Tell us about your professional path before joining Latvijas Finieris!

My experience is quite varied and I have worked for many companies in different sectors. I have worked for quite a long time in the field of higher education, including as the Head of Study Quality, as the Head of Secretariat at VSIA “Latvijas Televīzija” and as the Director of Administrative Management at SIA “Rīgas nami” – support to Chairman of the Board. Before joining Latvijas Finieris, I worked for the construction company Velve, where I was the Administrative manager and my job tasks included sustainability issues.

But I have been involved with sustainability professionally for a long time. The beginnings of my interest in sustainability issues go back to my time working at RISEBA. Back then, more than 12 years ago, we were only talking about sustainability and no one was using the term “sustainability”. I have taken on sustainability-related responsibilities in other jobs alongside my direct work responsibilities, where my involvement in sustainability and corporate governance processes was largely my own initiative. The first Sustainability Report was prepared while working at Latvian Television. I have also managed sustainability projects as an external expert. Since 2019, I have been a member of the Latvian Corporate Social Responsibility Platform (CSR Latvia) and one of the experts.

Why did you choose to join Latvijas Finieris?

When I was looking up job advertisements, I noticed the name “Latvijas Finieris”, which I had never heard anything bad about. I also gained a positive impression of the company at the CSR Latvia courses, where Pauls Ābele, Head of the Business Support Sector at Latvijas Finieris, has participated as a guest a couple of times. And I have to admit that the position of Sustainability Manager was and still is my dream job, where working on these issues is no longer just my initiative alongside my other responsibilities, but a daily job with concrete objectives and targets. I also felt in job interviews that the company’s values were aligned with mine and, more importantly, that they are alive in the company, and don’t just look pretty on paper. And what’s more, the work here is meaningful, which is very important to me.

This is a new position at Latvijas Finieris. What does a typical day look like for a sustainability manager?

The days are highly varied and a sustainability professional needs to have a very broad profile – understanding not only the environment but also occupational safety, employee wellbeing and satisfaction, as well as social issues. Human rights must be respected not only within the company but throughout the supply chain. We need to know how sustainable our suppliers and customers are. It is also important to understand how we exercise our responsibility to society, how we support and how we educate. Governance is an important part of sustainability, which means ethical and fair business practices that also affect the economic and financial performance of the company.

Spring is currently the season of the Sustainability Report, as we collect data and report on the past year. Before that, there were many meetings with colleagues in administration and factories, as well as research work and information gathering. It should be noted that Latvijas Finieris is not a company that does not understand or needs an explanation of what sustainability is. Colleagues are very knowledgeable and it’s up to us to collect their knowledge! So it was important to understand where we are in our development, bringing together all aspects of sustainability in the environmental, governance and social fields. We have also started taking new measurements. We are working on methodologies, criteria and scales to measure these. Our goal [together with my colleague Edijs Putniņš, a leading environmental and sustainability specialist] is to identify and analyse existing processes and systems where we already follow sustainability principles. After the report is written, we will start a new round of conversations and meetings with departments and colleagues in the factories. Looking to the future, we will set new goals, coordinate and advise our colleagues to reach them.

What do you want to achieve as Sustainability Manager at Latvijas Finieris?

They are certainly not just my goals, because I share them with the company. The aim is to put a sustainability management system in place that works on a daily basis in all departments. It is also essential to raise staff awareness of sustainability processes so that they are organically involved in decision-making, both in the evaluation of investments and in other aspects of sustainability, both environmental and social, as well as in governance. Of course, we will also look for systems to help automate data collection.

Do you practise sustainability in your life and how?

First of all, I am a great patriot of Latvia, which means that I care about what is happening in my country, in my neighbourhood – in the environment where I live, so I am actively involved, for example, in writing municipal projects to improve the local environment, taking part in votes and evaluations of initiatives. Together with the union “Jaunmārupe skrien”, where I am one of the founders, we opposed the draining of Cenas Moor. Sustainability is also about paying your taxes; being honest and open. Of course, I also think about water and electricity consumption on a daily basis, and I shop responsibly and thoughtfully so that I don’t have to throw the products away later, because sorting waste is only a result in the sustainability chain. I try to help as much as I can by finding a long-term project or initiative, not just during Christmas campaigns, for example – donating a certain amount of money each month to SOS villages or, in recent years, to the Auce Animal Protection Society in gratitude for the cat we took from the shelter.

If you could make one change that would make a big difference to the sustainability of the world, what would it be?

My belief is that if something seems to need to change, it means that it is you who needs to change first. Everything is based on people, and nothing can change until people’s attitudes change. And it is an attitude and responsible behaviour not only towards the environment but also towards people, society and the country as a whole because all it takes is for one person or company to be dishonest and additional rules, laws and restrictions will come into being that don’t always make sense or promote development. Respect and integrity are essential at all levels, from the individual to the leaders of companies, corporations and countries. This is the only way we can see positive changes.