Turning ESG challenges into business value

On 28 October 2025, a full auditorium gathered at the KPMG House in Helsinki for an inspiring event, “The business case for sustainability – from cost to value creation”. Hosted in collaboration with KPMG partners FIBS and Finsif, it marked the third event in this series. The invited keynote speaker, Katharina Stenholm, Chief Sustainability Officer at dsm-firmenich, set the scene with a compelling presentation that challenged attendees to rethink the role of ESG, and sustainability more broadly, in delivering tangible business value.

After her presentation, Katharina Stenholm and Tomas Otterström, KPMG Advisory Partner and Lead for KPMG Nordic business cooperation, had the opportunity to sit down and delve deeper into the essential ingredients for leading sustainability in modern companies.

Their conversation highlighted a fundamental truth – the future of ESG leadership lies in grounding sustainability in business reality, engaging the full leadership team and a broad set of external partners, focusing on actions over words, and always measuring impact including financials. In doing so, companies can turn sustainability from a compliance checkbox into a core source of value and competitive advantage.

Katharina’s first key insight draws from the world of crisis management, “Never waste a good crisis". As ESG faces its share of backlash and scrutiny, she sees this as a unique moment to focus on what truly matters.

Tomas notes, that rather than scattering resources across every trending topic, leaders must ensure both budgets and attention are directed to the most material ESG topics – the ones most critical to the business and its stakeholders.

— A crisis is a chance to sharpen your focus, and decide where you want to lead, where to compete and where to only comply, Katharina concludes.

One of the biggest pitfalls Katharina observes is the overuse of sustainability jargon – what she calls “sustainability alphabet soup”. For meaningful progress, sustainability professionals must translate goals and initiatives into the language of business: risk, opportunity, growth, and value creation. 

— If you want to get the rest of the C-suite on board, she says, you have to speak their language.

Tomas nods and adds that this approach helps demystify ESG and frames it as a strategic imperative – not simply a niche concern.

Katharina emphasizes that no sustainability leader can – or should – go it alone. Genuine transformation happens when the CEO, CFO, R&D, Chief Procurement Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, and, crucially, business leads, i.e. those responsible for delivering on the P&L, are all engaged.

— I could not agree more, says Tomas, sustainability can’t live in a silo. You need buy-in from those who drive the business, otherwise even the best-intentioned initiatives will stall.

Katharina knows from experience that building these coalitions and embedding sustainability into business processes is critical for success.

While the moral case for sustainability is compelling, Katharina argues that companies must focus on “materiality” – prioritizing sustainability issues that have a tangible impact on business outcomes. This means moving away from broad pledges and towards targeted actions that create measurable value.

— It’s not about how good your intentions are, she notes, it’s about what you actually deliver in the marketplace.

Many organizations have made bold public pledges on sustainability, but Katharina stresses that the real test is in execution. She advocates shifting the focus from enterprise-wide commitments to concrete product performance, as clients are particularly interested in your offering. They experience value through products that are demonstrably better for people and planet.

Tomas notes the need to focus on the stakeholders who matter most – which in almost all cases include at least clients and investors, but often also other stakeholders are key.

Sustainability should be woven into the very fabric of product quality, becoming a key differentiator for client loyalty, market share, and competitiveness.

— Don’t expect price premiums for sustainable products to last forever, Katharina cautions. The real value is in building lasting relationships and market positions.

Perhaps Katharina’s most pragmatic point is that ESG initiatives must deliver measurable corporate business value and return on investment.

— Sustainability is not exempt from the rules of business, she asserts. Initiatives have to prove their worth alongside everything else competing for corporate budgets.

Simply put, sustainability leaders must be able to quantify impact – using the same rigor and financial discipline applied to any major business investment.

Tomas fully agrees. He notes that there has been great interest in the pragmatic approach KPMG is applying for helping companies identify, assess and quantify the financial value of sustainability. An understanding of the impact on revenues, costs, asset value and capex, and ROI is what management needs to make the right decisions on sustainability.