Medical device company Medtronic announced the appointment of Raman Venkatesh as its first Chief Sustainability Officer, with responsibility for leading the development and execution of the company's environmental sustainability strategy.
Venkatesh joins Medtronic from Danish sustainability technology company Aquaporin, where he served as executive vice president, responsible for global market solutions, including commercial activities. He also served at Tau Ventures, advising the AI-focused venture capital fund and its portfolio companies in healthcare, energy and mobility. He has also held senior roles, including Executive Vice President and COO of SAE International, and as CEO of the Strategic Business Unit at Eureka Forbes.
Medtronic's environmental goals include ambitions to achieve operational carbon neutrality by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2045, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, as well as 2025 targets to obtain 50% of energy from renewable sources and alternatives, reduce water use intensity by 15% and reduce waste intensity by 15%. Last year, the company committed to setting science-based short-term emissions reduction targets and long-term net-zero targets for validation by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), to be introduced in 2025. The company also set several new goals around circularity and packaging reduction in 2023.
In a LinkedIn post announcing the appointment, Ken Washington, senior vice president and chief technology and innovation officer at Medtronic, said:
“I’m excited to see Raman and his team move Medtronic forward on our sustainability journey. I am confident that together we will shape and unlock innovative new solutions that serve our patients and our planet.”
