INTRODUCTION The real battle against climate change is being won in company boardrooms Given the intensity with which the world’s media focused on the UN climate talks in Doha last year, the outcome may have seemed disappointing. Yet it is important that the world comes together in this way. As Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf explained in his 2012 Christmas broadcast – looking back 40 years to the very first UN global environmental conference that he himself opened in Stockholm in 1972 – ‘It underlines the need to tackle global challenges with global solutions’. It is tempting to imagine that forums like that in Doha are the rallying point for the world’s resolve to create a more sustainable society. But this is only partly true. The real battles against climate change are being fought – and won – in energy ministries around the world and in the boardrooms of companies that understand that what ultimately constitutes the basis for long-term success and profitability is the need to sustain the delicate balance between supply and demand. Not only in terms of products and services, but also in terms of consumption and conservation – of energy, of raw materials and natural resources, and of the ecosystems that are under their stewardship. I am proud to say that ÅF has many such companies and public sector actors among its clients. You can read more about them in the following pages. Clients like the City of Copenhagen, committed to playing their part in creating a carbon-neutral future; like public institutions in Moldova, eager to develop their renewable energy resources. Clients like industry giants Sandvik, BillerudKorsnäs and the Thule Group, who realise that the measures they put in place to benefit the environment benefit them and their customers as well. And small clients, too. Like the housing cooperative that sought ÅF’s help to mastermind the most energy efficient, ecofriendly heating solution for its 75 tenants. Everyone shares a responsibility for guaranteeing a greener future for our planet. Every positive step that is taken, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction. Sustainability is also firmly embedded in ÅF’s own corporate DNA. We walk the talk, setting ourselves some of the toughest internal targets in the industry and launching regular internal initiatives to reduce our environmental impact. Helping clients to make more efficient use of energy and resources has been part of our day-to-day work for more than a century – through four paradigm shifts in industry that have fuelled progress to the point we have reached today: steam, electricity, nuclear power and, now, renewable sources of energy. This new issue of Green Advisor Report once again shows how ÅF is continuing to help clients to turn words into action in environmental and climate issues – guiding, assisting, supporting and inspiring them in their commitment to create a better future for themselves, their stakeholders and society as a whole. I believe that Green Advisor Report and ÅF’s track record in this field show that ÅF is, quite simply, the best partner for organisations large and small in navigating a course towards a sustainable society. The bigger the challenge, the greater the experience and the more innovative the thinking needed to meet it. For more than 100 years ÅF has prospered through innovation by experience. We look forward to helping your organisation to prosper in the same way. Regards Jonas Wiström, CEO “The bigger the challenge, the greater the experience and the more innovative the thinking needed to meet it.” Green Advisor report 2013:01 1
Download PDF file