myclimate: Who in your company is responsible for climate protection training?
Cédric Baier: Training – both professional and personal – is generally very important to our company. That’s why, for example, we have set up a learning platform where we can make specific modules available to employees. I am responsible for training on sustainability topics. It was clear to me from the outset that in the medium term, we would be providing sustainability training at many levels. Last year began with providing context for our decarbonisation projects, which meant taking a look at the causes and consequences of climate change and at the regulatory landscape.
What long-term climate protection goals does your company pursue?
Our current focus is on building a fossil-free crisps factory and electrifying our fresh service delivery vans. Our long-term vision is to achieve net zero, including Scope 3. We are fortunate that our key suppliers are already working towards this themselves. We maintain a fruitful dialogue with them, especially when it comes to exchanging data. Decarbonisation measures are good, but they can only have a systemic effect if the reduction efforts of all stakeholders can be cascaded throughout the supply chain.
What do you see as the biggest challenge for your company on the path to net zero?
We have FLAG emissions in Scope 3. Adapting agricultural practices will be a challenge. We do not want to impose more bureaucracy on our potato farmers. At the end of the day, what counts is achieving real reductions. We’ve done our homework on Scope 2. With 100% of our electricity sourced from Swiss hydropower, these emissions are close to zero.
The two major areas in Scope 1 for us are production and logistics. In production, our aim is to heat the frying oil to around 200 °C without using fossil fuels – not an easy task, but we have set ourselves an ambitious goal. Our favoured solution is heat recovery from the frying process in combination with high-temperature heat pumps. Unfortunately, there are still no heat pumps that can provide the temperatures we need.
Our fresh service fleet consists of around 130 delivery vans (3.5 t). It is precisely in this vehicle segment that the market does not yet offer any real alternatives with sufficient payload and range. We have already started to convert our company cars – about 50 of them – on a voluntary basis. From 2026, we will no longer purchase any internal combustion vehicles.
What was your employees’ level of knowledge and awareness regarding climate change, climate protection and their own ability to make an impact?
The three levels that we were able to train were the Board of Directors, the Executive Board and all the department heads. They are expected to have a certain level of basic knowledge, and they do, but people’s starting points on this subject are still very different. They all bring their own views, personal attitudes and lifestyles. Since climate change affects all aspects of our lives, it is not possible to deal with it as a detached, technical issue that only exists in the workplace. You have to meet people where they are, rationally and emotionally. That’s why I prefer classroom training, at least for the initial contact with the material. After that, compact e-learning courses are well suited for annual refreshers.
How did the training help you achieve your goals?
In management, we now have a common understanding, a common language and are familiar with the standardised terms and concepts. At this level, internal communication about decarbonisation has become as normal as talking about what we’re going to have for lunch. Of course, there are different preferences and different speeds, but everyone wants to eat. Now it’s time to anchor this mindset at the grassroots level.
To what extent has your company’s culture changed in terms of sustainability and climate protection?
We uphold six corporate values, and sustainability is one of them. Decarbonisation projects and internal communication about them have been going on for some time. The training was therefore not an icebreaker, but rather a deepening and standardisation of prior knowledge. Sustainability in general and the net-zero target in particular can thrive in our healthy, open corporate culture. But our educational journey has only just begun. For the transformation to succeed, all our employees have to embrace it.
What was the feedback from employees on the workshop?
Very good, with some people saying they learnt a lot, and one person saying they learnt nothing at all because they already knew everything beforehand. Some were overwhelmed by the seriousness of the problem, but the majority were able to leave the room with a spirit of optimism. The question of whether the training would have a concrete impact on the respective teams and processes was, of course, assessed very differently as well. The consensus among executives that more teams and key functions should now be gradually trained shows that we believe in a serious transformation of the company.
Who would you recommend to participate?
In the long term, every company will have to deal with the reality of climate change; many are already feeling the effects strongly today. All industries are facing major changes. Consequently, it makes sense for all companies to actively tackle the transformation.
What surprised you the most?
The training managers at myclimate master the balancing act between amusing, methodically varied explanations and keeping things light. They can then answer pointed and factually difficult questions from board members without embarrassing the questioner or losing their seriousness.
What have you personally taken away from the training?
It’s worth organising such training sessions separately for each target group. I only have one chance to get people to engage deeply with the subject. For this reason, I will continue to take on the effort of re-evaluating the proportion of playful approach, scientific foundations, political developments and, above all, the relationship to my own corporate strategy for each training course. Climate training is now much more than just climate training. These days, climate training represents essential training on culture, risk and strategy.