Accelerating Carbon Innovation Through Technology Learning

This year, GSGroup had the opportunity to attend the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center’s second annual Carbon Forum, emphasizing the theme "Accelerating Carbon Innovation Through Technology Learning."

The forum focused on the transformative power of technology in addressing climate challenges, with an exploration of the parallels between solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and the development of new carbon tech and the merits of a granular approach in carbon removal strategies.

-This topic is difficult and intangible for most of us, but if you scratch the surface, you see that this is something that most industries can benefit from and are benefiting from, says Agnes Levander , Head of Marketing Scandinavia at GSGroup.

A significant highlight was the discussion on the untapped potential of ocean carbon capture, which garnered attention for its promising prospects in mitigating climate change.

The conversation then pivoted toward the pressing need to transition the shipping industry to greener practices and the necessity of developments such as green corridors, scalable fuel alternatives, and elevating energy efficiency.

Transport, Increased Costs, and Environment

When addressing the question, is it possible to decarbonize shipping? Bo Cerup-Simonsen , CEO at Maersk McKinney M?ller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, and Advisory Board member at Corc. was both positive and pragmatic.?

- Yes, it's technically possible. If we look at technologies available today or that will be matured over the next five years, we can say, yes, we can decarbonize deep ocean shipping with new technologies, said Cerup-Simonsen.

Viewing this through regulatory lenses, we see a quite complex landscape because now you have to get authorities worldwide to allow storage of new fuel types and have new safety routines, etc. So there is a massive piece of work to be done on the regulatory side," Cerup-Simonsen continued.

- Finally, it must also make sense on the commercial and economic side. And here is the thing, these new solutions will be more expensive than the fossil-fueled solution. There is no doubt about that.

Many of the challenges are the same whether the transportation is by sea or on land.

- The transport cost will increase by 20 - 40 percent, maybe even more in some cases. And if you look at it in isolation and say that this is now in competition with the fossil solution, there will not be a willingness in most markets to pay what it costs now. That's just how it is," said Cerup-Simonsen, following up with a concrete example.

- For example, if you buy an electric vehicle today, and the cost for that vehicle is $100,000, you need around $1,000 extra to make it decarbonized as a product. But we can't mobilize that supply chain, so you can't check off a box and pay $1,000 extra and get a decarbonized product.

The forum concluded with a focus on the social acceptance of carbon technologies, underscoring its critical role in successfully implementing such innovations.

Moderator Nynne Bjerre Christensen , led the conversations, while Anna Munck Laybourn 's graphic facilitation added a visual layer to the exchange of ideas. This made the forum both informative and visually impactful, says Levander at GSGroup.

?-It is important for GSGroup to be part of these discussions simply to know what the headlines are locally, nationally, and globally. In this way, we can learn more about what expectations are set and how we can deliver the best offer to our customers both today and in the years to come," says Levander.

The Carbon Forum is a distinguished forum, recurring annually, aimed at key influencers, including policymakers, industry leaders, civil servants, researchers, media professionals, various organizations, and other influential decision-makers. It is an essential hub for in-depth discussions regarding the synergies among technical, economic, and socio-economic aspects of the ecological transition. The Forum highlights our challenges and outlines the necessity for developing and executing comprehensive strategies and solutions for a greener future.

GSGroup "lends out" internal resources to increase focus on women in technology

- It is important to have a common arena for women in the company, and increase the focus on diversity in technology

With over 8,000 member companies in various industries, ODA-Network has been working since 2005 to improve diversity in tech. Some of the women in GSGroup attended Oda Inspiration day earlier this year. It gave a lot of insight and value for the company, and now Head of Marketing at GSGroup, Anne Melsom Bjerke , is joining the ODA-Nettverk as a volunteer.

- To get this opportunity is a lot of fun. I hope I can contribute to a good Inspiration Day in 2024 in collaboration with a well-established team. After the first meetings with the volunteers, I am really impressed by the work that has been put in, and I am proud to have the opportunity to participate, says Melsom Bjerke.

