Industry Voice: Who Owns Carbon in the Channel? (Hint: not just ESG)

Thomas Mardahl, CEO & Founder, Rejoose explores why commercial teams need to get on board

For years, sustainability has lived in organisational limbo.

It started out — quite logically — under finance, as part of annual reporting responsibilities. It was treated like any other non-financial KPI: something to declare, disclose, and defend.

Then, as ESG frameworks took shape, as CSRD and all the other reporting needs came to life, companies began formalising the role of ESG leads and ESG teams — a necessary and valuable step that gave sustainability a stronger seat at the table.

But here is where the issue began.

As ESG matured, it became a silo of its own. HR often took the Social pillar. Finance kept an eye on reporting. And ESG? It was left to handle "the rest”, often including sustainability, carbon, supply chain risks, certifications, and more.

The unintended result? Sustainability drifted further away from commercial decision-making.

In many organisations, we even see ESG teams unintentionally gatekeeping sustainability from the commercial side. They own it. They protect it. But it rarely becomes commercially operational — and that’s the gap we need to close.

The dilemma is clear: We absolutely need the rigour and governance of ESG teams. But we also need the scale, speed, and customer understanding of the commercial side to drive meaningful change.

And nowhere is this more urgent than in the IT channel.

If you're a vendor, distributor, reseller, or integrator, you already shape:

That’s not just customer success — that’s carbon strategy in action.

Yet many still treat carbon like an external issue. It is left to the ESG function, or handled reactively when a tender asks for it.

But that approach is no longer viable.

Carbon is now part of the deal. It is showing up in contracts, public frameworks, scorecards, and renewal criteria. And customers aren’t just asking for carbon numbers — they’re actually asking for help meeting their own reporting obligations and reduction goals.

If we want to meet those needs, we need to change the structure of how we work.

Here’s what that change looks like:

Because this is where real progress will happen: when carbon data and sustainability support become a natural part of the everyday services a supplier delivers to its clients.

Not an annual download. Not a compliance add-on. But a daily part of how you support your customers, win business, and help them succeed.

So who does own carbon in the channel?

Final word. We all do. But it is time to say it plainly: The commercial side must step up — not eventually, but now.

The businesses that make carbon a commercial capability — not just an ESG checkbox — will lead the next decade of customer relationships, procurement strategies, and long-term trust.

And those that wait? They’ll find themselves outside the conversation — and outside the deal.

Because at its core, sustainability is two things:

1. It is about being a responsible company — doing what’s right, acting strategically, and making sustainability part of how your business operates. This can’t be outsourced. It is internal, it’s cultural, and it belongs to the whole organisation.

2. It is about measurement — understanding your footprint, tracking progress, staying compliant, and reporting what matters. And this can be supported from the outside — through the suppliers you choose, the data you integrate, and the services you deliver.

So if you’re in the channel, and you want to be part of your customer’s sustainability journey, start by enabling both.

Help them act responsibly. Help them measure accurately. And help make sustainability something that’s not managed from the sidelines — but delivered through the everyday work we do, together.

Endnote: This Blog post is a part of the Rejoose Sustainability Knowledge Partner Series.