Manager Climate Impact

This role owns Billerud's climate agenda at group level. Concretely, that means leading the development and consolidation of climate transition roadmaps covering Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and turning the company's science-based targets into actionable plans that business units and mills can execute. The Manager translates commitments into initiatives, not just documents, and keeps a live view of performance against them. A large share of the work is coordination and enablement. That includes driving decarbonization efforts across functions, regions and business units, facilitating workshops, and strengthening climate knowledge inside the organization so that operational teams can act with confidence. Tracking climate performance, spotting risks and opportunities, and supporting follow-up against targets sit alongside this, as does contributing to external disclosures such as CDP, EcoVadis and annual reporting. Longer term, the role helps shape Billerud's positioning in climate and energy regulation and stakeholder dialogue. Success looks like a coherent, funded and measured transition pathway that connects group strategy to mill-level action, and that stands up to external scrutiny from investors, customers and regulators.

The steepest learning curve is likely the industrial one: how a pulp and paper group actually decarbonizes. That means getting fluent in mill-level energy systems, recovery processes, fuel switching, electrification options and the economics that decide which levers move first. Few roles offer that depth across nine production units in three countries. Scope 3 is the other frontier. Billerud's value chain runs from responsibly managed forests through packaging converters to customers in more than 100 countries, so building credible supply-chain accounting, supplier engagement and customer-facing climate claims is a substantial skill set. The role also touches CDP, EcoVadis and annual reporting, giving hands-on exposure to the disclosure environment and, increasingly, to climate-related regulation and policy engagement. Beyond technical knowledge, the position is a masterclass in influence without authority. Coordinating roadmaps across functions, regions and business units, and facilitating workshops with senior stakeholders, builds change-management capability that transfers to almost any sustainability leadership role. Mentorship from experienced Group Sustainability colleagues and the wider talent-acquisition and reporting ecosystem should accelerate that growth.

The formal bar is a Master's degree in engineering, environmental science, business or sustainability, plus at least seven years in climate, ESG or adjacent fields. More telling is the depth expected on GHG Protocol accounting and Scope 1-3 boundaries. This is not a first climate role; it assumes fluency in baselines, emission factors, intensity metrics and target-setting mechanics, and the ability to defend those numbers internally. Experience in manufacturing, process or energy-intensive industry is explicitly meritorious, and it matters. Decarbonizing pulp and paper means engaging with recovery boilers, energy systems, logistics and raw-material supply chains, so candidates who understand industrial realities will translate targets into credible plans faster. A background in sustainability consulting or a corporate sustainability function would round out the profile, as would a track record leading cross-functional projects with senior sponsors. On the soft side, Billerud is looking for a facilitator and influencer rather than a lone analyst. The ideal candidate enjoys complexity, converts strategy into tangible action, and builds trust across functions and regions. Structured thinking, strong English communication, and genuine motivation for climate impact are the attributes that will separate finalists, alongside alignment with the company values of caring for each other and doing what you say.

Your application should read like a climate roadmap rather than a career narrative. Lead with the Scope 1-2-3 numbers you have personally moved: baseline years, reduction trajectories, SBTi validation, and the specific abatement levers you owned. A hiring team coordinating decarbonization across nine mills in three countries will scan for evidence that you have translated targets into site-level action, not just reported on them. Because Billerud pairs a Group Sustainability & Public Affairs function with operations, show that you can sit between both worlds. Quantify one or two cross-functional programs where you convened engineering, energy, procurement or mill management around a shared climate goal, and name the governance mechanism you used to keep it moving. Familiarity with CDP, EcoVadis and CSRD-adjacent disclosure will reassure them that reporting and delivery are not competing demands in your mind. In the cover letter, connect your motivation to the material transition itself: replacing fossil-based packaging with fiber from responsibly managed forests. Reference Billerud's stated values, "we care for each other" and "we do what we say", only if you can attach them to something concrete you have done. Since selection is continuous, apply early, and expect interviews, a recruitment test, references, and alcohol and drug screening as part of the process.

