Businesses have been urged to move beyond treating sustainability as a standalone corporate social responsibility function and integrate it into their strategy, operations and decision-making as a tool for managing risks, creating business value and driving measurable impact.
The Director of External Affairs and Social Performance, Seplat Energy Plc, Chioma Afe, made the call at the 2026 Sustainability Conference of the Sustainability Professionals Institute of Nigeria in Lagos.
Afe, who spoke on a panel themed, ‘The Future-Ready Sustainability Professional: Skills for Navigating Volatile Times,’ said sustainability professionals must help organisations move away from viewing sustainability as a cost centre or a collection of social initiatives.
“Sustainability should not be viewed as a cost centre. It’s a risk management tool,” she said.
She cited Seplat Energy’s strategic evolution, explaining that when the company reviewed its strategy in 2020–2021, sustainability was positioned as a core component of the business capable of driving returns, rather than as a side initiative focused primarily on community interventions.
