We wish you a Fabulous New Year - And it will be Green, Clean and Climate-focused

The New Year is coming! The year of 2023. And when we are reading the news, we hear about a number of dark clouds: armed conflicts, recessions, political unrest, food scarcity. And one of the biggest clouds - environmental destruction; and this is also one of the biggest star!

I have been saying this to a number of friends: sustainability and climate technology might bring an economic upturn in 2023, despite a negative, general outlook. While companies might be careful with spending and investments in most categories, they will not be able to afford to cut corners when it comes to their sustainability efforts. Significant change around sustainability is coming up for a broad number of companies and industries.

On the one hand, many companies will be asked to provide sustainability reports and pay environmental taxes. Though, this is only one perspective. Companies will quickly realise, they will have the competitive edge when they focus on sustainability. Here are some examples:

• Not only consumers but also B2B customers will increasingly prefer to source from 'green' companies that can show their high ambitions and reduced impact.
• Environmental-friendly products will open up new markets; for example in transport, smart community bus services and new car sharing models enable new manufacturing standards that focus on repairability and low, long-term operations cost.
• As lean manufacturing has shown for decades, zero waste and zero harm can significantly improve your operational output; the same counts for solutions with zero impact on our planet; for example, reducing the water levels in rice farming will significantly increase their yield while reducing greenhouse emissions by ninety percent.
• Further, implementing advanced environmental practices will strongly increase the positive reputation of these organisations and therefore ensure their license to operate. This will create a meaningful work environment and will attract and retain crucial talents.

Another report from Pressetext highlights that green tech is trending significantly across various applications. Listed are

• Solar and hydrogen energy
• Replacement and reduction of plastics
• Future-proof batteries
• Smarter electrical vehicles

"I am scared and I'm angry that the previous generation created this mess" - for me this statement of John Doerr's daughter has a significant meaning. Not only because she was only 15 years old when she said it; also because it was expressed in 2006! Now, almost 20 years later, it feels like we haven't changed enough. What are we waiting for? Let's get started with stopping greenhouse emissions, creating highly efficient solutions, and restoring our nature!


Sources: 
Speed & Scale, John Doerr, 2021
Rückblick 22: "Grüne Technik" wird zum Trend, Pressetext, December 2022