Climate is the centre of gravity. The role leads Billerud's low-carbon dimension, so expect deep involvement in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from the nine production units, where energy use, fuel mix and process efficiency dominate, and in Scope 3, where fiber sourcing, transport and end-of-life packaging choices matter most. SBTi-aligned targets provide the frame. The role also carries a disclosure and governance dimension. Supporting CDP, EcoVadis and annual reporting means the climate data must be consistent, auditable and aligned with evolving regulation, which in turn feeds climate and energy policy discussions. This is where the company's sustainability narrative meets its legal and investor obligations. Strategically, the work connects to Billerud's core purpose: making high-performance packaging materials for a low-carbon society and replacing fossil-based materials. Every roadmap decision ultimately supports that substitution story, helping customers in more than 100 countries reduce their own footprint while the company reduces its own.

The hardest part may be the gap between ambition and abatement cost. Billerud has set science-based targets, but the technologies that deliver deep cuts in an energy-intensive industry, such as fuel switching or electrification of processes, often require capital, infrastructure and time that sit outside the climate team's direct control. Keeping momentum when the cheapest reductions are already captured is a persistent test. Scope 3 compounds the difficulty because most emissions sit upstream in forestry and downstream in packaging use, across suppliers and customers the role can influence but not instruct. Data quality, methodological choices and the risk of greenwashing scrutiny all raise the stakes on every external claim. The same is true of disclosure: CDP, EcoVadis and annual reporting demand consistency, and a single restatement can damage credibility with investors and customers. Finally, this is a coordination role in a federated organization. Business units and mills have their own priorities, and alignment takes patience. The candidate will need to sustain engagement through workshops and follow-up rather than mandate, and to accept that progress is often measured in influence gained rather than emissions reduced in a single quarter.

Days are likely varied rather than uniform. A morning might involve reviewing emissions or performance data and preparing material for a roadmap or target follow-up; later, the Manager could be in a workshop with a mill or business unit, working through abatement options and agreeing owners and timelines. Between meetings, there is translation work: turning technical inputs into language senior stakeholders and external audiences can act on. Collaboration is constant. Expect conversations with energy, operations, procurement and finance colleagues, with Group Sustainability teammates on reporting and public affairs, and with counterparts in Sweden, Finland and the United States. Some periods tilt toward disclosure, when CDP, EcoVadis or annual reporting deadlines approach and data requests converge from several directions. There is also a strategic layer: preparing briefings, contributing to regulatory or policy positions, and strengthening climate capability through training or knowledge-sharing. Travel to mills is plausible given the multi-site footprint, and the pace will ebb and flow with target-setting cycles and reporting seasons.

The mandate is deliberately broad: climate across Scope 1, 2 and 3, spanning mills in Sweden, Finland and the United States. That breadth is the growth story. Someone entering here could plausibly build a portfolio that ranges from industrial process decarbonization to supply-chain engagement to regulatory positioning, which is unusually complete exposure for a single role and a strong platform for a later Head of Climate or CSO-track position. Because the role sits in Group Sustainability & Public Affairs and interacts with senior stakeholders, visibility is high. Successfully shepherding a transition roadmap through business units and regions demonstrates the influencing and governance skills that promotion panels look for. There may also be scope to shape the function itself, for example by building climate capability programs or standing up new performance-tracking routines that outlast the individual. Billerud describes career opportunities in a global organization, and its multi-country footprint supports lateral moves into operations, energy, procurement or investor-facing sustainability roles. External credibility could grow in parallel through CDP, EcoVadis and regulatory work, keeping the candidate marketable well beyond the forest products sector.

The closest working relationships are likely inside the Group Sustainability & Public Affairs team, where the Manager Climate Impact coordinates with colleagues covering reporting, public affairs and the broader sustainability agenda. The line manager and sustainability leadership set direction on the low-carbon dimension of Billerud's transformation, making this a high-visibility reporting line. Horizontally, the role depends on business units, mills and functions. Energy, engineering, operations, procurement and logistics colleagues own many of the levers that reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, so the Manager will spend significant time facilitating workshops, negotiating priorities and tracking commitments with people who do not report to them. Regional leads in Sweden, Finland and the United States are key counterparts. Externally, expect contact with suppliers and customers along the fiber and packaging value chain, plus the disclosure and policy ecosystem around CDP, EcoVadis and climate regulation. Investors and analysts may engage indirectly through reporting, and industry associations or policymakers could feature in the regulatory discussions the role supports. Talent acquisition and internal communications are secondary but relevant partners for recruitment and capability-building work.