Sustainable Engineering: Materials, Circularity and the Carbon Challenge Across OEMs
As OEMs face increasing pressure to reduce carbon impact while maintaining performance, reliability, and profitability, sustainable engineering has moved from aspiration to operational imperative. This session explores how leading manufacturers are advancing sustainable materials, embedding circularity into product design, and responding to global decarbonization mandates without compromising quality or innovation. Attendees will gain insight into how sustainability is being engineered directly into products, manufacturing processes, and supply chains—shaping the next generation of high‑performance, low‑impact systems.
This session will be led by Kristen Siemen, Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company and former Chief Sustainability Officer and Global Product Development & Engineering Executive at General Motors. Kristen has led sustainability, electrification, energy systems, and advanced manufacturing initiatives at global scale, overseeing the integration of sustainable materials, lifecycle design, and carbon‑reduction strategies across complex OEM portfolios. Drawing on her experience driving enterprise‑wide transformation in automotive and industrial manufacturing, Kristen will share practical, executive‑level perspectives on designing for circularity, navigating regulatory and market pressures, and aligning sustainability goals with engineering, quality, and business performance.
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