Protecting wild bees and fighting for biodiversity: How Amalie has found her purpose at Ramboll
Amalie Svanholm is passionate about protecting nature; wild bees, in particular. At Ramboll, supported by empowering leaders, she plays a specialised and important role in Ramboll’s work in biodiversity.
“Protecting and restoring biodiversity is and always has been extremely close to my heart.”
Amalie is a biologist and wild bee expert. For her, it is paramount that her love for nature aligns with the work she does each day. At Ramboll, she has been able to share and develop her expertise and take on a key role as one of Ramboll’s main advisors on the biodiversity aspects of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
“So much of what we are working on is new and requires innovation. It’s exciting to work with large clients because they’re under time-pressure to comply with new regulations but they also have the capacity to implement significant changes that lead to major impacts on biodiversity.”
Amalie has felt at home in nature as long as she can remember. Growing up exploring nature in the expansive forests of New Hampshire, she finds purpose and peace in nature and feels grounded by the interconnectedness and beauty of natural ecosystems. Today at Ramboll, her fascination with plant and animal life lies at the heart of her work.
“During my master’s I started to focus on wild bees. And why bees? Well, bees are a great indicator of the health of an ecosystem. They’re also a fantastic way to communicate about biodiversity because people can relate more easily to them than to the microorganisms they can’t see.”
“Bees didn’t have a big role in my team’s projects or research when I first joined,” Amalie explains. “But early on I expressed my interest in using my knowledge and passion for bees to my manager. This led to us discussing how we could add monitoring of wild bee populations to our services because of my specialty in the subject. I felt that my ideas and expertise were respected and that my manager was excited to see how we could use my insights to expand our services and bring value and new solutions to clients.”
“Having now worked closely with several clients, I think many of them are surprised by how much they can do to improve biodiversity by implementing some quite simple concepts. Planting native species in an area, just as an example, can have a huge impact.”
“I’ve experienced first-hand that if you’re passionate about something and it aligns with project work, you can really dive into it.”
In addition to developing Ramboll’s bee-related services, Amalie has quickly become a leading client-facing expert on the biodiversity aspects of the EU’s CSRD and has developed and hosted client webinars.
“I’ve been amazed by how much trust and autonomy I have been given from the outset. My leaders show confidence in me and my colleagues, encouraging us to learn new things, refine our skills, and share knowledge with others."
“And I love that at Ramboll if you express interest in a new type of work or want to develop your skills, there’s a leadership culture that makes it possible. I’ve been on lots of interesting courses and workshops and I’ve gotten to dive into some pretty niche subjects – I mean, I did a tadpole course a few months ago. How fun is that!”
It is not just the trust that Amalie has experienced from leaders that makes her feel at home at Ramboll. It is also the safety she feels to be inquisitive and critical that plays an important role.
“I feel I’m surrounded by colleagues who are visionary and very good at listening. Our projects feel dynamic because we get to help shape how we do things – it all feeds back into this environment of openness. And you know, it feels collaborative to me at Ramboll, not competitive. That is vital when it comes to working with biodiversity because we need all the different perspectives we can get.”
“And I suppose I knew when I joined Ramboll that it was a big company with all kinds of specialists from around the world, but I’ve been surprised by how easy it is to get in touch with people and get their help on projects. It just gives me a good feeling when I go to work every day. I feel that everyone is eager to help one another and recognises the importance of mutual support," she explains.
“I also really appreciate that my colleagues care about the natural world, just like I do. Having shared values helps create an enriching environment.”
When Amalie originally thought about moving from academia to corporate life, she feared that she would have to give up all the time she spent (and loved!) doing fieldwork out in nature. But to her surprise, her role in Ramboll enables her to spend ample time in the field – especially during spring and summer.
“My favorite time of year is April to August. That’s when nature really pulses and blooms and wakes up from the long, chilly winter. I love doing fieldwork – in fact, it’s something I feared I’d have to give up moving into consulting. The fact that I still get to do it is amazing. And because we’re out in the field so much during spring and summer, it’s meaningful to me that then I get to use flex hours during the quieter winter season.”
“We have a flex-based time management system that helps us track how many hours we’ve worked and what projects we work on,” she explains. “And we have regular team meetings to talk through our workload and projects. My manager asks each of us how we’re doing on our projects and if we have too much or too little work and we just adjust tasks from there.”
“At Ramboll, I also get the option to work remotely. I usually like to work two days a week from home but I’ve also been able to travel and work from abroad which is incredible. Of course, I have to agree with my manager on when and for how long I’m remote but it’s so great to have those options.”
Amalie is proud to be part of creating solutions for the future.
“Working with the preservation and restoration of biodiversity was the only thing that ever made sense for me. I’m meant to be out in nature, observing the natural world and trying to encourage others to protect it. I’m incredibly happy to get to be doing that at Ramboll.”
Let’s close the gap on biodiversity
Working strategically with biodiversity starts by seeing nature as a partner, rather than an infinite resource. To close the gap on biodiversity, we must leave nature in a better state than before as we shape tomorrow’s societies.
Want to know more?
Amalie Svanholm
Consultant
+45 50 25 86 44