Growing up in Kathmandu, Nepal, with its breathtaking nature and mountainous landscape, inspired a career choice to work with the environment. After moving to Europe to continue her studies, Greeshma arrived in Stockholm just over a year ago to take up the role of Sustainability Reporting & Quality Assurance Officer at Electrolux Professional Group.
Tell us about what your job entails?
It involves gathering data related to environmental, social and governance and consolidating quality assurance for the Group, and that covers all sustainability information we communicate as a company, such as reports and certifications, relevant data for tenders or to our stakeholders or investors.
I’m also responsible for consolidating and analyzing data, so if we take our total emissions, for example, we benchmark and compare and consider strategies to reduce them. The data we collect cover wide-ranging areas including waste, water and electricity as well as social aspects like health and safety and human rights.
What route did you take in terms of studies and jobs to where you are today?
Coming from Nepal, I grew up in close connection with nature and that motivated my career path. After graduating in Environment Studies in Kathmandu I got a job assessing the environmental impact of hydro power in Nepal. That gave me the insight to view sustainability beyond the environment alone, but also encompassing entrepreneurship and social – it’s about balancing the three pillars of planet, people and profit.
To broaden my insight, I moved to the Netherlands to take my Masters specialising in Climate Change and Renewable Energy before working as a consultant helping clients with sustainability reporting and calculating emissions. Then came the opportunity with Electrolux Professional Group.
What do you love about the role?
It’s very meaningful and purpose-driven; sustainability is a universal topic that brings people together – it reminds us of our shared dependence and the impact it has on our lives. Also, the work goes beyond our own company; it’s inspiring when we can help our customers reduce their energy or water consumption, for example.
So, it’s a rewarding role and I get to work with diverse parts of the company and learn a lot: HR for social aspects, innovation within R&D, Communications and Investor Relations as well as the Legal department. I keep learning and growing both professionally and personally.
And, on the other hand, what are the biggest challenges?
A challenge is the balance between people, profit and the planet. Sustainability projects require big investment, so it’s about balancing investment for innovation as well as the environment.
Another challenge is navigating the uncertainty and complexity of sustainability. The field is evolving rapidly, and systemic problems don’t have clear solutions. Think about critical raw materials – will they run out and what will happen then? We don’t know, even the researchers don’t know. But from that also comes opportunity so if raw materials are diminishing, we can then look at exploring ways to extract new materials from waste and embrace circularity.
What advice would you give to people wanting to work in a position like yours?
Challenge the mindset. And it starts from your inner self, which requires bold thinking, challenging accepted behaviours and breaking free from them. Ask why we are doing things in a certain way and whether we can do it differently instead. I also think interconnection between nature and people, and compassion are important. You can easily learn about new tools and regulations but mindset and questioning ‘why are we continuing to do it this way’ are challenging. I need to continuously remind myself of this.
Finally, you need the ability to collaborate because we have issues that are impossible to solve individually. When it comes to sustainability, we are all in this together.
How would you like to develop further in your role or potentially do something completely different?
When people think about sustainability they often think about the environment and emissions. But there’s so much more to it and no matter how technologically innovative we become, ultimately it boils down to us humans. So, even if we love nature, why are we not able to take action and what is stopping us? It’s this area of emotional intelligence and behavioural change I am really interested in exploring further in the future.
Why choose to work at Electrolux Professional Group?
During my interviews for the job, I felt it was me asking all the questions and we discussed the strategy from emissions to data privacy and innovation. What really struck me was talk about sustainability as a habit with the aim to go beyond compliance.
It shows you can have empathetic leadership in business and prioritize people, profit and planet at the same time. Culturally, we have a diverse mix of people which I think strengthens innovation and collaboration and it’s also great to see many women in senior roles in our Stockholm office.
Check out our global career site, if you aspire to pursue a career similar to Greeshma´s.