In the second instalment of our series featuring sustainability leaders at Kemin, we sit down with Lode Verbruggen, Associate Director of Sustainability. With a strong sustainability strategy background and extensive field experience, Lode brings a forward-thinking approach to his role. In this interview, he reflects on his journey within the industry and his current focus at Kemin, where he drives efforts to embed sustainability into core business practices. Lode shares insights into the evolving role of sustainability in corporate strategy and how it extends beyond just a professional responsibility — sustainability plays a crucial role in shaping our company’s operations, improving our environmental impact, and aligning with global sustainability goals.
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“Sustainability has always been important to me, even as a child. My parents, both bioengineers and my grandfather, a farmer, instilled a love for nature and the environment in me. While I didn’t initially see how I could connect that to my career, having studied business, economics, and law, I’m happy that I’ve finally aligned my personal and professional interests at Kemin.
I began my career in the financial industry, working in strategy and in a team that worked closely with the CEO. There, I came into contact with consulting work and eventually shifted fully into consulting, first at IBM at the start of the digital transformation and later at KPMG. Here, I focussed on large business transformations, like mergers, restructuring, and activities that have a big impact combined with digital transformation. Step by step, the focus was on sustainability transformations, though they weren’t necessarily called that back then. At the time, one large project I was involved in concerned digital electricity metres. These were installed to provide information about energy consumption, leading to dynamic pricing. I enjoyed working on such projects that had a sustainable impact.
Then, in 2017, I helped set up a consulting company, Brightwolves, with five colleagues. Each partner focused on a different subject area, and I found sustainability to be my focus. This made sense as it allowed me to build on existing knowledge in an area I care about, as I believe climate change is one of the key challenges of our generation. At the time, we started developing services around sustainability from a transformation perspective. We worked on various projects, from raising awareness at the board level to developing ESG dashboards and conducting our first life cycle assessments. It was a learning curve, and I also did some courses on sustainability, including one at Cambridge, which helped me expand my network and refine the company’s value proposition.
After a decade in consulting, I felt discouraged that so many in sustainability were telling others what to do, but only a few were doing it. So, I wanted to shift from advising to implementing. I’ve always worked in service companies, but I became more interested in industry and production environments — they felt more real. I also had an interest in agriculture because of my family’s background. So, when the opportunity at Kemin came up, I was eager to take this on.
I started working at the business unit, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health in the EMENA region. There wasn’t a strict job description when I joined. Kemin had started conducting life cycle assessments on products, and there was a link between operations and marketing. Much of the drive came from marketing, and while the first steps were taken, there were still many aspects to develop, so building that up was a major part of my role. I also built a team to support those efforts; two new young and enthusiastic colleagues have recently joined us.
Instead of setting up sustainability practices on a business unit level, I proposed a single sustainability team serving multiple business units. Now, I lead sustainability efforts for the EMENA region, focusing on two key pillars: ESG reporting and life cycle assessments. We also work on integrating sustainability into our value proposition, for example, working with universities and business schools on research projects to help our customers become more environmentally sustainable without resorting to greenwashing. One of the key initiatives is to explore customer segmentation related to sustainability, figuring out what’s valuable to our customers when it comes to sustainability and how to communicate this effectively to them.
We aim to make sustainability a key part of our brand and product offering, and we want to focus on turning sustainability into an opportunity rather than a cost. For example, we're developing simplified life cycle assessment tools for R&D, which will allow us to evaluate the sustainability impact of our new products. We’re also working on a scope four approach, which involves assessing our products and understanding their impact on our customers’ processes. Scope 4 emissions, or ‘avoided emissions,’ refer to reductions outside a product's life cycle, such as energy-saving batteries and teleconferencing, which lower electricity and travel needs. One example of our work in this area is on a product we developed for feed processing that reduces the energy needed to produce animal pellets, lowering electricity and natural gas usage by 10-15%.
We want to stay ahead of the curve and explore various strategies to ensure we’re well-prepared for the future. In Denmark, for example, a CO2 tax on cows has already been introduced, and some companies are already benefiting from rebates for their sustainable products. As such, we're looking into similar opportunities.
In the short to mid-term, one key milestone for our sustainability team is getting CSRD reporting on track. We need to report in 2026 on 2025 performance. Another priority is ensuring our life cycle assessments are credible and easy to communicate. I’m focused on building a happy and productive sustainability team and want to ensure we get into a good rhythm and work towards making a difference. Additionally, I want to develop a solid approach to scope four reporting, which will greatly enhance our sustainability efforts and provide deeper insights into our environmental impact.”
