Michael Präger
Chief Sustainability Officer at Bystronic
Michael Praeger is a man of words and action.
As Bystronic’s Chief Sustainability Officer, he knows that conversations, consultancy and campaigns are very useful elements of the move to get companies towards carbon neutrality.
But there is one element above all that turns the heat from simmer to a boil – action.
For action, read ‘operationalising’; a 16-letter, seven-syllable word that actually gets straight to the point.
Michael, who has worked for 30 years in industrial corporations, mainly in metals and packaging, says: “What inspires me is helping companies to see sustainability as a business opportunity and to get it done.”
He is passionate about operationalising sustainability: shifting the focus from reports to action.
He has found the perfect place with Bystronic, which has embedded sustainability into every area of its business – and is modelling and sharing its ESG performance management system to help other businesses do the same.
He says: “There is a decision companies need to make. I think it starts with the mindset of sustainability as a business opportunity versus ‘it’s a compliance issue’.
Many companies struggle to deal with the demanding regulatory environment that is coming at them. This is where the change of mindset comes in, says Michael, who points out that compliance and action are not mutually exclusive.
He says: “Operationalising sustainability means you need to know where the regulatory landscape is going, but rather than focus on fulfilling irrelevant data requirements to become over-compliant, figure out what the right thing to do is and take action on that. This is what we mean by operationalising sustainability – you use sustainability as a platform to optimise performance.”
Bystronic is a globally leading technology company in sheet metal processing.
Its products and solutions enable transformation into a productive and sustainable future.
It says: “The intelligent connectivity of our laser cutting systems and press brakes with innovative automation, software and service solutions is the key to comprehensive transformation in the sheet metal industry.”
Bystronic’s HQ is in Niederönz, Switzerland, with global production sites in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Americas and China.
Bystronic was listed on the stock market in 2021 and did not have a sustainability strategy.
“We spent the first year or so developing an ESG performance management system and started to make progress. After that, we spent another year to 18 months focusing on execution. Now Bystronic’s system serves as a benchmark in the industry.”
Now, three years on, Michael feels Bystronic’s approach to embedding sustainability has helped it evolve into an industry ambassador.
“We no longer only want to make ourselves sustainable, but we are now focusing far more on helping our clients and supply chain, as well as the entire industry to become more sustainable.”
As for a final piece of advice for businesses unsure where to start with sustainability, it is simple – and worth an apologetic nod to Nike.
Just do it.
Read the full story HERE.
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