(157f) Achieving Sustainability: A Career in Automotive

The world is rapidly changing and the evidence of global degradation by humans is hard to deny. The topics of sustainability and circularity are at the forefront of discussions in academics and the media, and almost every company has made commitments to zero carbon, zero waste, using recycled materials, and increased sustainable materials content. But are these efforts real and are they audacious enough to help?

I spent the entirety of my career working for one company and spent the past 25+ years pushing to implement sustainable initiatives from within. My learnings from the laboratory drove me to a sobering conclusion--that many lower-impact materials are in fact superior to those industry has used for the past 75 years. They could also be produced at competitive or reduced cost, and many were significantly lighter in weight. So why is it so difficult for meaningful change to happen?

Reviewing our teams’ previous successes in implementing over 15 industry-first, sustainable materials and the roadblocks and barriers that were overcome to get there can help us understand how we might accelerate progress toward greener initiatives. The role of industrial partnerships and the environmental benefits that can be achieved through unlikely collaborations will also be discussed.

Last, I will present what I envision to be some of the next big environmental challenges that have yet to be adequately addressed, and how re-thinking the way we’ve always done things can bring huge benefits for the future of our planet.