Regional Environmental & Sustainability Manager, AP

Under the direction of the Regional SHE&S Director and matrix reporting to the Global Director of Sustainability and Environment, this position will serve as the lead environmental and sustainability expert within the region, with a special emphasis on environmental regulatory compliance, environmental permitting, sustainability data reporting, and carbon trading and tax compliance activities.

The job holder is responsible for providing counsel and advice to the business and manufacturing sites regarding environmental and sustainability matters within their geographical area of responsibility.

This position will support regional leadership in the development of strategies for the effective implementation of key corporate and/or regional environmental initiatives and projects that continuously improving the environmental and sustainability performance and culture in the region.

This position is expected to navigate, interact, effectively communicate, and act as a change agent at all levels within the organization as it relates to environmental/sustainability matters within the scope of their responsibilities and advocate environmental affairs for Cabot’s benefit with external authorities or industry peers when necessary.

Act as subject matter expert that support special ad hoc environmental, compliance or M&A projects as needed. It is anticipated that this position will require regional travel (~30 – 40%).

Key Environmental Responsibilities

• Leads environmental legislative advocacy efforts in the region. Tracks and monitors emerging environmental regulations and trends applicable to operations in the region. Provides interpretation of requirements through communication and interaction with regulatory agencies, collaboration with key partners (e.g., consultants or peer companies) and/or through participation at industry associations, assess implication and advocate for Cabot’s interest.
• Collaborates with other Regional Environmental and Sustainability Managers and corporate functional leaders regarding interpretation of corporate standards, good management  practices and other applicable external standards. Provides advice to regional management and local operational and SHE staff regarding effective implementation strategies and to assist with solving complex environmental regulatory and technical problems.
• Working closely with business, operations, and corporate/functional staff, evaluates complex environmental regulatory requirements against business activities and/or operations within the region and develops effective implementation strategies to ensure compliance obligations are understood and met.
• Works closely with regional leadership to ensure that appropriate environmental programs and associated management systems are in operation and are effective in achieving the desired culture and continuously improved environmental performance including compliance with regulations and appropriate corporate and industry standards. Supports efforts to implement and maintain appropriate environmental management systems (e.g., ISO 14001 and/or RC14001® technical specification), as applicable to the site/region.
• Monitors and tracks high priority environmental compliance activities (such as major permitting obligations and high priority environmental related CAPEX projects) and provides oversight and technical support as needed. This includes ensuring effective status reporting on environmental compliance obligations.
• Monitors and tracks environmental non-conformances and ensures appropriate investigations, root cause analysis and corrective measures of environmental non-conformances are taken, lessons learn shared with relevant group. Develops specific initiatives within the region to drive environmental performance continuous improvement based on targets, trends and/or issues.
• Assesses environmental knowledge and competency within the region necessary to ensure compliance and meet business objectives. Conducts training and/or identifies coaching opportunities to improve environmental and sustainability management competency and capability in the region.
• Keeps regional leadership and corporate SH&E apprised of any key changes in environmental regulatory obligations and potential risks/liabilities.

Key Sustainability Responsibilities:

• Work closely with business, operations, and functional staff within the region to support implementation of sustainability-related initiatives with special emphasis placed on those related to achieving environmental-related sustainability goals (i.e., emissions, waste, water, energy, etc.) This includes potentially leading and/or serving on corporate sustainability/environmental goal teams.
• Coordinate and support the collection, validation, analysis and reporting of regional environmental related sustainability data and performance metrics including the collection and validation of annual waste, water, GHG (Scope 1 and 2) and other air emissions inventory data working with site SH&E and operations staff. Ensure validated data is provided in time for the annual Corporate Sustainability Report.
• Assist in the creation of the annual Corporate Sustainability Report and other critical sustainability disclosure and reporting activities (e.g., CDP, EcoVadis, ACC, CEFIC) including the collection and validation of environmental metrics data and capturing of regional specific information and good practices as necessary.
• Assist with and/or coordinate responses to internal and/or external requests for sustainability information within the region including assisting with the collection, validation, analysis and reporting of environmental footprint data for our operations.
• Participate in the planning and development of the annual Global Sustainability Days (GSD) activities and coordinate with regional and site leadership in the development and implementation of GSD activities within the region.
• Participate in ad hoc projects as necessary to support the implementation of the corporate sustainability program including but not limited to materiality assessment, climate scenario analysis, goal/target setting, life cycle assessment, etc. 

Education/Experience

• Bachelor/University degree in engineering or science; advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ experience in managing environmental programs, preferred within the chemical manufacturing industry, but experience in petrochemical, refining, or paper/pulp is also acceptable.
• Multi-site responsibility in environmental management roles required with regional or corporate headquarter experiences in multi-national companies preferred.
• Detailed understanding of recent environmental regulations as it applies to chemical industries in China is required; Asia is preferred.
• Strong experience in regulatory arenas, particularly air programs, as they relate to the chemical industry is required.
• A proven track record of strategic thinking and driving organizational environmental & sustainability performance improvement.
• Active network in the Environment & Sustainability community in the region.
• Solid working knowledge of sustainable best practices as they pertain to businesses, organizations and communities.  Working knowledge and understanding of the sustainability strategies as it applies to chemical industry and organizations similar to Cabot in size and scope.
• Experience in a legal and compliance background is an advantage.