Magnhild Agerup-Faxvaag , CFO and COO in GSGroup, says that attending the ODA Day is of great value to the company for several reasons.

- This engages the female employees, builds networks and increases awareness related to increasing the amount of women in tech. For us, it is important to have a common arena for the women in the company and this is a very good initiative for us to participate in, says Agerup-Faxvaag.

ODA Network is "non-profit". It is driven by the voluntary efforts of women in tech – for women in tech. The proportion of women and diversity is a global issue, which is also recognized in the UN's Millennium Development Goals, writes Oda Network on its website. Oda Inspiration Day 2023 gathered around 1400 participants and Elin Hauge, Jeremy White, Sophia Adampour and Marit Str?m?y were among those on stage.

Personal growth and corporate benefit

- The fact that our employees choose to spend their free time volunteering is always positive. In this case, our Head of Marketing, Fleet and Asset Tracking, Anne Melsom Bjerke, leads the way with voluntary efforts, where personal growth also becomes a corporate benefit, says CEO of GSGroup, Espen Ranvik .

Ranvik points out that it is through cooperation that change takes place, and that concrete goals have been set for the next few years.

- Gender balance in the workplace strengthens the dynamics. Here we recognize room for improvement and commit to learning for a more inclusive future, Ranvik says.

At a time when digital transformation and technology both provide unimagined opportunities, to solve some of the greatest challenges of our time, but also contribute to increased risk, diversity is absolutely essential for society's development, writes Oda network on its pages. When asked why such initiatives are important, Agerup-Faxvaag answers this.

- This says something about our focus and commitment to promoting more women in technology. We hope that this will help to highlight our commitment to women in tech and that this hopefully in the long term helps to increase the proportion of women in the company and in technology in general.

Since 2016, ODA-Network has measured the proportion of women in ICT in Norway, in collaboration with Kantar TNS. Although they have seen an increase from 17% to 29% in 2019, this is far from their target of 40% female share. Both in general within ICT, but also in top management, writes Oda further.

Ranvik says several concrete measures are being worked on over the next few years.

- We look forward to continuing our journey towards a more diverse, inclusive and efficient work environment, and we are grateful for each person's contribution.?

?Stole three wheel loaders worth 100 000 euro

They did not however come very far before the owner of the vehicles took action

One?of our longtime customer in Finland, who also works in property maintenance, discovered one morning that three of their new Kramer Wheel Loaders had been stolen. The value of these wheel loaders are well over €100,000.?

When the customer's administrator logged in to our service system, he immediately noticed that the location information of two devices was not correct, and that thieves had managed to bypass the system.?

?However, the special gps-tracker from GSGroup located in one of the stolen loaders gave a signal, revealing its whereabouts. The customer ?then was able to quickly determine the location of the units in the vehicles in question. ?

Arriving at the address provided by the tracker unit, it became clear that all three loaders were there. Stolen, but yet to be moved out of the country as many machines, equipment and machines are.?

- Professional thieves often act in such a way that stolen property is taken to an industrial area and the perpetrators monitor remotely for about a day or two whether the police or someone else arrives to search for the stolen property, Business Unit Manager for GSGroup Finland Oy Pekka Naukkarinen , says.?

Fortunately, in this case, the property was recovered quickly before it could be taken out of Finland. ?

- We see multiple cases such as this one. In this case, we commend the customer who early on realized that something was wrong and? used our technology to figure out where the stolen vehicles were.

?It makes it more difficult and time consuming to retrieve stolen objects when it is taken out of the country, but it is very much possible to find and retrieve them, says Naukkarinen.?

?- Earlier this year, we were able to a rental machine costing more than 100,000€, which had already been taken out of Finland. It feels good to be able to use technology to help our customers get their machines and equipment back and hold criminals accountable, says Naukkarinen.?

Please note: *The machine in the picture is not related to the incident.?

?