Driving Sustainability into the Product
I think we can all agree sustainability is important. But how does it contribute to ROI?
How do you incorporate it into your business? And is there a competitive advantage to be gained from doing that?
Jeffrey Whitford is Head of Global Corporate Responsibility and Life Science Branding at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. While they are working on developing sustainable practices, in this episode he describes for us how his company took a more aggressive approach to start – they are driving sustainability into their products.
..if you can get at the core of what you are, what your starting point is, your multiplier effect is going to be massive. And so that’s really when we started looking at things like green chemistry because that’s a core piece of our business. – Jeffrey Whitford
Jeffrey and his team have developed algorithms to measure the benefit of specific changes to how some chemicals are produced. Rather than keeping all of that a secret, they are sharing the information to help customers to help solve their own sustainability challenges.
Of course, I asked how he sold the leadership on this concept and how his team got buy-in from other teams within the company. Jeffrey shared an important insight the value of being recognized by external organizations that is applicable to any effort your company takes on.
12 Principles of Green Chemistry
About My Guest …
Jeffrey Whitford is Head of Global Corporate Responsibility and Life Science Branding at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.
