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A step aside: keys on greenhouse gas and climate change

A greenhouse gas (GHG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases are water vapor (H20), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3). The concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphère is linked to the global average temperature. There is scientific consensus that climate change is occurring and human-made CO2 emissions are predominantly causing it.

The warming power of the different gas as well as their persistence in the atmosphere are very different. Scientists have defined an equivalent between the different greenhouse gas and CO2. This way, greenhouse gas emissions can be expressed in one common unit, i.e., metric tonnes CO2 equivalent (t CO2e). CO2 has been chosen as it represents three-quarters of total greenhouse gas emissions released in the atmosphere each year.

It is always useful to have a few orders of magnitude in mind to put things in context. Common sense and experience teach you how much €1, €10, or €100 are worth or how many calories are required per day without putting on weight. However, we have hardly any references in our lives for greenhouse gas emissions.

Here are a few orders of magnitude

50 billion t CO2e are released worldwide each year by human activities  [1]

France emits 460 million t CO2e per year [2]

The total emission caused by the consumption of an average individual living in France (also known as carbon footprint) is 11 t CO2e [3]

A Paris New-York return flight is 2,6 t CO2e per person [4]

The average family car driving 15 000 km per year releases 3,3 tCO2e [5]

The key to the solution to climate change rests first and foremost in decreasing the number of emissions released into the atmosphere.

Individual carbon footprint should reach no more than 3,9 t CO2e by 2030 and 1,5 t CO2e by 2050 to maintain temperature increase below 2°C [6]

Digital services and GHG emissions

In our professional and personal life, we rely on digital services and devices a lot. The Covid-19 crisis reinforced the role of digital. Without the Internet and all the digital services, we would not be able to work remotely, keep contact with loved ones, exercise, study, and entertain ourselves.

Sustainability awareness in electronics is new. Although digital technology is invisible and looks “clean”, it relies on equipment that needs to be built, data centers and telecom networks that need electric power, end users equipment that needs to be recharged, and finally equipment that needs to be taken care of at the end of their lives.

As a result, the digital sector accounts for 3-4% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions [7]. This is already twice as much as the 2% emissions of civil aviation. Furthermore, it grows at 9% per annum, compared to 1,5% in all other sectors. Video streaming accounts for most of the traffic on the internet and GHG emissions.

The digital sector can be a leveraging tool in the ecological and energy transition provided it takes into account the same constraints as all other sectors and reduces its impact on the environment: energy and mineral resources scarcity, climate change and natural ecosystems vulnerability.

Homeworking vs. commuting

When going to the office, you may drive a car, take public transport or even ride your bike… With the exception of riding a bike or walking to the office, like the majority of human activities involving combustion, car commuting releases CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere contributing to the acceleration of global warming.

How does car commuting compares to an 8 hour online video conference day of an “extreme work-from-home”? Computing the impact of digital services is a difficult task. A rough estimate is shown in the graph below using simple assumptions and data from the Shift Project data repository [8]. Everything else being equal, this calculation shows that if you drive to work you have a much lesser GHG impact if you stay home and video conference all day unless you drive less than 0,1km in France, 1,8 km in the USA or 2,5 km in China. Estimation is based on a medium resolution video stream of 480p: the higher the video resolution the higher the resulting GHG emissions.

Countries show different results because their energy mix differs. For instance, France relies on nuclear electricity, low carbon energy for 76% of its electricity. China’s electricity is from coal (70%), a high carbon emission energy. This results in more emissions per each unit of electricity in China than in France.

This is a first-order analysis. To deepen the analysis, second-order phenomenons could be taken into account:

The analysis assumes that the video conferencing session is between persons in the same territory and that the service uses telecom and data center infrastructure in the same territory. As the Internet relies on a distributed architecture, this is only partly true.

If working from home means more equipment (computers, phones, servers…) in households and enterprises or causes indirect negative effects such as people deciding to live further away from work and shops, results have to be revisited to take into account the so-called “rebound effect”.

Digital transformation has the ability to reduce the commuting impact on GHG emissions by enabling work from home. However, negative impacts can be significant if not accounted for in a proper ecological transformation strategy. If you are interested in furthering the topic of digital transformation and the environment, there are more and more research and studies available, some of which are listed in the references below [7,9].

