Chief Sustainability Officer — Commercial-Vehicle Platform

The mandate

A commercial-vehicle platform has made public commitments on product emissions, operations, materials and circularity. Delivery is distributed across product, sales, plants and supply teams, while profitability recovery has increased pressure on capital. Some programmes offer direct customer and resource value; others rely on weak baselines or unowned supplier assumptions. The board needs a Chief Sustainability Officer who can protect commitment integrity while making execution financially and operationally owned.

The CSO will influence approximately SEK 13,350 million in revenue and programme activity and 1,800 employees and material partners. Scope includes sustainability strategy, climate and circularity pathways, product and operational evidence, supplier transition, disclosure, assurance and programme governance. Business executives own delivery and finance owns accounting. The CSO sets frameworks, challenges plans and escalates when public promises exceed controlled evidence.

Commercial vehicles require use-phase specificity. Payload, route, energy source, utilisation, lifetime and second use affect emissions and customer economics. Product claims will state boundaries and conditions rather than present a universal result. The CSO will connect lifecycle evidence to fleet propositions, residual value and infrastructure assumptions, working with customers without appropriating commercial ownership.

Profit recovery will include resource productivity. Energy, scrap, remanufacturing, battery health and logistics can release cash and lower impact together. Projects will carry baselines, operating mechanisms, capital and verification. Savings that reduce resilience, safety or product life will not count, and offsetting will not replace feasible operational change.

Why this seat is open

The prior CSO is leaving through an accelerated but professional transition. Interim coverage protects reporting deadlines, yet permanent authority is needed for the next operating plan. This urgent replacement is targeted within six to eight weeks. The departure is unrelated to an undisclosed assurance or conduct finding.

What you will own

• Convert public commitments into product, plant, supplier and capital pathways.
• Govern lifecycle boundaries, baselines, methods and claims.
• Prioritise transition and resource projects using operating and financial evidence.
• Build supplier data and improvement around material exposure.
• Lead disclosure, assurance and correction of unsupported statements.
• Develop sustainability leaders embedded across the platform.

Evidence governance will start with source ownership. Vehicle data, production energy, materials and supplier estimates will document method, uncertainty and control. Independent assurance will test material metrics before publication. Where evidence changes, the CSO will correct claims and operating decisions rather than protect consistency with earlier messaging.

Supplier engagement will be segmented by material, influence and capability. Strategic partners may require joint engineering, renewable-energy or circularity programmes; smaller suppliers need common requirements and practical support. Procurement incentives will reward verified improvement and continuity, not survey completion. Customer commitments dependent on supplier action will identify that dependency explicitly.

The transition portfolio will distinguish no-regret productivity, protected options, customer-linked investment and compliance. Each has different return and decision gates. The CSO will resist both symbolic projects and indiscriminate short-term cuts. Workforce, community and employee-safety consequences will enter implementation plans.

Governance will distinguish enterprise standards from operating ownership. Product, plant and procurement executives will carry transition measures in their normal scorecards; the sustainability team will provide method, challenge and assurance. Incentives will recognise verified outcomes only after projects operate. Where volume or mix changes intensity, reporting will explain the driver and absolute consequence rather than select whichever denominator produces a favourable story.

Physical climate resilience will be assessed alongside transition. Flood, heat, water, energy and transport exposures may interrupt plants or critical suppliers before long-range emissions projects mature. Adaptation cases will define operating thresholds, recovery options and residual exposure, then compete transparently for capital with other continuity investments.

The first 12 months

Within 90 days, the CSO will reconcile public commitments, review the 15 largest projects and assess leadership. The board will receive a pathway with costs, dependencies, evidence gaps and immediate corrections or investment decisions.

By month eight, sustainability criteria should govern all material capital submissions, three resource or product programmes should reach verified implementation and supplier evidence should cover 75% of material purchased exposure. At least one weak project or claim will be stopped or redesigned.

At year-end, selected operations should improve energy or material intensity by 8%, approved projects remain within 10% of cash cases and 95% of disclosed material metrics pass assurance without significant adjustment. Two customer propositions must use verified lifecycle evidence, while unresolved high-risk claims receive board action before publication.

What the board will measure

• Public commitments supported by controlled operating evidence.
• Profitability improved through resource and lifecycle value.
• Product claims reflecting real fleet conditions.
• Supplier transition focused on material exposure.
• Strong business ownership and sustainability succession.

The person

You are a Chief Sustainability Officer, transition executive or industrial strategy leader with 18–22 years in automotive, transport, energy or engineered products. You have influenced at least SEK 7,750 million and 1,250 employees. Evidence must include an assured product claim, a profitable resource programme and a public commitment you corrected when evidence changed.

This onsite Gothenburg role requires fleet, plant, supplier and board travel. You combine scientific integrity with finance and operating credibility.

Compensation and terms

Base salary is SEK 2.8–3.8 million plus annual incentive. Measures include verified transition, resource value, claims integrity, supplier progress, profitability and succession. The final package will reflect transition accountability, with joining arrangements able to accommodate as much as six months of notice.

Confidentiality

The platform, fleets, suppliers, commitments and assurance evidence remain confidential. Further information follows qualification and an undertaking. Gothenburg and approximate figures are not identifying.