Jasper Jung Helps GM Build a Global Community around Sustainability

How can 200,000 employees around the world transform transportation and help build a global community driven by GM’s sustainability efforts?

That is a question Jasper Jung often asks himself. At GM, one of our core values is relationships, and we recognize our success depends on our relationships inside and outside the company. As a senior analyst with GM’s sustainability team, Jasper is responsible for cultivating relationships and building a strategy around the long-term value sustainability provides for GM and the communities where we operate.

A vital part of that community resides within our four walls. Employees are the backbone of GM, not only by the products they make but by the actions and attitudes that shape our culture.

“GM is committed to serving and improving the communities where we live and work,” says Jasper. “The local sustainability and corporate responsibility efforts led by our employees around the world are a big part of that.”

Jasper also engages GM’s external communities, which includes everyone from customers and suppliers to policymakers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Before joining GM, Jasper worked at Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental advocacy organization, to help promote how corporate sustainability can drive value for both companies and the environment. This past experience has offered a unique vantage point that helps GM strengthen relationships with NGOs and other key stakeholders.

“Working across various roles in the public, non-profit and private sector has provided a broad range of perspectives on how to use sustainability as a lens for creating meaningful solutions we can all benefit from,” he says. “Being a part of the team here at GM has offered an incredible opportunity to apply those experiences and take solutions to scale.”

Jasper also leads GM’s sustainability reporting and transparency efforts. Chief among these is the company’s annual sustainability report.

“Our sustainability strategy is driven by our customers, and the report is designed to speak to the issues that our customers care about in an interactive way while responsibly reporting on our social and environmental progress to all our stakeholders,” says Jasper.

In addition to these roles, Jasper has also been leading the development of GM’s global water strategy, helping to better understand how water impacts our company, supply chains and the communities where we operate.

Raised on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Jasper has always had a passion for the water, so much so that he learned how to swim before he knew how to walk. Water even flows through Jasper’s pedigree. His father was a fisherman and his mother was a swimmer for the Korean national team.

Jasper recently had the opportunity to explore conservation efforts in Mexico – one of the most water-stressed regions in the world – through Corporate Eco Forum’s Sustainability Leadership Development Program.

Traveling with 12 other delegates from leading companies, Jasper met with conservation leaders in Mexico City to discuss corporate sustainability strategies and opportunities. The group also explored the state of Chiapas where they made several stops, including the Comon Yaj Noptic organic coffee cooperative, to witness firsthand how a collaborative, sustainable mindset protects the long-term success of local companies, community, and the environment.

“Our trip was a unique opportunity to observe firsthand how collaboration can be so successful and the benefits of collective action – engaging the entire value chain to drive long-term value,” Jasper recalls. “The people there showed us how to collaborate in a way that creates an incredible product – arguably some of the best coffee in the world – and do so in a responsible manner that respects resources like water that we all share.”

From those early days on the Gulf Coast of Texas to his recent adventures in Mexico, Jasper’s experiences tell the story of his sustainability journey, which continues through his work at GM.