Sustainability on the global agenda Recently, I was given the opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion in connection with a meeting held between the European environmental ministers and energy ministers in Horsens, Denmark, and I accepted. I accepted because we, at Grundfos, must be part of political decision-making. The meeting was convened by the Danish Minister for the Environment in connection with the Danish EU presidency. I talked about water efficiency – about the vast potential that this area offers if the politicians tighten their demands and require us Europeans to use water efficiently. Why, for example, should we accept that we are losing far too much water – in several places more than half of it – in the European distribution systems before the water reaches the end users? I do not think that we should. We already have the solutions to solve the problem, and now, it is mainly a question of getting started. I repeated this message to the EU Commissioner for the Environment when he visited Bjerringbro at the end of May. When the world’s heads of state and government met in Rio de Janeiro in June, green conversion and sustainability were, once again, on the agenda. Here, Grundfos was highlighting the numerous solutions that exist and are ready to be used. For one thing, we were signifying the opportunity to provide water to the poorest people in the world in a sustainable and decent manner. People are listening to Grundfos. For many years, we have proved that there is no disparity between using resources sustainably and efficiently and sustaining a sound economy. On the contrary, these two things go hand in hand with the most sustainable technological solutions. We must make the most of the fact that people are listening to us. We must be present in the places where the political decisions are made. Because, although we are capable of developing and demonstrating ground-breaking and so far unseen technological solutions, we cannot meet the world’s resource challenges – the growing global middle class and the increasing demands for comfort and quality of life – without the help of the politicians. It requires a long and determined effort to influence the politicians and make them assume leadership in order to promote sustainability – nationally, regionally and globally. There is no doubt about that. But it is possible. The agenda is slowly moving in our direction, and we must make a relentless effort to push this development. If there are no good examples, the political agenda will not evolve sufficiently quickly. Grundfos has something to offer to the political dialogue. We must engage in this work systematically and determinedly. We must assume responsibility. Not only to create growth in Grundfos, but also to make our contribution to meet the world’s challenges in the 21st century. Carsten Bjerg Group President CONTENTS A HANDICAP IS NOT AN OBSTACLE – ON THE CONTRARY 42 Leadership: New requirements of Grundfos managers 20 2 Gmagazine June 12
Download PDF file
Cookie policy
Welcome!