What is your job about? What area are you working in?
My job is about the materials used in the interior of a car. Basically, all the materials that you can see and feel – the textiles, the carpet material, the boot, etc. And in doing so, I focus on sustainability, on recycled materials and on improving the parts/ materials in order to become more circular in terms of circular economy. We have to think whether it is sustainable. What is the carbon footprint? Is it recyclable at the end of the life? There is a huge push inside the company to investigate every material and every part to make it more sustainable.

How do you and your work contribute to the sustainability targets of the BMW Group?
My work contributes to the sustainability targets of the BMW Group as we are analysing all parts. With regards to the interior, we calculate carbon footprints and we see which materials reduce the footprint and to which extend. Thus, which material mixtures could be used in order to provide a circular economy approach. I am very happy that BMW is committed to the climate agreement and I really feel that a great push is coming from the board. Further, there is a lot of energy and willingness amongst my colleagues to step up and everyone is eager to change this company and the world for the better. I am excited that this transformation is happening and that I can be part of it. It really gives my work and my daily life a purpose and I think purpose is what the younger generations are especially looking for at work. I think, it is very normal to question if what we are doing in our everyday life has a positive impact on the world. I realised that even if I change something super small, the impact is pretty big because you can multiply it by two million cars. And if you sum that up, that is impressive. It is very encouraging to calculate the carbon dioxide numbers, the energy numbers, because then I can see if I really manage to change something and whether it can have an impact.

What does sustainability mean to you?
On a personal level, sustainability is very important to me. I am driven by the issue of climate change and I try to continuously reduce my footprint in my daily life. I eat vegan, I travel less, I bike everywhere, I use public transport, I try to not waste any food, and I speak about it. I think that I have already impacted quite some people with facts about climate change. Sustainability is a huge area, and everyone can tackle what they think has the greatest impact and that is what I try to do, too. And I am glad that this world has a momentum of changing – at least the bubble that I am in.

What’s your idea of a sustainable world?
For me, a sustainable world is a world where we do not exploit resources, where we can say that we have left enough for future generations to live on, and where we have tried everything to keep the emissions in a corridor where the world is not going down.

Have you always been paying attention to sustainability?
I grew up in a family where sustainability was always an issue in terms of buying local, buying fresh and lots of vegetables. But in general, I think I only came to this topic during my studies when I was learning about climate change. I studied materials engineering which was all about material resources, the management of those resources and sustainability was always a topic throughout my studies.