Esam

Esam's goal is to catalyze collaboration so that real steps in a sustainable direction are taken – while at the same time strengthening customers' business.

Esam is sweden's sustainability consultants as a whole and was founded in 1990 in Umeå with the mission to change the world towards sustainability. This is an objective that still leads the work together with clients and partners.

Why is it important for Esam to work with sustainability?

"Since its inception in 1990, Esam's entire business concept and mission has been and is to change the world in the direction of sustainability," says Maria Blechingberg, Chairman of the Board.

What do you hope to achieve together with the other companies and organisations in the collaboration platform Viable Business Hub?

"We at Esam expect that industrial cooperation will lead companies to increased business and that the Umeå brand will be strengthened through proactive sustainability work. We also want industrial cooperation to reduce climate impact in line with the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree goal," says Michael Jalmby, senior consultant and co-director at Esam.

How can sustainability become an important part of companies' businesses and their business?

"Only when companies take the step of collaboration and integration of the entire value chain in sustainability work will the real business benefits come," says Maria Blechingberg.

What have you been able to contribute to the successes / good examples of sustainability work?

"In 2003, together with four other people, we started the collaboration project BioFuel Region in Västerbotten and Västernorrland, with the aim of changing the transport sector to renewable fuels (and electricity), based on the forest raw material. Esam was there as a driving force until 2014. Now, in 2020, the process is still being run in four forest counties with projects around the forest raw material, biogas, hydrogen, electricity and other renewable fuels – and interest only continues to grow as more players see that collaboration is the way forward to a sustainable transport sector, says Michael Jalmby.

What are the important challenges that we can tackle together and find solutions?

"In Umeå we have the same challenges as the rest of the world when it comes to sustainable development. We have a great advantage in our tradition of generous collaboration. We at Esam see that reducing the climate impact in line with the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree goal is something that interests and drives business development within collaborative companies and other actors. Here we are thinking, for example, logistics, energy efficiency, self-sufficiency in renewable/flowing energy, circular resource use as well as personal mobility. Other processes in companies such as gender equality, recruitment and competence provision are also interesting for collaboration and where we could make a difference," says Maria Blechingberg.