Corinne Bach, MBA INSEAD 05D Entrepreneur in ecological transition

This article was initially published here : https://www.transitionroute.com/work-from-home-vs-commuting-a-simple-environmental-case-for-the-extreme-8-hour-video-conference-day/

References

[1] Climate Data Explorer. 2017. Country Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. http://cait.wri.org

[2] Tableau de bord CITEPA https://www.citepa.org/fr/politique-ges/

[3] L’empreinte carbone by Commissariat Général au Développement Durable Services de la donnée et des études statistiques, April 2018 https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2019-01/document-travail-n%2038-empreinte%20carbone-avril-2018.pdf

[4] Computation from ADEME Base Carbone https://www.basecarbone.fr/fr/basecarbone/donnees-consulter/liste-element/categorie/191

[5] Computation from data from ADEME Base carbone https://www.basecarbone.fr/fr/basecarbone/donnees-consulter/liste-element/categorie/151

[6] Computation from population growth projection of UN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population and 2°C pathway implying a 4% yearly decrease in global emissions

[7] The Shift Project, Lean ICT: towards digital sobriety, 2019 https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/

[8] Computation from The Shift Project Digital Environmental Repository data on video (10mn 1080p resolution video uses 100Wh of electricity), country electricity mix https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/, March 2019 and data traffic from 1080p and 480p resolution videos https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/How-Much-Data-Does-YouTube-Use

EcoVadis evaluates supplier ESG performance through a document audit and generates a ‘scorecard’ with the evaluation results. On the EcoVadis platform, suppliers can share the scorecard with client buyers within the EcoVadis network while buyers can monitor supplier’s performance in a user-friendly interface. The co-founders found the INSEAD network indispensable when looking for core members to build this venture – they found Sylvain Guyoton (MBA ’02) as the architect of the evaluation methodology and INSEAD Professor Luk Van Wassenhove as an advisor on the scientific committee.

According to an article by McKinsey & Company, a typical consumer company’s supply chain accounts for more than 80% of greenhouse-gas emissions and more than 90% of the impact on air, land, water, and geological resources. However, a survey by The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) found that less than one-fifth of the 1,700 respondents said they have a comprehensive view of their supply chains’ sustainability performance. EcoVadis aims to shed more light on their suppliers, while solve suppliers’ pain of answering numerous surveys and questionnaires on their ESG practices from different clients. 

Today, EcoVadis has grown into a global company with 600+ employees across 10 offices. Working with over 450 household brand names worldwide, the company has evaluated over 60,000 companies in 200 sectors and 155 countries, collectively accounting for more than US$1.5 trillion in procurement spend globally. After the company received a remarkable €200 million funding from CVC Growth Partners and minority investment from Bain & Company in early 2020, it expects to grow the number of evaluations exponentially. The co-founders credited their success to these main factors: laser-like focus on core business; flexible business model to accommodate market change; and forward-looking international expansion and offshoring strategy early on. 

Now, students can learn about EcoVadis in the classroom as an INSEAD business case on the company was published in January 2020. Hopefully, the case will inspire students to develop their own innovative business services or products to solve pressing sustainability issues our planet faces. 

Learn more about EcoVadis https://www.insead.edu/centres/the-hoffmann-global-institute-for-business-and-society/stories/INSEAD-and-ecovadis-two-decades-of-sustainability-in-business

Making the world circular is just as hard as drawing a perfect circle. And successfully executing and deploying such projects in an organization is hard too. But the win can be big for those that get it right — as well as for everyone and everything around them.

At its core, the circular economy promotes waste prevention, less pollution (and polluting processes), reuse of materials, and the regeneration of natural systems. Its principles can also be applied to products and services, business models, and economic systems.

In fact, a 2015 study found that a circular economy model could boost Europe’s productivity by 3 percent by 2030, saving €600 billion a year. Companies like Philips have already embraced circular solutions, such as reclaiming all used customer goods to be carbon-neutral.

Still, circular has struggled to go mainstream.

But things are changing. Here is how:

Finding form

Circular meets Design

The circular design is where the circular economy and design [thinking] intersect. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), a voice of authority in the circular economy space, has partnered with IDEO to develop the Circular Design Guide. The guide combines the best of circular economy thought-leadership with the finest in design and innovation to provide designers a structured method for incorporating the principles of the circular economy in their work.

