Five factors of change.

Read this interview with the CEO of a company which has introduced net zero targets.  As you read name 5 factors which have influenced the change that the company has introduced. 

Change processes interview 

 Q: Hi X can you tell me what made you decide to make your company net zero? 

A: One thing was hearing about the climate on the news, another was thinking about my kids’ futures. I’ve 2 children and I want the world to be a good place for them to live – not one where climate change creates wars and mass global migration. 

Q: So you were concerned about the next generation. Is that what made you act? 

A: It was one element. Hearing about the effect of the ice sheets melting, towns burning in the US on the one side, and then seeing all those young people getting out there raising awareness – like Greta’s climate strikes and stopping motorway traffic or bringing that yacht into central London – those things got my attention. 

To be honest, at first I was really annoyed by some of their antics – especially when I was delayed myself. I thought “What right have they got” ! But, it made me think.  Without some of those people keeping the issue in the spotlight, we’d be doing almost nothing. So, at first we made some changes as a family. 

Q: Like what kind of things ? 

A: Well, we decided to get an electric car, use public transport more, eat less meat and stop flying on holiday. Doing those things made the whole family feel like we were doing something.  It might seem small and not very effective … but you have to start somewhere, don’t you ? 

Q: That sounds pretty good to me. Of course many people can’t afford to just go out and buy a flash new car! 

A: Yeah sure. But we can all do things – cutting down on the amount of power we use, buying locally grown food, buying less stuff! My partner and I looked at the amount stuff we buy that we don’t really need – and it all has a carbon footprint. Everything we buy creates Co2. 

Q: So, was it continually hearing about the issue that was the thing that made you act? 

A: That was part of it. But then I saw a programme on TV and went to a business conference where the speaker was saying that it could be profitable to be more sustainable.  

Q: So, what effect did that have? 

A: What they said helped me to make the case with colleagues and with the company board.  But it’s a huge thing to commit a company to doing – you need to get the other staff and directors on board and then there’s the investors – and thinking about profits.  Another thing that really helped was getting messages via the company’s socials from customers who love our products, but were asking for us to reduce their carbon footprint. So, it was clear that actually we might lose customers by not taking the step to be more sustainable.  We wanted to stay ahead of the curve and be market leaders.     

Q: So, is there a link between buying less stuff and that huge step you were talking about – about making your business go net zero? 

A: Yeah, it’s hard to explain. I began to see how everything  we do is interconnected; how the food and clothes we buy, the holidays we go on, the work we do, are all part of global processes. When we buy a new phone the raw materials come from different countries around the world, then there manufactured in another country and shipped and sold in yet other places. All of these processes, everything we buy/ or use produces the CO2 that the UN says is endangering human civilisation. So we’ve got to do something about them or there won’t be a world fit to live in. 

I don’t want my kids to live in a world where climate change has taken us back to a time of food insecurity and the inevitable conflicts that will come with it. That’s like something out of ancient history.  

And the thing is, we CAN do something about it. It’s not too late 

Q: Wow, you sound really passionate about it  

A: Yes! I think it’s realising this, and also that there are already thousands of people and organisations who’ve got off their backsides and are being the change that finally made me act. Once I began to talk to other people, I realised just that act – of talking about it – helps start to make the change 

Then I remembered the example of South Africa – where you thought the black people were never going to have their freedom, and I realised that from the outside you couldn’t see all the work the different groups in South Africa were doing and how the process of change came from a combination of all their efforts, and support from others outside the country  

Q: The example of how change happened gave you hope? 

A: It motivated me. I think I realised that even when a problem seems impossible, insurmountable, there’s always hope – once you start to act 

And so, I began to raise the issue with colleagues, and I found there was more support than I anticipated. 

Q: Where is your business up to and what are your plans? 

A: We’ve set a target to be net zero by 2045, five years ahead of the UN target, with 40% reduction in CO2 emissions across the supply chain by 2030. They’re big targets, but I think this issue is ‘hotting up’! (sorry for the pun) and more and more people are getting behind it. 

Name 5 factors which have influenced the change that the company has introduced.