Karin Ekberg

Karin has more than 30 years of international consulting and industry experience in several sectors, based out of Switzerland, Brazil, Sweden, and Germany and with extended business projects mainly in North America, China and other countries in Asia. Karin has spent five years in the position as Head of Environmental Services at adidas Group, establishing and maintaining group-wide environmental strategies and programs for the company’s internal business operations and its global supply chain. adidas is one of the world’s leading sporting goods companies. Karin has spent six years in the position as Director Sustainability at ASSA ABLOY, developing and implementing Sustainability strategies for the group globally. ASSA ABLOY is the largest global supplier of intelligent lock and security solutions. Furthermore, Karin has had the role of Chair of the Board of Directors at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (2012-2013). The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is a trade organization comprised of brands, retailers, manufacturers, among others, representing more than a third of the global apparel and footwear market and working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products. Karin is an approved SAC Higg FEM (facility environmental module) verifier (general and chemical specialist) and trainer. Karin has also been engaged during the set-up and first years of the ZDHC, Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals, taking on several leadership roles within the ZDHC collaboration. Karin was the Swedish industry representative to the global ISO 26000 process. Karin is also an experienced facilitator at workshops and keynote speaker at conferences. Karin has a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Chalmers, Gothenburg, and ETH Zürich technical universities and a Diploma from post-studies in environmental management at the University of Zürich. In June 2019, Karin was awarded the Higg Index Verification Leadership Award at the SAC Global Member Meeting in Barcelona for her commitment to the verification and her outstanding support for the SAC.