Then, circular design meets software

So, how do you draw the perfect circle?

A compass produces the best circles. And it can do it over and over again.

Comparably, adopting and managing circular design at scale in organizations requires the right tools.

NEXT is that compass.

“There’s a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign the way we make stuff.” — Ellen MacArthur Foundation

NEXT, the digitally-guided business design platform is pioneering circular design in a new form. The Circular Design Guide, developed by IDEO and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, is now available in the NEXT marketplace. Teams can tap the best of circular design methods directly in the context of their innovation and business transformation projects.

“Software Is Eating the World” wrote Marc Andreessen in his famous essay in The Wall Street Journal. As our planet sprints towards an uncertain future, organizations will benefit from an actionable, repeatable, and scalable approach to circular design:

End-to-end coverage from Idea-to-Market: NEXT covers the end-to-end scope of circular design projects. It lets organizations capture, nurture, and prioritize the early-stage opportunities. And supports the complete scope of a circular design project that converts the early-stage opportunities into validated and vetted propositions ready for implementation.

Designed for globally-distributed and remote teams: We live in a global economy with supply chains spanning the world. NEXT’s digitally-guided circular design process, and its platform partnerships with the likes of Miro and Zoom, allows distributed teams to work together effectively. Teams spend less time with logistics and traveling, and more time innovating, transforming, and designing what really matters.

Faster time-to-market of circular propositions: Rooted in the principles and best practices of the circular design, NEXT let’s product managers, purchasers, or marketers innovate and transform as the best innovators do. Making the planet better in the timeframes proposed will require everyone to chip in — and I mean everyone. By keeping circular projects on track and teams productive, NEXT will expedite our collective ability to rethink our offerings faster. And accelerate our time towards saving our planet.

People, planet, and profit

Democratizing circular design has a real impact on the world. It brings a user-centric method that makes the world better for people. It hard-wires a process that protects the planet as a resource. And it creates differentiated business models that make profits.

Adopting circular design has never been easier and more relevant for corporates, nonprofits, or public sector organizations. For example, Amsterdam has put circularity at the heart of its post-Covid strategy. The city is adopting the circular economy model that Kate Raworth from Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute explains in her 2017 bestselling book, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist.

“When suddenly we have to care about climate, health, and jobs, housing, care, and communities, is there a framework around that can help us with all of that?” Raworth says. “Yes there is, and it is ready to go.”

In the same respect that business design is a crucial part of good business, circular design is an essential part of better business.

The future looks circular. Expect to see many people designing many perfect circles.

Les sœurs qui vendent des produits fermiers et accueillent des visiteurs à l’hôtellerie monastique ont décidé de relever le défi lié à leur succès. Confrontées à la croissance de leur communauté et aux besoins de financement engendrés, les 27 religieuses ont travaillé depuis plusieurs mois à leur « ambition stratégique » des prochaines décennies. Souhaitant renouer avec l’audace des origines de leur ordre, elles ont créé le projet « Grange 21 » : bâtir une « grange cistercienne » à l’image des granges du moyen-âge ; une ferme laboratoire, véritable pôle de développement économique, social et territorial, lien d’enracinement de la culture et de la spiritualité. 

Le projet s’articule autour de plusieurs axes : écologie, patrimoine, économie, entreprenariat féminin et société. Les sœurs nourrissent l’objectif de faire vivre un site exceptionnel inscrit aux monuments historiques tout en assurant l'existence quotidien de la communauté actuelle et future. L’agrandissement des installations permettra aussi d’accueillir davantage d’hôtes à l’Abbaye, venus seuls ou en famille, le temps d’une « pause spirituelle » ou simplement d’un repos.

Un modèle de gouvernance bien inspirant pour les entreprises.

Rodées aux brainstormings et réflexions collectives, les moniales qui allient travaux manuels et prière (7 offices par jour), conseils externes et convictions internes, ont mûri leur projet en veillant à la pleine adhésion de chacune d'entre elles : sensibilité personnelle, cheminement propre, réticences et suggestions particulières. Patience, écoute, silence et parole ont abouti à un consensus aujourd’hui porté par toutes. Ainsi des fragilités et nombreux obstacles ont été transformés en opportunités fécondes. Un modèle de gouvernance bien inspirant pour les entreprises !

