Climate Week NYC: We have the technology. Now let’s scale climate action!

Climate change is happening faster than expected. That means: Our actions to make the world sustainable have to accelerate. The necessary technology is there, but we still need to get the job done at scale. Ahead of Climate Week NYC from September 20 -26, I had the pleasure to talk to Adam Lake, Head of Climate Week at Climate Group. I’m sharing the full transcript of the interview below. Looking forward to your thoughts and comments.

Adam Lake: Hello, and welcome to “5 Minutes with...” by Climate Week NYC, bringing you a series of bite-size interviews with some of the key people, organizations, and businesses ahead of Climate Week NYC this September. Today we’re talking to Siemens AG and A. P. M?ller-M?rsk. Siemens are a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and health care. By combining the real and the digital worlds, they empower customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them transform the everyday lives for billions of people. And A. P. M?ller-M?rsk is an integrated container logistics company, with a dedicated team of over 80,000 and operating in 130 countries, enabling global trade for a growing world. I’m delighted to be joined by the chairman of both of those organizations, Jim Snabe. Jim, thank you for joining us today.

Jim Hagemann Snabe: My pleasure, Adam. Thanks for inviting me.

AL: I have a lot of questions, as you might imagine, so I am going to start that clock and kick off with a bit of a personal question. Jim, you spent a major part of your childhood in Greenland. Tell us, did growing up there impact your outlook on climate action?

JHS: I think it did. It didn't necessarily when I was there. I was two years old when I got there, and for me it was a great playing ground. I was a child in breath-taking nature, and I also developed a great respect for nature. I probably didn’t realize at that time how critical Greenland is and how it reminds us about the climate change. Where I lived, the ice would break off the inland ice, and that place has moved 50 kilometers inland in the years since I left Greenland – so quite dramatic change.

AL: You mentioned some of the childhood influences there that might have shaped your thinking. You’re now the chairman of two incredibly large organizations. How else has your experience perhaps influenced the role that sustainability plays at Siemens AG and A. P. M?ller-M?rsk?

JHS: I have been fortunate to be in two companies that have what I would call family values. They both were created by families and have long ownership in families, and they have these family values. Werner von Siemens once said, “I will not sell the future for instant profits,” and M?rsk has the same: “Taking care of today while preparing for tomorrow.” And I think that means that we have permission, maybe even an obligation, to think long-term. That’s why we have stayed in business for more than 100 years. M?rsk is 117 years. Siemens is 173 years. You can only stay relevant if you always invest in the future, and I believe right now sustainability is that future, so in that sense, I’m lucky to be where I am.

AL: You mentioned there the impressive history of both organizations that you work with. How has that maybe changed, adapted, evolved over the time that you’ve been involved with them both?

JHS: Both companies have a strong engineering and responsible background, but I’ve really seen the last years that sustainability has gone from being something we cared about to actually now becoming the core of the strategy. The conversation in the boardroom around strategy starts with sustainability. It’s about the role we play in the infrastructures in which we operate and how we can make them more sustainable and how we can make a business out of that. So to a large extent, it’s changed from how we spend our money, to how we make our money – which I think is a super important point.

AL: You talk about boards there. Obviously, boards are there to make the big decisions at the top. Our theme, our slogan for Climate Week NYC this year is “getting it done.” When you’re in those respective boardrooms, what does getting it done mean to you in the framing of sustainability?

JHS: These days it’s really about urgency and acceleration. The IPCC Report came out a month ago. It was very clear: Change is happening faster than we expected, and the indications are bigger than we expected, so it’s really about accelerating the [positive] impact [we can have]. Maybe a good example is M?rsk. We committed to zero-carbon shipping in 2018, and that we would have the first [zero-carbon] vessel sailing in 2030. At the time, we were quite concerned [in the boardroom], because we had really no plans on how to do that. Now, three years later, we ordered the first vessels – eight very large vessels – the first of which will be sailing in ’23. So we are seven years ahead of a plan. When [the project] was first announced, we didn’t know how we’d do it, but now we’re 7 years ahead. That’s the acceleration we need from business.

AL: Brilliant. I imagine a lot of young people engaged in Climate Week NYC, perhaps even watching this interview right now, are skeptical that a lot of these big organizations are saying things that sound very impressive, lots of big numbers, but they’re a bit skeptical whether or not it actually will make a difference. Do [such organizations] really mean it? What would you say to young people, [or people in general], who might be a little bit skeptical about the commitment, the action behind these words?

JHS: First of all, I want to say that I’m super excited that young people keep reminding us, and they should continue to. And then I would like to remind them that businesses actually have a huge impact. We create the necessary innovations. We scale those innovations into markets, and I think we can create the transparency as well so that we can track the progress. So, trust us – join us with your great ideas on how to do this better.

AL: I think that’s a very inspiring message. I’m going to sneak in a final question even though we’ve gone over time and just say: inspiration. What’s the most inspiring thing that you have learned on this journey that you’ve been on?

JHS: It is probably that this is not a zero-sum game. This is not bad business. It’s not the selection between shareholder or planet value. We have the technologies to make the world sustainable, and it is becoming good business, so now we just need to do it at scale.

AL: Brilliant. Well, I hope that we will find out a lot more, because we are going to be joined by Siemens’ Judith Wiese, Managing Board member and Labor Director for Siemens AG, who will be taking part in a special event, a flagship event at The Hub Live, Getting it Done: Critical Moments in the Climate Decade and How to Get There. That is taking place at 10 until 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, September the 21st. You can find out details about that event, as well as the full Climate Week NYC program, which runs from September the 20th through to the 26th, on our website. We all look forward to seeing you there. Jim, it just leads me to say thank you so much for joining us today. It’s been really interesting, and we look forward to working more closely with you at Climate Week NYC and beyond.

JHS: Thank you for what you do. Thanks a lot.