BrazilAFRY Management Consulting launches Sustainability practice
AFRY Management Consulting has launched a new practice dedicated to the sustainability transition, assembling an initial team of 50 consultants across five continents to kickstart its ambitions in the domain.
With over 19,000 staff worldwide, AFRY is one of the world’s larger engineering and design groups. The Sweden-headquartered group focuses on the industry, energy and infrastructure sectors, and supports clients with an end-to-end offering from advisory and design through to engineering and realisation.
The firm’s consulting wing, AFRY Management Consulting (which has about 600 consultants), takes care of AFRY’s suite of strategic advisory services, with the unit’s portfolio now enriched with a new practice.
Having been active in the field of sustainability since its inception over 100 years ago, the domain is not new to AFRY. A glimpse on the firm’s track record in the field spans engagements across the full sustainability and ESG landscape, including strategy development, impact assessments, decarbonisation roadmaps, regulatory compliance, and broader ESG-related work in the areas of social, governance, health & safety, human rights, and more.
Projects for clients stretch all corners of the globe, from helping Swedish retail giant H&M with developing a global circular packaging strategy and supporting a phosphate fertilizer in Brazil with mitigating river contamination, through to advising Southern African countries on water management, enabling the design and build of renewable energy in the Nordics, and guiding industrial groups through EU Taxonomy preparation.
“We’ve gathered experts from different parts of the business with deep sustainability knowhow to form our new Sustainability practice,” said Roland Lorenz, Head of AFRY Management Consulting.
Commenting on the firm’s decision to launch a dedicated unit, he said: “Sustainability is high on the agenda of decision-makers in every industry. Building up a dedicated team of sustainability management consultants will allow us to support our clients in sector-specific and overarching sustainability challenges and opportunities.”
The initial 50-strong team will focus on the strategic side of change, and work closely with a network of over 1,300 sustainability experts across AFRY.
“They will address challenges and opportunities along topics such as climate change, decarbonisation, circular economy, biodiversity, nature-based solutions, water challenges, and social responsibility, bringing high level advisory together with actionable solutions ensure measurable impact and real change,” said Lorenz.
Taking the reins
The fresh Sustainability practice is led by the Swedish-Finnish duo Helena Mueller and Tiina Kähö, who both have been appointed to Co-Lead from within AFRY Management Consulting.
Mueller (based in Stockholm) brings 25+ years of experience from the banking and financial services industry to the role, while Kähö (based in Helsinki) has a track record of 15+ years in the environmental consulting scene.
“Sustainability challenges and opportunities are complex and therefore need holistic solutions and thinking. By combining deep sector knowledge within many critical sectors with management consulting and engineering competence, we have a unique position to support our clients,” said Mueller.
Kähö added: “We are proud that AFRY can be the spearhead advisory for businesses wherever they are on their sustainability transition journey. We can provide advice, technical solutions and design, from the planning stage to completion.”
Earlier this year, AFRY Management Consulting was named among the best consulting firms in the US by Forbes, and a leading management consultancy in the UK by the Financial Times.
Meanwhile, AFRY last week announced the acquisition of KSH, a Canadian engineering and project delivery firm with 130 employees in Montreal and Toronto.
