#11 How can you get rid of your sustainability department?

Sustainability is one of the biggest challenges facing the chemicals industry today. To reduce environmental impact, chemicals companies must move away from a defensive approach, delve into pain points, and invest heavily on innovation. After all, the goods they produce serve as key material for products across multiple other industries. To really accomplish this mission, sustainability must be deeply embedded into every section of the organization. In an ideal future, a single sustainability department would become pointless. This is the intricate mission that Evonik Industries AG - a leading chemical manufacturing company - is currently in. In this episode of the FutureReady Podcast, host Arne Kötting talks with Stefan Haver. At the time of this conversation, Stefan Haver was working at Evonik as Head of Sustainability. Since January 2023, he has been working as Head of Communications & Sustainability at the RAG Foundation. The chemicals industry is one of the sectors where sustainability transformations can feel like a real enigma. Chemical manufacturing companies must undergo drastic changes to reduce their negative footprint while maintaining profitable revenues. The size of these challenges means that companies must be reoriented towards sustainability across the board – a single sustainability department is not enough. This is the intricate mission that Evonik Industries AG - a leading chemical manufacturing company - is currently in. In this episode of the FutureReady Podcast, host Arne Kötting talks with Stefan Haver. At the time of this conversation, Stefan Haver was working at Evonik as Head of Sustainability. Since January 2023, he has been working as Head of Communications & Sustainability at the RAG Foundation. Among many exceptional insights, Stefan shares knowledge about assessing product portfolios, the importance of language, and methodological approaches to sustainability.