“Sometimes, small ideas lead to big movements”, said Kapil Singhal, kicking off another of our now regular Perspectives events. The tradition is almost as old as the 8-year-old company – the first Perspectives event was held just a few months after the company’s inception, when the early founders invited a small group of connections to learn about the power of the human in the digital age.
This month, our topic was “Shades of Green: What does sustainability mean for business?” moderated by Nandu Nandkishore.
Hear the full recording below, or scroll down to listen to specific perspectives.
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The event included a short presentation from each panelist, followed by a discussion.
Pauline Walsh: As leaders, are we really treating climate change as the crisis that it is?
Pauline brings forward the idea of a “water footprint”. Though we hear a lot of talk around pollution and reaching net zero carbon emissions, we are not talking enough about the critical natural resource that is water. Water demand is currently rising at twice the level of population growth, and as a business leader, Pauline makes the case that most of us are not treating the climate crisis with the pace and energy that we should.
Doreen Lorenzo: Change is inevitable, so make it impactful and fun
Doreen’s main point is about our innate fear of change. From doing human-centred design workshops with people from different industries and walks of life, Doreen addresses some key factors that make proactive change possible. Instead of getting caught up in the fear of change, make it fun – make it impactful – and remember that people will rally behind successful projects.
Luis Manuel: To scale the energy transition, we need an innovation wave
Luis points out two main challenges in the Energy Transition. Though the right technologies already exist, the challenge is being able to find innovative ways of successfully deploying these fast enough and at scale. EDP Innovation have therefore been creating and investing in a portfolio of innovation tools for the power sector, including Vyntelligence.
Kapil Singhal: This is not a solo race – it’s about extreme collaboration
Kapil puts forward three levers to succeed at sustainable innovation. In this race towards net zero, it’s not about any individual victory, but it is about people, intelligence and extreme collaboration. He shares a story of a client’s challenges during the pandemic which turned into an opportunity to drive productivity, reduce carbon emissions and keep people safe.
Nandu Nandkishore: For businesses to thrive, they must embrace sustainability
Nandu points to five areas that are essential to both business survival and sustainability. Great business leaders understand that the entire value chain must be sustainable, from its purpose and culture around innovation, to the production and disposal of products, to education of consumers and stakeholders.
Panel discussion:
In the final discussion, issues were raised around the responsibility of governments and regulators, the importance of global commitments to the big challenges, of renewing commitments regularly to stay on track, and of community, generosity, collective responsibility and collaboration.
You can learn more about the Vyntelligence sustainability agenda, or request a demo.