Le BP indique très précisément l’augmentation des capacités de production : de 6 à 24 vaches, de 6 à 12 porcs, de 2,5 à 17 t de fromages, de 1 à 5t de pâtés, de 4 à 8t de confitures et de 0,5 à 2t de farine. Les sœurs souhaitent multiplier par 4 le CA et le nombre de clients grâce notamment à la progression des ventes à la ferme du monastère et au développement de nouveaux canaux de distribution : vente en ligne, restauration locale, réseau des magasins monastiques.

Aussi se sont-elles engagées dans un processus de levée de fonds de plusieurs millions, une opération spontanément relayée par un formidable buzz médiatique, assez inédit pour cette Communauté vouée au silence et à l’intériorité. S’ajoute même un chantier participatif. 

Face à une société en quête de sens et d’écologie authentique, Grange 21 fascine et suscite un enthousiasme inouï auprès d’un public très étendu.

Le premier coup de pioche pour construire la nouvelle étable a été donné en mai 2020. Retrouvez en images cette histoire étonnante sur leur site : www.grange21.org

Meanwhile, the world faces a number of unprecedented social and environmental challenges. As most of the underlying issues are not stand-alone situations, they should be seen as wicked problems with several interdependencies playing out. Our capacity to bridge our differences and to develop new levels of collaboration actually represents one of the biggest opportunities to tackle such complex challenges and deliver systemic change.

It is already visible in the creation of more and more collaborative actions on a local, regional, national and international scale. And if anything, Covid 19 only increased the trend, with initiatives such as the impressive work between an Italian hospital, a research institute, a 3D FabLab and the sports giant Decathlon, who together transformed snorkeling masks into emergency ventilators in a weeks’ time. 

Collaborating is complex: 5 typical barriers

Progress has been made to understand the intricacies of collaboration but there is still a long way to go the reach an adequate level of sophistication. There is an overall agreement that collaboration is tough, and consequently that it takes more time but, when it succeeds, it creates more value. 

There are different types of collaborations, they are at different stages, with different needs and solutions, and they cover a whole spectrum of objectives, formats and opportunities. Despite those differences, 5 typical barriers are generally observed: 

Strong focus on own interest from each partner;

Stakeholder dominance, often from 1 direct partner who brings in most of the resources of the collaboration, which often results in resistance and distrust from other vital key players;

Insufficient resources: funding, organizational capacity, specific collaboration expertise to bring the collaboration to the next level; this often results in the decreasing commitment of the partners already pretty soon in the process

Too homogeneous group (‘us knows us’) which limits access to complementary perspectives & resources;

Collaboration speeding into action, taking insufficient time to develop the collaboration in depth (e.g. build trust, develop shared values) which can result in time-consuming tensions later on.

Moving towards more sophisticated collaborations

Lessons from existing collaborative initiatives are being collected and some early best practices are being defined, to overcome the typical barriers: 

Partners must pay (much) more attention to the collaborative process. When the collaboration is still emerging, or when it enters a new phase, an independent trusted facilitator can help focus on that process. Without such support, it has been noticed that the failure rate of emerging collaborations is much higher. 

Each collaboration is unique, and it is wicked, but polyphony (i.e. diversity of partners) makes all the difference. Partners must therefore be aware of their blind spots and unlearn to follow the lead of the usual suspects (i.e. the players who are the most visible, successful, privileged, visible, etc.), in order to listen instead to the unheard voices. 

Time is not money: building an effective collaboration takes time; rushing into action often leads to roadblocks along the way. In a world that considers speed and efficiency as some kind of Graal, it is tough to let go and to follow a pace that is set by the lowest common denominator of each partners’ speed at any point in time. But collaboration success depends on it. 

Trust is the cornerstone of any collaborative project. It is the very first lesson that INSEAD teaches MBA students. From the first day, students are ‘forced’ into fixed unlikely (highly polyphonic) study groups and throughout the first terms, they learn to collaborate until social, cultural, professional differences don’t matter anymore but instead become an asset to deliver better value. In any collaboration, partners must learn to build high level of trust, which requires step by step commitments. It begins by knowing each other intimately and by taking some distance from own interest. Partners then can start aligning their purpose and develop shared values. 

