July 19, 2024

MEET OUR SUSTAINABILITY AND COMMS MANAGER ADRIANA OLAYA RODRIGUEZ...

Adriana joined the team at Newell Brands as Rubbermaid Commercial Products’ (RCP) sustainability and communications manager (EMEA, LATAM and APAC), a new role for the business. With a background in research and subsequently consultancy, she brings a unique set of skills and expertise with her to the position. She will be spearheading sustainability strategy and helping us, our distributors and our end users, to drive positive change through actions, communications and engagement.

We caught up with her to find out more about her role as sustainability and communications manager...

Can you tell us a little bit about your career background?

After working at design and communications agencies in my native Colombia, I began a fellowship in Germany, researching design strategies to change consumer behaviour. Whilst I was there, I wrote my book, Make Them Behave Sustainably, an exploration of how to design strategies, systems, services and products that facilitate sustainable consumption. I then moved into the world of sustainability consultancy, becoming the global lead of the sustainability stakeholder engagement and communications team. This experience of helping clients to build and communicate their sustainability strategies, while engaging both internal and external stakeholders, will come to the fore in my role at RCP.

What does the sustainability and communications manager role consist of?

My main objective for this role is to set and implement the sustainability strategy. What does this mean? In a nutshell, working closely with different teams from both RCP and our parent company, Newell Brands, it will be my job to create the sustainability framework, strategy and plan for the business, as well as oversee the roll out.

From working with the product teams to develop circular products to finding ways to improve the impact of our manufacturing plants and supply chain, it will be my responsibility to ensure that the sustainability strategy sits at the core of everything we do. What’s more, I’ll be working alongside sales and marketing to communicate our achievements in the world of sustainability accurately and clearly to our customers, partners and distributors.

What is the importance of this role within the wider business?

It is well documented that we are now facing several environmental crises. As a business, we know that we must act now. Businesses are facing new legislation, particularly in Europe, mounting pressure from customers and challenging financial and business targets. Through more sustainable products, processes and practices, it is essential that we reduce our impact and that of our partners, suppliers and end users.  

What goals do you have for your role?

In the short-term, my goal is to understand where we need to focus future sustainability endeavours, measure the business’ impacts and create a clear path to reduce them. Alongside that I want to be engaging with internal and external stakeholders and educating/working with our teams to set their own targets and goals. The big picture? To reduce the business’ overall environmental impacts where it makes most sense to do so, and to build a future-proof brand and value chain.

Can you tell us a bit more about the sustainability strategy you plan to implement? How will that be done?

Before we can create a realistic, robust and fact-based strategy, we need to gather insights from across the business. As well as carrying out competitor benchmarking, for the first time for RCP, we will be carrying out a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory and a materiality assessment with a focus on environmental topics, as a complement to our global corporate assessment. This initial stage may take up until early 2025, but a thorough analysis at this stage is vital if we are to make an achievable and accurate strategy.

From there I'll go on to co-build the framework with different internal stakeholders. Working with the leadership team, marketing, sales and product teams, we will set our RCP vision and focus areas. We'll then set targets for each of those areas and in turn operational goals for each division and role.  

Our aim is to co-create something of value for our internal teams, end users, partners and distributors. We need to follow an inside out, outside in approach that responds to expectations but is science-based, achievable and credible. This is not a one-woman show, and I will be relying on everyone in the business to play their part.

You mentioned that part of the strategy would be to do a GHG inventory – what does this involve?  

This will be a full scope analysis of the business’ current GHG emissions. We will be measuring our own emissions (scope 1), reviewing the sourcing of energy, heating and fuel (scope 2) and then analysing and assessing our upstream and downstream value chain (scope 3), which includes transportation, the buying of goods, logistics and end of life.

From these results we will be able to assess where across the business we should be focusing our efforts – should we be looking at our raw materials, production plants or logistics? We can then ensure that we set accurate and ambitious yet realistic and science-based reduction targets.

What have your impressions of the RCP team been so far?

It’s inspiring to see how passionate everyone is here and it’s clear that there is a real appetite and readiness for change. The team ignited this journey before I took up my role and I’m excited to see what we can achieve together in the coming years.

What are the challenges of your role?

One of the main challenges of my role is that changing ‘business as usual’ and creating a more sustainable brand doesn’t happen overnight. It is a journey that doesn’t necessarily show immediate and quantifiable ROI, which can be a challenge commercially. It will be important for me to engage with the leadership team, educating them on the importance of the strategy, and why investing in sustainability projects is the right thing to do. I am confident that in the long run, it will allow us to position our brand better, backed up by insights and solid credentials.  

Another challenge is that this is very much a global role with a global scope. I will be working with people of different cultures and backgrounds, and with teams who have different needs and legal requirements. The successful implementation of the strategy requires commitment and action from all of them. Balancing and managing these nuances is a challenge, but for me, working with such a multinational group of people across all divisions of the business is a real opportunity.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

First and foremost, the team! I have learnt so much from them already, particularly about balancing sustainability and commerciality. In my previous life as a consultant, I never got to see the implementation phase and commercial viability of it. Most of the time, I wouldn’t see if the strategy achieved a positive impact or if it ended up forgotten in a desk drawer somewhere. I’m excited to be an instrumental part of the strategy through the full process, from creation, implementation and the measurement of results.

I think it’s important to say that this isn’t just a role to me. It isn’t a hat that I put on at the start of the day and take off when I get home. To me, sustainability is a lifestyle that reflects my core values and will protect us and our future generations. It has been so fulfilling to find open-minded RCP colleagues and see an attitude shift amongst them already. In fact, after a chat, some of my colleagues even decided to take the Eurostar over flying for a recent work trip. It reassures me that with the right information, motivators and nudges everyone can change and play their part to build the future we all want and need to live in.