LOCAL CLIMATE CONTRACTS BUILD SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Jacobi's commitment to working sustainably is fundamental to our day to day operations and part of our overall mission as a company. At our headquarters in Kalmar, Sweden, we have started an exciting collaboration with the city of Kalmar to help create a sustainable and climate-neutral city. We met some of our colleagues who have been the driving force behind the work and who told us how it all started as well as how we at Jacobi contribute.
The Start of a Long-term Effort
At Jacobi, everyone is encouraged to actively contribute to making the company more sustainable in all areas. In our Kalmar, Sweden, head office, a group was formed to look at and work with our various community engagement programmes (CEP) and help steer them to success. We caught up with Linda Svensson Gonzalez who works as a Sales and Logistics Coordinator for EMEA, Hilda Eriksson, a Materials Coordinator, and Lizette Hughes, one of our Procurement Coordinators, who currently form the basis of the ‘CEP’ team in Kalmar.
Linda Svensson Gonzalez and Hilda Eriksson on the day the Climate Contract was signed.
“As part of our group activities we were looking for local level sustainability initiatives to get involved in and we started by contacting Kalmar municipality’s sustainability strategist to gain some insights. That’s when we learnt about Viable Cities and Kalmar’s initiative. We were asked if we wanted to sign the climate contract with the municipality of Kalmar, and for us it was a no-brainer.
We believe that the strength of this kind of work is in the combined power created when an entire city comes together and its companies are inspired by each other’s work. Therefore, signing a climate contract with the city of Kalmar was an exciting step that we are pleased to be part of as Jacobi, and we have high expectations of what this can lead to in the future,” said Linda Svensson Gonzalez.
“We’re going into this climate contract with a bit of a head start. For us, it has long been obvious that we should constantly look for areas to improve our own sustainability work. We already have lessons to share with other companies in Kalmar. The next step for us is to find even larger projects where we can collaborate with several other companies,”said Hilda Eriksson, Materials Coordinator.
“There is so much good that comes out of sustainability work.
I believe that the collective momentum created will lead to real change.”
Lizette Hughes, Procurement Coordinator
Doing Well, by Doing Good. A Company Mission.
The motivation to get involved with the climate contract and other community engagement programmes runs through the entire organisation, with our goal of becoming the most sustainable company in our industry. We know that the key to sustainability is working together, both internally and with external initiatives. You may have seen our ‘Join Our Journey’logo and this is what that stands for, we are all on this journey together.
“There is so much good that comes out of sustainability work. I think the big effect here comes from companies signing a climate contract, promising to contribute to the city’s emission reduction and being active in the network to raise awareness. The collective momentum created will lead to real change,” concluded Lizette Hughes, Procurement Coordinator.
A big thank you to Linda, Hilda, Lizette, and the rest of the Kalmar team for your work on the Climate Contract. We are proud of our local engagement and look forward to following the development of how the City of Kalmar's work contributes to creating a sustainable society. For more information on Viable Cities, you can check out their website and for more information on our own sustainability journey, find out more here.