“Events are the thinking machine of the world”

Felix Rundel in a strategic alliance between PCMA and the European National Convention Bureau, taking place in Barcelona on October 3-4. Rundel, co-founder of strategy and creative agency futurehain, who moderated the conference, acknowledged the “advanced and expert level” of the curated audience.

“We’ve gone beyond raising awareness — it’s preaching to the choir,” he said. “We have a limited time to make the profound changes to our environment that are necessary for a sustainable future for business. But we also have a unique window of opportunity because we are now at the stage where we are ready , make connections, prepare to collaborate…and then grow the movement.”

Rendell points out that five or six years ago, we might have had a climate change conference in a singular way: “‘We have a climate crisis. Technology can solve it – hooray! Now we’ve gone one step further,'” he explain.

“We have limited time to make the profound changes to our environment that are necessary for a sustainable future of business activity,” said C4C presenter Felix Rundel.

He explained that in order to “create a more comprehensive approach that reflects the multidimensionality of the problem,” the 4th International Conference on Climate Program has designed four complementary tracks: Exploring how technology, data and measurement, including the power of artificial intelligence Driving sustainability; skills, people and mindset, “because we are the software that needs to change”; business model, risk and growth, “because we are not a radical group – this is a group of business leaders”; and innovation and collaboration to Drive growth.

The opening main stage session featured four speakers, each giving 15-minute presentations, addressing the question from their unique perspective: How can the events industry be transformed to achieve a sustainable future?

First up: Paul Dickinson, a pioneer in sustainability reporting – he founded CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) in 2000. This year he co-founded consultancy Transition Value Partners to provide strategic oversight and help companies transition to net zero. promise.

“If you know anything about the Carbon Disclosure Project,” Rundle said in introducing Dickinson, “it is the global climate change reporting and system used by more than 23,000 businesses around the world, covering about 60 percent of the global economy. Paul More than anyone else, we can talk about how to build an economy that works on a planetary scale.”

“This is a very important meeting”

Dickinson started by letting the audience know he understood the purpose of Climate Change 4 and the work the audience was doing. “This is a very important meeting. You are very important people. I have had an ‘event experience’ since I came here. I want to understand the industry,” he said.

What conclusion did he draw? “Events are the thinking machine of the world. And you are the thinking machine within the thinking machine,” he said. He advised viewers to take themselves seriously.

“Think about how important your role is in the biggest challenge we face as a species, which is climate change,” Dickinson said. “What happens here and how you move forward is critical to the future of the world. I think political historians in 2100 would dream of joining us in thinking about how we respond to this challenge.”

Dickinson gave a brief overview of his background, saying he originally wanted to go into politics, but then while working for a corporation, he realized the relative power of national governments was declining while the relative power of corporations and investors was increasing — “So It would be more logical to support political goals through business systems,” he said when choosing a career path.

The key point Dickinson made in his speech was not to view the challenge of climate change as one that involves only sacrifice and hardship. He said the transition to clean energy and sustainable practices represents a huge business opportunity – giving rise to new sectors and industries we don’t even know about. The events industry will play a key role in shaping the response to climate change and driving meaningful action towards a sustainable and profitable future.

Scroll below to view his 15-minute speech and a lightly edited transcript.

transcript

There are two kinds of politics: politics with a small “p” and politics with a big “P.” A big question in politics is whether Texas schools should have transgender bathrooms. Should Xi Jinping serve as President of China for a fourth term? We don’t do that; that’s big politics. But politics with a dash of “p” is consensus politics on global issues like sustainable development. This is what we do. There is broad scientific consensus on climate change. Extreme weather has politicized billions of people around the world. People expect us to solve these problems. You, as well as the companies and investors you serve, have an interest in getting this right.

Sustainability is an interesting word. Sustainability is the name we give to problems that governments cannot solve. So if you think about COVID-19, when I was told the industry became “illegal,” the government took very strong action. Think about invading Ukraine and sending money and missiles to Zelensky. government actions. But when you look at government as if it doesn’t exist, that’s sustainability. So how do we deal with sustainability?

CDP’s story is the main reason why I’m lucky enough to be here with you, and we started by saying, “So, how do businesses respond to climate change?” I think the word is “education.” In fact, CDP is a not-for-profit organization and in the UK we are governed by a body called the Charity Commission, and our mission is one word: education.

