Speaker profile: Lars Ederstrom

As the Head of Sustainability and Governance at Sandvik Machining Solutions, Lars Ederström uses  a foundation of equality and inclusion in Sandviks mission towards a sustainable future. Reducing carbon emissions and becoming more circular are important goals in this mission.

The roots of Sandvik can be found in 1860,  a time when steel was still expensive to produce. The founder of Sandvik pioneered the Bessemer process. This process allowed the mass-production of steel on an industrial scale. Putting inexpensive, high-quality steel in  workshops transformed engineering worldwide. Today, Sandvik is a global engineering group with 46,000 employees. Sandvik has an extensive focus on sustainability, in recent years the organization made big improvements in terms of energy management and resource efficiency. 

Ederström studied mechanical engineering at one of the most prestigious universities in Sweden, the Chalmers university of Technology.  After graduation, he started out his career as a consultant at Andersen Consultancy, the consultancy firm currently known as Accenture. After a move to Pfizer, Ederström decided to join Sandvik in 2003. Working his way up through the company, Ederström became the head of innovation. Last year he was promoted to become the head of sustainability and governance, his current function.

Ederström aims to shift mindsets and outcomes in Sandvik, as well as for its customers and suppliers to reach sustainability targets. Sandvik will be one of the speakers during the Executive roundtable on Sustainability.