If the world needs more collaboration between polyphonic partners, we, INSEAD alumni, are best prepared for developing a strong and sophisticated collaborative ecosystem. As our dean, Ilian Mihov, said: “If not now, when? If not us, who?”

Dans le contexte d’alors, les lobbys de taxis et détenteurs d’agrément faisaient grand bruit en dénonçant la mort annoncée d’une profession tandis qu’en silence, des milliers de femmes et d’hommes, dont d’anciens chauffeurs de taxis, retrouvaient leur dignité au travers d’un emploi plus rémunérateur et plus valorisant. 

Aujourd’hui, je suis dans un contexte différent. J’ai quitté le Maroc, j’ai changé de métier et de secteur mais à la lueur de la crise du COVID et de mon engagement vis-à-vis de la Fondation Mozaik, qui travaille à l’inclusion économique des jeunes de quartiers défavorisés, j’ai retrouvé avec force l’essence de ce proverbe. 

Les médias, les flux LinkedIn ou Facebook ou les messages Whatsapp nous abreuvent d’informations angoissantes sur la crise sanitaire en cours, la crise économique en gestation et le mur de la dette à venir. Et pourtant, tous les jours, je vois et j’entends les bruissements subtils d’une forêt qui pousse, celle de l’économie sociale et solidaire (« ESS »). 

En premier lieu, je constate une forte mobilisation des acteurs de l’ESS. A la fondation Mozaik, j’ai été le témoin privilégié de l’énergie formidable qu’ont déployé les équipes dès le début du confinement. La plupart des formations et accompagnements de groupes ont été basculés du présentiel au digital, les coachings et mentorats individuels ont été renforcés, l’effort sur les projets spécifiques maintenu, dont l’ambitieux Plan 1000 Jeunes et l’équipe recrutement a mis les bouchées doubles pour mener la campagne alternance dans les meilleures conditions possibles, ce dispositif étant une passerelle essentielle vers l’emploi. En dehors de la fondation, je découvre tous les jours de nouvelles initiatives associatives : maraudes renforcées, paniers solidaires, initiatives collectives telles que « Inventons le Monde d’après » etc.

Ensuite, je vois une armée de bénévoles se lever, prête à combattre la crise par la solidarité : les bénévoles de la Fondation Mozaik se sont mobilisés davantage, de nombreux citoyens se sont engagés dans la réserve civique ou auprès d’associations locales. L’entraide s’est également organisée hors structures via des initiatives individuelles : coachings gratuits, cours et webinars en ligne, courses entre voisins. Une tendance de fonds s’est également confirmée chez les indépendants : l’alternance entre missions de conseil solidaires et missions plus traditionnelles. 

Enfin, beaucoup de pourvoyeurs de fonds et d’entreprises hors ESS se sont montrés à la hauteur de l’enjeu. Les partenaires de Mozaik ont maintenu voire renforcé leurs engagements et plus largement, de nombreuses entreprises se sont mobilisées au travers de dons et de mécénat de compétences à l’instar d’EDF, de Suez, de KPMG, Caisse d’Epargne et bien d’autres. 

Je crois sincèrement que ce changement est une tendance de fond et non une collection d’initiatives individuelles ou collectives éphémères et sporadiques. Pour ma part, je continuerai de planter des graines et d’essaimer pour contribuer à faire pousser cette forêt. 

However, the risk paid off in every case, and clients, candidates, and shareholders are happy. 

We examine via the stories of Erin, who got the CEO job, despite having baby-blues, no sleep and no clothes that fit her, or of the incredibly creative headhunter Fabrice, INSEAD MBA’02, who considered 3000 profiles before homing in on that of Ian Rogers, now the Chief Digital Officer of LVMH, the issues that often freeze companies and headhunters in the paradigm of “risk mitigation”, but also the huge leaps forward that can be made when another prism is applied in this area.

We hope that you as individuals will feel more confident about putting yourselves forward for roles where you might see the fit, even if the recruiter will need more of an explanation. And we certainly encourage all those in the position of being able to make your own hires to consider those “outlier” candidates as a matter of course, and possibly even to review and revise your definition of “outlier”.

To know more, access the full article

Claire Harbour, MBA INSEAD 92J Coach