October 30, 2025
Product sustainability is a crucial issue for companies around the world. A recent UL Solutions survey of more than 1,000 global industrial leaders found that 85% of businesses intend to increase their spending on sustainability in the coming years. As an independent third-party testing, inspection and certification company and a global authority on safety science, UL Solutions is well positioned to help companies ensure safety plays an essential role in enabling sustainability innovations across industries.
In late September, UL Solutions brought its safety science mission to Climate Week NYC 2025, where the company’s executive leaders joined other influential leaders from business, government, academia and the climate sector for events across New York City.
Gitte Schjøtz, executive vice president and chief business operations and innovation officer, led a contingent of ULS leaders who engaged with fellow members of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which played a key role in Climate Week. Additionally, Dr. Robert Slone, senior vice president and chief scientist and innovation officer at UL Solutions, led several discussions, including one at the prestigious New York Academy of Sciences for its “Science of Risk” symposium.
At the WBCSD Council meeting, the UL Solutions team hosted a workshop titled “Proving It Matters: Turning Product Sustainability into Trust and Business Value.” They highlighted a key trend: Businesses are increasingly moving from broad commitments around regulatory compliance toward building sustainability strategies focused on delivering measurable business results. This is so that sustainability commitments are made and carried out with value in mind — to customers, regulators and the bottom line.
Dr. Ana Behr, senior director of sustainability for science and technologies at UL Solutions, moderated a panel discussion on product sustainability with executive leaders from Carrier, Siemens and Target. Schjøtz, who currently serves as a council member of the WBCSD, shared key insights during her introductory remarks.
“When a product design team makes changes to improve environmental performance, those choices often affect safety and performance in ways that are not always obvious and require innovation,” Schjøtz said ahead of the discussion. “Take recycled plastics as an example: A product may meet a recycled content target, but if the recycled material does not meet fire or electrical safety requirements, the result can put people at risk. We see these trade-offs every day — and they show why treating sustainability as a continuation of our safety mission is so important.”
Schjøtz, who joined UL Solutions in 1996, has extensive experience in devising and enabling business strategies. She noted that UL Solutions has carried out safety certifications for more than 130 years as part of its mission of working for a safer world.
“We see companies have the most success when they seek objective, science-based third-party engagement early in their product development process,” said Schjøtz, who also serves as chief sustainability officer. “Early engagement with independent safety and sustainability experts helps catch these unintended consequences, de-risk innovation, and shorten the time it takes to bring products to market. In my experience, at a company that serves many customers across many different industries, the earlier sustainability is integrated into product development, the greater the impact — and the fewer the trade-offs down the line.
“Independent verification is not about adding extra steps but about helping ensure that innovation leads to products that are both safe and sustainable from the start,” Schjøtz added. “In the end, it comes down to market integrity: Consumers want to make informed choices, and companies want the data and scientific rigor to make strategic decisions about their products and processes.”
To learn more about UL Solutions services, visit the sustainability and environment page.
Photo caption: Dr. Ana Behr, senior director of sustainability for science and technologies at UL Solutions (left), moderates a discussion with Emily Crites, head of global sustainability at Carrier, Stacy Mahler, U.S. head of sustainability for smart infrastructure at Siemens, and Stephanie Grotta, vice president of responsible sourcing and sustainable capabilities at Target.