On April 15, 2025, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce welcomed members and invited guests to the Executive Sustainability Breakfast at the Swedish Ambassador’s Residence in The Hague. This exclusive gathering served as a platform for exchange between business leaders, policymakers, and experts from Sweden and the Netherlands on the pressing topics of sustainable development and environmental innovation.
Lorenzo van Haelst, Managing Director of Tetra Pak France and Benelux, shares his highlights from the event:
We had the opportunity to deep dive into the potential of our solutions to contribute to sustainable transformation in the food value chain, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the Netherlands.
Some of my highlights:
• I am very proud of Tetra Pak’s historic presence in the Netherlands since 1954, with a strong economic and industrial footprint and one of our company’s international food expertise hubs.
• To drive innovation forward, dialogue and collaboration with industry and policymakers are essential to achieve an enabling framework. Throughout the day, we had the opportunity to share ideas and perspectives during engaging discussions.
• Our food processing and packaging solutions play a double role to ensure food security while reducing the environmental impact at our customers’ sites, through four main pathways: decarbonising dairy, innovating for new food, reducing food waste, and making food safe & available everywhere.
• We invest in sustainable packaging design, as well as the circular economy to give a second life to our beverage cartons. With Yellow Dreams, we’re very happy to announce the opening of a new state-of-the-art recycling facility in 2025 in the Limburg province.
Meet Emma Wergeland, Business Support Associate at WMC
Emma Wergeland is a Business Support Associate at WMC, a commodity trading company leading the way in the energy transition industry. At WMC, she plays a crucial role in advancing and formalising the company’s culture and operational processes. Emma has a background in organisational development, especially focusing on scale-ups. Previously, she gained experience in the People and Culture division at Swapfiets and served as Project Leader for the Young Professionals network at the Swedish Chamber. Emma holds a Master’s in Business Administration and is passionate about driving organisational success through a people-centred approach.
Why should you join the Young Professionals?
Join YP to be a part of the leading Swedish-Dutch network for young professionals in the Netherlands, with over 100 members. In close collaboration with some of the largest Swedish companies, it hosts networking and knowledge-sharing events. The network also offers you to celebrate fun Swedish traditions such as Midsummer and Lucia!
What would you like to achieve with Young Professionals?
I want to contribute to the network's growth and offer engaging, educational and fun events that meet the needs of our members.
We are pleased to welcome Joerie Nijhuis, Co-founder of IT’S UP TO YOU, as one of the featured speakers at the upcoming Tech Table: Diversity in Tech Breakfast.
Joerie brings a unique approach to organisational culture and behavioural change, shaped by a background in business strategy and experiential learning. His work centres on designing immersive simulations that allow individuals and teams to test behaviours, reflect, and adapt—fostering transformation without the constraints or consequences of real-world settings.
His journey began with an interactive film designed to combat bullying, which has since been used by over 350,000 children across the Netherlands. Today, this initiative has grown into a science-based methodology acknowledged by the Dutch Youth Institute and the Knowledge Platform Inclusive Collaboration.
Prior to founding IT’S UP TO YOU, Joerie spent more than a decade at Accenture, where he advised senior leaders on innovation and transformation. He now works with organisations to embed inclusive behaviours at all levels, driving sustainable cultural shifts in leadership and collaboration. In recognition of his impact, Joerie was recently named one of Culture Amp’s Top 25 Global Culture Creators for 2025.
What to expect:
Joerie will share practical, research-informed strategies for embedding inclusive behaviours that lead to meaningful and lasting change across teams and organisations.
Event Details
Date: May 13, 2025
Time: 08:30–11:00
Venue: KPMG Meijburg & Co, Amstelveen
We look forward to welcoming you to a morning of insight, dialogue, and inspiration.
