Career journeys - experiences in sustainability

Two EY business consultants share their recent career experiences and how these have helped them to deepen their sustainability knowledge.

Hey! Glad you found your way to this blog. We are Sara Arnhjort and Iita Turpela, working as business consultants for EY, based in Sweden and Finland.

Sustainability is a big topic in business and in our roles here at EY. We’ve both also recently completed a six-month secondment to the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) as part of EY Ripples — our corporate responsibility program that supports a range of initiatives, from environmental and social responsibility to impact entrepreneurs. The SMI was launched in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III, when he was the Prince of Wales. Under the SMI’s mandate, the Terra Carta, the SMI aims to build a coordinated global effort and enable the private sector to accelerate the achievement of global climate, biodiversity and Sustainable Development Goal targets.

We recently sat down to chat about how sustainability is influencing the work we do with clients, the increasing role of equity in climate, and the lessons learned from navigating a busy year for sustainability and climate action.

Sara: To start off, when talking about sustainability and consulting, I’m often asked: “What’s the role of business consulting in supporting businesses’ growing focus on sustainability?” How would you explain it, Iita?

Iita: As business consultants, we work with a team of professionals who support clients (usually at a C-Suite level) to solve key business challenges. This might mean helping set a new strategy, implementing a new operating process or identifying ways to optimize efficiency. Sustainability can impact all of those areas and more.

I’ve certainly seen an increase in businesses asking for support on a range of sustainability issues — from net-zero planning to voluntary and mandatory reporting. We typically work with large multinational organizations, governments and financial institutions, as well as with charities and NGOs on a range of sustainability issues. As part of a global organization, I’m lucky to work with companies in the Nordics and worldwide on these topics — something I love about the role!

Sara: I completely agree — the opportunity to work with global colleagues and clients is one of the highlights of my role too. I’d love to know a bit more about your interests and what brought you to work on sustainability.

Iita: I work as a consultant within Finance in Helsinki and have been at EY for two years. During this time, I’ve developed a keen interest in sustainability and in helping create long-term value – I really enjoy bringing this perspective into my work. Outside of work, I love ice swimming combined with sauna in the winter — truly living up to the image of the Finnish culture! How about you?

Sara: I work in Stockholm and have been at EY for three years. I’m passionate about creating positive social and environmental impact, especially while transforming business models and solutions. When not working, I enjoy growing things, particularly my plants (and even better if they are edible!) and spending time in nature, so we certainly have some shared passions there. I’d like to know more about your experiences — what where your greatest learnings from working on sustainability over the past year?

Sara: I couldn’t agree more. During the past year, I’ve been able to participate in key discussions on how to measure the sustainability impact, both from the perspective of broader projects and initiatives and within specific industries such as food and agriculture. This made me realize the importance of having a standardized measurement, alongside an enabling policy environment, to drive implementation and impact. Working with companies on their sustainability agenda, I’ve also gained a deeper understanding of how corporate governance can help businesses unlock value from sustainability.

Another key takeaway for me is the power of collaboration in driving change. By joining forces across industries and finding areas where real impact can happen, organizations and industry leaders will be able to truly accelerate the transition to a sustainable future.

Iita: Thanks, Sara! It’s clear these are all important issues for business and governments to think about in the near and the long term. It’s always said that no one person or organization can solve climate change alone — collaboration is the only way.

Sara: Well, that wraps up our time for today. From the very beginning, we’ve both been encouraged to build our own path here by constantly being proactive, bringing up new ideas and exploring new areas of interest — with the EY exceptional experience being “yours to build.” Hearing from you today, I’m sure we can both say, without doubt, that this truly applies to the two of us. Before we sign off, we’d both like to thank the teams at EY and SMI for their fantastic support in making this opportunity happen.

To find out more about the EY Global Sustainability strategy and progress, click here.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.