| Sustainability requires action |  Print |
Text by Christine B. Andersen and Tilo Dettmann,
AIESEC - CBS
On Friday 25 November the British Chamber of Commerce in Denmark hosted a lunch focused on "The EU Roadmap for moving to a low-carbon economy in 2050". John MacArthur the Vice President CO2 Policy for Shell International who was due to present, was taken ill at the last moment and was unable to make his flight. But thankfully the presentation had been jointly created by the Shell teams in The Hague and Copenhagen, and so Nicola Gordon, CEO, Shell Upstream Denmark was able to present on his behalf and rose to the challenge.
In a world constantly confronted with climate change and a general energy challenge with no common consensus on how to solve these issues, it is essential that businesses take action to promote sustainability. Nicola spoke about the energy challenge itself and thereby the action taken by Shell to create sustainable, long-term solutions to these pressing issues. The company's main focus on tackling the challenge is simply "doing the do-able".
The do-able was presented through a series of plans, some already implemented, as for example the production of Liquefied Natural Gas through Carbon Capture and Storage. Also, she had a strong focus on the current EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which she felt needed re-evaluation as a consequence of the financial crisis. All in all CO2 pricing needs to rise.
Shell doesn't just stop there though. The company strongly believes that the best solutions are found through evaluation and knowledge sharing, a point which, fittingly to the venue, the Radisson Blu Royal, was illustrated through a quote by Arne Jacobsen: "I do not feel certain until I have confronted my initial solution with other solutions - although in fact the first solution often proves to be the right one."
To conclude, Nicola declared that Shell was only in the beginning of their journey towards sustainability ending her speech by saying: "We have all the solutions, so we need to act!" |