge their teams and get them to adopt a sustainability mindset. It’s easy for teams to stick to business as usual, and I’ve seen that firsthand in my career. One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced from the board and executive team is having senior leaders who are resistant to change. For example, I’ve dealt with leaders who insist that customers will never pay more for a low-carbon product, which stifles any initiative to explore sustainable options.

When you have someone in leadership being overly assertive about maintaining the status quo, it becomes a huge obstacle to change. They close off the possibility for their teams to approach the business with fresh, sustainability-focused thinking. Often, their conviction is based on outdated assumptions—they’ve been doing things the same way for years, and they’re not open to the idea that the world, and their customers, are changing. It’s not just the younger generations pushing for this shift—society at large is feeling the impacts of climate change, like fires, droughts, and heat waves, and demanding action. Leaders who refuse to acknowledge that can be real “showstoppers.”

The key is identifying these individuals or groups within the organization who are resistant and working with them to shift their perspective. Creating space for new ideas to flow and for the business to evolve is crucial. That’s where leadership comes in—setting the tone that change is necessary and ensuring everyone understands why.

And I can’t emphasize enough the role HR plays in this process. Talent and skills are essential. It’s important to evaluate who is leading the HR function—do they share the CEO’s vision of sustainability? If the CEO is on board with sustainability goals, HR needs to align and drive the change, not just function in an administrative capacity as it might have done for the past 20 years. HR should be thinking critically about the kind of talent needed to bring this new perspective into the organization. They need to help identify those who might be resistant and work with them to influence the shift towards sustainability.

HR can also play a key role in attracting diverse talent—diverse in age, background, and experience—so the company can better anticipate what customers will want in the next 5 to 10 years. This isn’t just about sustainability, but also areas like artificial intelligence and other emerging fields. The right mix of skills is going to be crucial for the future, and HR is instrumental in ensuring the company is prepared for that. Leadership and HR, working together, can truly be game changers.

Margaret Jaouadi
How do you address resistance to change when there is already a shift in the organizational culture towards sustainability?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
The key issue here is identifying who is open to trying new approaches and considering a sustainability lens, and who is not. In my experience, it becomes very clear who is willing to embrace this change and who is going to resist it from day one.

The real challenge is figuring out how to manage that resistance. Sometimes, unfortunately, there’s no real solution other than moving the individual out of a position of influence. If they are never going to buy into the change, you either need to move them to another role or disengage them from the process altogether.

It’s important to realize that this isn’t just about sustainability. If we were talking about something else, like customer experience, and someone in the organization was holding up progress, the same principle would apply. If a person is blocking necessary change and you’re truly committed to the new direction, it may be necessary to make tough decisions. In the end, it’s about ensuring that everyone is aligned with the company’s path forward, whether it’s sustainability or any other critical business shift.

Margaret Jaouadi
Can you think of any tools, frameworks, or strategies that you’ve implemented effectively to reinforce sustainability or move it forward within your organization?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
I think there’s only one tool that consistently works, and that’s showing how sustainability impacts the bottom line. For example, if you can demonstrate that by implementing a sustainable practice, you’ve increased profit by X dollars per ton or improved some other key business metric, then you’re set. It’s all about expressing the benefits in business terms.

If you try to push sustainability solely by saying, “We’re saving the planet, we’ve reduced water consumption, but it’s costing us more, and our profits have gone down,” it just won’t fly. You have to show how it makes sense for the business. This is why it’s so crucial to focus on the areas where sustainability aligns with profitability, societal impact, and the health of your business.

That’s the only way to create a truly sustainable change that will generate long-term value for all stakeholders. It’s not complicated or magical—it’s straightforward. The mistake some companies make is focusing too much on intangible benefits like improving reputation without clearly linking it to business value. If you can’t show tangible results through your real KPIs, you’re not going to get buy-in. It has to be about metrics that matter to the business.

Margaret Jaouadi
How do you measure success?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
It’s all about the numbers, but you can choose different indicators depending on your business model and priorities. For example, dollars per ton or service hour—whatever applies to your specific industry—should always be part of it. However, success isn’t limited to just financial metrics. It could also be something like employee satisfaction, especially if that has a strong impact on your business.

If you’re a sales-driven organization, and 80% of your workforce is salespeople, how energetic and enthusiastic they are in putting the product out there could be crucial. In that case, employee satisfaction might be the best KPI because it directly affects business outcomes.

So, while financial metrics are essential, the key is to identify the indicator that has the most direct impact on your business results. Each organization has to define success based on what matters to them in measurable, tangible terms.

Margaret Jaouadi
Looking ahead, what emerging trends or challenges do you foresee in the journey to align organizational cultures with sustainability goals?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
One of the most significant trends is the regulatory developments coming out of the European Union, particularly the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Some describe it as a reporting requirement, but it’s far more than that. The CSRD pushes companies to define policies, assess risks and opportunities, and develop relevant KPIs for every material aspect of their business. This isn’t just about reporting; it’s a management directive that integrates sustainability deeply into business operations, aligning sustainability with tangible business results—exactly what we’ve been discussing.

In addition, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD) takes it even further by placing responsibility on companies for their entire supply chain, not just their direct operations. This means businesses can’t just pass on the responsibility to the next in line; they need to ensure sustainable practices from the source. For example, if a component for your product is sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), you must ensure that it aligns with your company’s ethical and sustainability principles.

This trend will lead to significant efforts in redesigning products and services and embedding sustainable practices throughout the entire value chain. It’s a major step forward in creating responsible business models that benefit not just the company but society at large.

Margaret Jaouadi
Europe remains a major manufacturer of goods so this could significantly impact numerous companies. How can they get ready for these changes?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
Absolutely, and this isn’t a quick fix or a software solution; it’s a long-term journey that will take years. It begins with product design. Companies need to conduct a thorough analysis to understand which specific parts of their business present risks and opportunities that genuinely impact their financial results. It’s not about addressing every single issue—focus on three, four, or five key areas that are truly material to your business.

From there, you should create a roadmap—think of it as a journey spanning three, five, or even ten years—to tackle those material aspects effectively. This new approach requires knowledge that many organizations may not have prioritized in the past. For instance, topics related to human rights, once considered “soft skills,” are now central to business operations.

Let me share a perspective from my 25 years in the mining and metals industry: I never encountered a significant issue affecting my results due to technology or engineering problems. When operations were halted, it was typically related to social unrest or strikes. It underscores that the “soft” aspects of business—understanding community expectations, for example—can have a profound impact. If your community feels neglected, they might protest, shutting down operations for months.

So, companies must adopt this new lens to assess their business. Don’t expect to solve everything within a year; it won’t happen. But if you take a gradual, incremental approach over the next five years, you’ll find yourself in a much stronger position. This step-by-step strategy is essential for aligning your organization with sustainability goals.

Margaret Jaouadi
Is there anything else you would like to share before we wrap up?

Rosa Garcia Pineiro
I think we’ve covered a lot in our discussion. But I want to emphasize that when appointing someone to lead sustainability efforts, they must speak the language of the business. While skills like GRI reporting, CSRD compliance, and climate change knowledge can be learned or outsourced to consultants, what truly matters is understanding the organization’s DNA. If the leader lacks this foundational understanding, you might end up with a nice report that doesn’t drive real change—just another piece of paper that doesn’t make an impact.

Margaret Jaouadi
Thank you, Rosa, for this invaluable perspective which adds clarity to this complex topic.

[1] Source: Pacific’s LinkedIn Poll 

For a confidential chat about how Pacific International can assist you with your Talent Acquisitions and Diversity challenges, please contact Manuel Preg or one of our Executive Search Consultants specialising in your sector.