But if you look closely at the word “educate,” it doesn’t mean “tell you.” If I’m educating you, it doesn’t mean I’m telling you. It actually means “to draw from.” Take the learning out of yourself. This is what China Democracy Party does. We asked businesses and investors questions. We do this on behalf of investors and purchasing organizations. So the reason 23,000 organizations report to CDP is because they really report to their investors and they actually report to their clients. In the 22 years CDP has been operating, we have seen changes in the response of businesses and investors to climate change. We have 1,000 cities that also report through CDP.

So what is this evolutionary process? Because it’s so important – 22 years is a long time, so what happened?

(Me and my friends) Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivette-Carnac (both of whom oversaw the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change) have a podcast called Anger and Optimism. (Christiana describes) CDP is like an X-ray. Before X-rays, you couldn’t see a patient’s internal health. For example: What are your greenhouse gas emissions? What is your strategy to combat climate change?

Let’s stick with the medical metaphor – and then you get what’s called a diagnosis. What is the diagnosis of climate change? Many of your organizations, and certainly most of your customers, will come to the conclusion that you need to set a science-based target, or that you need to achieve a net-zero emissions commitment by 2050. Now, to use this medical metaphor, there are things that patients can do themselves. Things like buying renewable energy, investing in energy efficiency—these are what medicine calls “lifestyle changes.”

But we also need a treatment plan. This type of treatment planning is often reflected in a new area of ​​​​the corporate world – transition planning. Transition planning is becoming increasingly important.

A great communications consultant recently told me that a transition plan is the mechanism by which your organization or customer explains how they will provide value from the transition. This is important. How effective is it? The key component there – the final medical metaphor – surgery or medication. And patients themselves cannot do this. We are going to need government. This is the next big stage. This is also where we must have a meeting on climate. You need to calculate greenhouse gas emissions because they are the problem.

But let’s talk about solutions.

Milton Friedman wrote an article in 1970 new york times He said that corporate social responsibility is to make profits. I wrote a book in 2000 called Beautiful company. (Corporations) are the most important institutions of the late 20th and 21st centuries. If you’re a student of corporate history, you know that’s a very important article because Milton Friedman said that, above all else, the purpose of a corporation is to make a profit, and maybe that’s true. But when climate change is a huge problem, this truth begets another: The social responsibility of business is to make a profit, and the social responsibility of government is to make decarbonization profitable.

what does that mean? That means we need to work with governments to make this shift a source of huge profits and growth for the industries you serve. People sometimes say to me, “Oh, sustainability, it’s regulation, it’s tough, I don’t want to do it.” No matter what you think of him (as a person), the richest man in the world makes electric cars. Wealth, absolute wealth, can be created in the transformation process, whether it’s in energy systems, food systems, etc.

Now we are in Barcelona, ​​where we have a remarkable case study. (He took out a mobile phone from his pocket) – the most successful product in our human history. In 2006, Barcelona started holding Mobile World Congress here – the last time 100,000 people attended. The city of Barcelona benefits from extraordinary economic advantages as a growing ecosystem of mobility-related industries, and this may be the most brilliant investment the city has ever made.

So I want you to think about these new industries now. In my new firm, Transition Value Partners, we work with boards, C-suite management to advise on that transition and we advise on relationships with government. We call this a “Geographic Systems Strategy.” You need to set the rules of the game so you can do the right thing and win.

The same goes for your customers. Think about all the different places you work. Think about all the different clients you work with. Think about how a rational response to climate change would change everyone.

You understand energy. You know expedited licensing. You know transportation – electric cars. But what about video communications?

What about systems that you haven’t even thought about—food systems, food science. We may stop eating meat without even realizing it. We’ve been cooking for hundreds of thousands of years—making the same things taste different. Food science is the new thing – making different things taste the same.

I encourage you to think about your community, think about these big trends that will not disappear, and think about how to stimulate your convening power, ability to create activities, and become a thinking machine for the community. Thinking machine.

Let the people of this planet do what they have no choice but to do: figure out how we can effectively and, most importantly, profitably decarbonize our society. This will require taxation and regulation – and that’s already happening.

I’m going to throw out one last statistic. In 2016, investment in clean energy exceeded investment in fossil fuel energy. Last year, US$1.1 trillion was invested in fossil energy; US$1.7 trillion was invested in clean energy. Recognize that the revolution is underway – from China’s industrial policy to the US’s inflation-cutting bill to the EU’s Green New Deal

We need to come together and help our customers, our cities, our locations, do what we need to do to make that happen.