Continuing our story from FLT 2011 participants, Amanda Evers, Service Engineer at AkzoNobel, shares her thoughts on Sustainability and the program.

Amanda works as a Technical Service Engineer in the Global Personal Care Hair Styling Team of AkzoNobel's Surface Chemistry Business Unit. She has a strong interest in sustainability and AkzoNobel enables her to work outside her typical role and allocate time for the Future Leaders Team.

AkzoNobel was one of the WBCSD member companies that participated in the road testing of new global standards designed to help measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of their products and supply chains. AkzoNobel’s legacy of support and contribution to the Greenhouse Gas Protocolis now being pursued by Amanda Evers.

Amanda…

“I saw the Future Leaders team as an extremely unique opportunity to engage with other young professionals from top international companies.  An incredible amount of value can be obtained through this team by sharing how other companies are taking the initiative to address sustainability issues. 

I strongly believe in the role business must play in sustainability. The limits that exist in natural systems result in re-examination of business goals and practices.  In order for businesses to be successful in the future it is essential that sustainability is not separated from price or performance, it must become a way of doing business.  It is also critical to engage across the entire value chain to truly have the largest impact. This will lead to a tremendous amount of new innovation, growth and will result in better relationships with suppliers and customers. 

The first phase of the FLT program allowed me to assess AkzoNobel’s current work around the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard, particularly around the Surface Chemistry and the Global Personal Care Business.  I gained a significant amount of insight as to where our areas of strength are along with the gaps that exist in each business group. AkzoNobel has a very aggressive sustainability strategy but there are always areas for improvement. 

Within the next few months I will explore engaging with value chain partners and will draw broader lessons for value chain engagement.  The goal of second phase of the program is to raise awareness about the value and importance of interconnectivity between the different players in the value chain.

At the beginning of the program I would never have guessed the transformation I would have gone through in such a short period of time.  Every month my understanding for sustainable development deepened and evolved as my passion for sustainability grew. 

Working on a project outside of my own technical field of experience, alongside professionals from such a broad range of companies, gave me the opportunity to experiment with new ideas in an area that I am passionate about. 

The personal and business experience I have gained since beginning the program has been priceless.  The FLT is comprised of amazing professionals from top international companies that all bring different backgrounds, cultures, ambitions and expectations to the group.   I have the unique opportunity to work on such a dynamic team that unites to achieve the same goal; initiate change towards a more sustainable future.”