Dive Brief:
- 3M has tapped long-time executive Amanda Yates to step into the role of chief sustainability officer, promoting her from her most recent post as senior director of global sustainability.
- Yates will take over from outgoing CSO Gayle Schueller, who announced her retirement last week. Schueller had been with 3M for more than three decades and served as its sustainability chief since 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile.
- Yates has been with 3M for more than 13 years and previously helped develop the company’s corporate sustainability strategy. This included the validation of 3M’s Science Based Targets initiative-aligned near-term emissions targets; establishing a roadmap on how to cut emissions and meet interim and long-term goals; and aiding the company in aligning its business operations to match its sustainability targets and ambition for products with a lower carbon impact.
Dive Insight:
Yates shared her new appointment in a July 3 LinkedIn post, shortly after Schueller announced her exit from the company.
“Sustainability has always meant something more personal — a way of thinking about impact, responsibility, and the future we’re helping shape,” Yates wrote. “I’m deeply grateful for the chance to continue this work in a role that feels both meaningful and humbling, at a company that believes in the power of science, innovation, and long-term impact.”
3M produces a wide variety of everyday consumer goods — like Command strips, Post-it Notes and Scotch Tape — and products with industrial applications — like advanced adhesives and structural bonding materials.
The company has several sustainability targets, including an SBTi-verified goal to reduce its direct, or scope 1 and 2, emissions 52.6% by 2030 compared to a 2019 baseline, and reduce indirect, or scope 3, emissions 42% by 2030 compared to a 2021 baseline.
In its latest sustainability report, 3M said it achieved these 2030 targets ahead of schedule. The company cut its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 64% last year and scope 3 emissions by 47.5%.
