Thoughts on Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Before the Flood”

My thanks go out to National Geographic. The other night they invited me to the White House to see Leonardo DiCaprio’s new environmental film “Before the Flood,” and they let me in even after I accidently left my Generation Y credentials at home.

This was part of the White House’s South by South Lawn (SXSL) event. And I’m not sure if I was the oldest person there. But when The Lumineers started playing and people got up out of their chairs and started dancing – at a White House event!? – I did feel a bit like I was crashing a millennials-inspired festival that my kids might attend.

The real focus of this event though, like DiCaprio’s film, was the impact of climate change. In fact, before the screening, there was a panel with DiCaprio interviewing President Obama and climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe.

It’s very powerful when you have the President of the United States so eloquently making the case for why acting on climate change is critical, combined with a celebrity bringing so much passion to the issue. But there is a role for corporations to play in inspiring action, too.

As a global industrial manufacturing company, we take pride in making real what matters, including energy-efficient products and solutions that help our customers reduce their carbon output. But with roughly 300 large manufacturing plants worldwide, we have to consider our own footprint, too. We produce around 2.2 million metric tons of carbon output a year, roughly what’s generated by Washington, D.C.

But, we’ve set a goal: We want to erase it by 2030.

We are now aiming to become one of the world’s first major industrial companies to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint.

I’ve already shared some details about how Siemens will achieve these reductions on our company blog. But instead of rolling those out here, let me just end this post by explaining why we want to get there.

 Our efforts have begun with a significant investment in efficiency measures – roughly $110 million. However, in the long run, we believe this investment will actually pay for itself within five years, producing $20 million in annual savings. Thus, taking action on climate change is not just the right thing for companies to do. We think it will produce savings that that can be re-invested into innovation to drive growth. We think this can be good for business and for society … and we’re excited to prove it.

 You can watch the “Before the Flood” trailer here: