Electrolux Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer Elena Breda: 4 Things to Know

Electrolux Group has promoted Elena Breda to chief technology and sustainability officer, reporting to Group President & CEO Jonas Samuelson. Breda also a member of Group Management.

Former Electrolux sustainability leader Vanessa Butani is exiting to join Volvo Cars.

Here are four things to know about Breda's executive experience, and Electrolux Group's sustainability strategy.

1. Business Scope and Scale: Electrolux, founded in 1919, is based in Stockholm, Sweden. The appliance maker had 51,000 employees as of 2022. Revenue was 34.880 billion kr (US$3.45 billion) in 2022.

2. Sustainability strategy: Electrolux is striving to achieve the following goals...

• Become climate neutral across its value chain by 2050.
• Achieve climate neutral operations (scope 1 and scope 2 emissions) by 2030.
• Reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 80% between 2015 and 2025, and the absolute scope 3 emissions from the use of Electrolux products by 25% during the same time period.

3. Executive Experience: Breda brings over 20 years of experience in sustainable product innovation across the Electrolux Group’s three innovation areas – taste, care and wellbeing – most recently as senior VP for the Food Preservation Product Line globally, the company said. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and a master’s degree in electronics engineering from Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy.

4. Executive Perspectives: In a prepared statement, Samuelson said: “Elena’s knowledge and long-time passion for our sustainable product innovation will be invaluable as we continue to develop products and solutions that help people live more sustainably while working toward our For the Better 2030 Goals, including our ambitious climate goals."

Added Breda: “I really look forward to leading this core part of our business at a time when efforts by companies such as Electrolux Group will be critical to counteract climate change."

Electrolux Sustainability Executive: Why Technology Partners Should Care

By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.

The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.