Communication will make visions fly
Visions of sustainability and climate goals are good, but without grounding in reality, they often remain just words. Christina Grandien, a Flexit researcher funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, will help Sweco bridge the gap between vision and practical implementation.
Sweco, which works with many community-building and engineering-heavy projects, has a high ambition when it comes to sustainability issues. Among other things, they have decided to become climate positive by 2030. However, this is easier said than done, because there are some challenges when it comes to implementing sustainable practices in customer projects. On an overall level, it is relatively easy to formulate radical goals, but creating commitment at all levels of a large organization is significantly more difficult, Christina Grandien explains.
"There is a high ambition at the company, but it is at the employee level, out in the projects, that that vision will become reality and a reality. So there is a gap between the company's vision of sustainability and what happens "out in the projects", she says.
Gets to work with issues close to her heart
Successful sustainability work requires that both managers and employees are committed, but the employee perspective on sustainability issues has so far been largely overlooked in research, and this is where Christina Grandien comes in. The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences' initiative to bring together researchers in the humanities and social sciences with industry, the public sector and civil society has made this possible.
" I am now an embedded researcher at Sweco to work on this project, and I really believe that I have something to contribute. My everyday life is to critically review and study organizations, but this time I will also be part of the solution, and contribute to it. It's so much fun," she says.
The project "The importance of employees in the implementation of sustainability goals: The importance of building bridges between visions and realities" runs from February 2024 to July 2026.