MATEUSZ ZAJĄC
THE ENERGY INTERVIEW
On a winter’ s evening many years ago in southern Poland, a young engineering student returned home after a long day to find his house cold and dark. In those days, most of the buildings in Kraków were heated by coal boilers, into which people had to shovel coal each day.
But on this particular evening, Mateusz Zając’ s mother had fallen asleep before she could tend the boiler, which meant there was no warm water and the house was a brisk 16 ° C.
Thinking back now, Mateusz sees the icy shower he took that night as a turning point in his life.“ That was the moment I decided that everybody should have access to resilient, modern, affordable and clean energy,” he says.“ That’ s the philosophy I bring to work every single day.”
This passion has led him to shape energy strategy across 50 countries, as Sustainability Leader of ABB’ s Electrification Service.
Mateusz grew up in what he describes simply as“ energy poverty”. While most homes in Poland are now comfortably heated( Mateusz himself is a proud heat pump owner), this is a reality that remains a massive issue elsewhere in the world. So far, Mateusz’ s career has taken him from Rolls-Royce’ s Marine Division, where he worked on propulsion systems, through a procurement role at Shell, before landing at ABB. He has now spent 11 years at the Swiss industrial giant, where he works on electrification, automation and energy management.
MATEUSZ ZAJĄC
TITLE: SUSTAINABILITY LEADER
COMPANY: ABB ELECTRIFICATION SERVICE
INDUSTRY: MACHINERY AND ELECTRONICS
Mateusz is Sustainability Leader for ABB’ s Electrification Service division, driving circular and digital solutions to help businesses decarbonise, extend asset lifetimes and build a more resource-efficient future.
Regardless of the positions he has held, Mateusz has always been guided by steadfast principles.
“ For me, sustainability has never been about tightening the belt,” he says.“ It’ s about freedom – freedom for our engineers, our equipment and our energy.”
Of course, companies like ABB, whose machinery and electronics are used in climate technologies the world over, are essential to facilitating that freedom.
“ You cannot do the energy transition without the equipment to power it,” Mateusz explains.
What is ABB’ s Electrification Service? Today, ABB Electrification is a US $ 16bn business that employs 55,000 people worldwide – roughly half of the entire ABB Group. Within it, the Electrification Service Division( ELSE), though a relatively new organisational structure, draws on a century of accumulated engineering expertise.
24 April 2026