Small Steps are Still Steps in the Right Direction: Gry Saul on Leading Human Rights and Social Sustainability at Grundfos

“There’s a close link between human rights and the SDGs, with more than 90% of the targets reflecting different human rights or labour standards.” 

As the global Human Rights and Social Sustainability Lead at Grundfos, Gry Saul is guiding the company’s efforts to integrate human rights into its core business strategy. With a long-standing commitment to water technology and climate solutions, Grundfos is at the forefront of addressing global challenges while ensuring that its operations respect the rights and dignity of people across its entire value chain. Gry’s leadership reflects the evolving landscape of corporate responsibility, where human rights are closely tied to sustainable development, driving both business success and positive social impact.

A Journey Shaped by Global Challenges

Gry’s career path has been a mix of public sector development, partnerships with NGOs, and corporate responsibility. “My interest in sustainability started early,” Gry shared, recalling her studies and her experiences working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the development agency Danida. “I saw firsthand the challenges people face, but also their desire to create positive change.”

From her time in Uganda to her work building partnerships in Latin America and East Africa, Gry has always sought to connect business with ethical responsibility. Today, at Grundfos, she’s taking those lessons to a global stage, leading the company’s human rights and social sustainability initiatives.

Grundfos: A Legacy of Sustainability and Innovation

Founded in 1945, Grundfos is a global leader in advanced pump solutions and water technology. The company’s purpose is clear: “To pioneer solutions to the world’s water and climate challenges while improving the quality of life for people.”

Gry plays a crucial role in ensuring that Grundfos lives up to this mission. “My job is to lead our human rights and social sustainability agenda,” she explained. This includes addressing the increasing stakeholder demands that companies like Grundfos are facing and making sure the company respects human rights along the entire value chain.

Turning Commitments into Action with Human Rights at the Core

What sets Grundfos apart is its long-standing commitment to international treaties and conventions on human rights. As Gry noted, “We were one of the first Danish companies to sign up to the UN Global Compact in 2002.” Since then, Grundfos has continued to evolve its human rights policies, updating them as recently as 2022 to ensure they remain fit for purpose.

Gry explained how Grundfos approaches human rights: “We have formal policy commitments, but beyond that, we focus on making our impact real—through due diligence, human rights impact assessments, and building awareness across our workforce.” By embedding these practices in day-to-day operations, Grundfos ensures that employees and partners alike understand the importance of human rights in every part of the business.

Water Access: A Bold Goal for 2030

One of Grundfos’s most ambitious goals is to provide access to safe water for 300 million underserved people by 2030. “It’s not easy,” Gry acknowledged, “but we’re partnering with large NGOs and other organisations to make it happen.”

This mission involves innovative solutions that keep costs low and make safe water more accessible, especially for underserved communities in need. “We still want it to be a business,” Gry noted, “but we recognize that we need to really lower the price so it becomes more accessible.” For reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, partnerships and collaborations with large NGOs, and other relevant parties are crucial.

Beyond large-scale goals, Grundfos also works at the community level, digging wells and providing water through CSR community and employee engagement projects. These efforts, though local, are an important part of the company’s broader vision to support “improving the quality of life for people”.

Empowering Employees to Drive Change

For Gry, one of the key benefits of Grundfos’s human rights and sustainability initiatives is the impact they have on employee engagement. “People feel good when they’re doing good,” she said. She’s seen firsthand how involvement in these initiatives fosters a sense of purpose and belonging among employees, which in turn boosts motivation and job satisfaction.

Gry emphasised that this connection to purpose isn’t limited to office environments. “Our salespeople, for example, see the impact when they’re selling pumps that help farmers increase their yields,” she said. This direct link between the work employees do and the positive change it brings to communities makes a lasting impression.

The Shift from Soft Law to Hard Law

Looking ahead, Gry sees a growing trend in the human rights and sustainability space: the shift from voluntary standards to mandatory regulations. “We’re moving from soft law to hard law,” she explained, pointing to the increasing regulation coming from the EU, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

This shift means companies need to take a more strategic approach to sustainability. “It’s no longer just about ticking boxes,” Gry stressed. “It’s about understanding the impact you have along your entire value chain and being transparent about the challenges you face.”

Just Get Started

When asked what advice she has for companies looking to make an impact, Gry’s message was clear: “Just get started, even if you don’t have everything perfect from the beginning.”

She believes that bold ambitions—like Grundfos’s goal to provide safe water access to 300 million people—are essential to driving real change. “You may not know exactly how to measure everything at first, but that shouldn’t stop you from taking action,” Gry said. For her, the key is persistence, passion, and the willingness to take small steps toward big goals.

Final Thoughts: The Power of Small Steps

In a world where the challenges can seem overwhelming, Gry’s advice is simple but powerful: “Even small steps are still steps in the right direction.” Her work at Grundfos reflects this belief, showing that with the right approach, businesses can make a significant impact on both people and the planet.

As Gry puts it, “We all need to do what we can. And if we keep at it, we can create the change we want to see.”

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This is part of our ChangeLeaders interview series with corporate impact leaders sharing their journeys, learnings, and lessons from making an impact in the corporate world. If you are a ChangeLeader we should interview, please email us at info@wemakechange.org.

Interview: James Sancto & Laura De Alba (We Make Change)
Article: Laura De Alba