Page 7 - Respond 2020 Magazine

RESPOND
SIGNIFY

TIME TO WALK Signify is the new company name of Philips Lighting. We are
the world leader in lighting and provide our customers with
high-quality, energy-efficient lighting products, systems and
services. We turn light sources into points of data to connect
more devices, places and people through light, contributing
THE CLIMATE TALK by Harry Verhaar to a safer, more productive and smarter world.

onversations about the climate crisis play out very differently today than they would
have just ten years ago. Thanks to the efforts of the UN, organisations such as The
CClimate Group, the media, and, not least, a group of educated and vocal Gen-Zers,
public debate has become much more widespread and far more demanding. Climate has
taken its place as the most pressing issue on the agenda of many of the world’s governments.

Outside of a few dwindling pockets of naysayers, human-
effected climate change is no longer up for debate. Indeed,
humanity’s impact on the planet can hardly be contradicted
when the evidence is so tangibly all around us, most visibly
through weather anomalies and natural disasters. Amid
public outcry at the burning Amazon, an area of forest the
size of the Netherlands has been devastated by forest fires
in Siberia. And in Greenland, the delicate balance has been
distorted, and currently around 300 megatonnes of extra
meltwater is released each year from declining glaciers.
That’s equivalent to 40 years’ worth of drinking water for
today’s world population, in one year alone.

The time for action
The scale and nature of this crisis is huge and unprecedented.
The challenge: the climate crisis is the first crisis we have to
resolve before it fully unfolds. There can be no question that
the time for talk is over. Now we need to see urgent action in
line with what climate science demands.
Four years have passed since the Paris Agreement. It seems
barely credible that, after signing up to this commitment,
leaders are continuing to debate what needs to be
committed to and when. This lack of resolve should be both
an international embarrassment and a public outrage. We
teach our children that they have fixed ambition levels and
deadlines for schoolwork that are static and non-negotiable,
yet as adults in society, we fail to hold our leadership to
the same standards. I don’t believe that the public needs
parenting. But business and political leaders are here to
serve public ambition. It is high time that our political leaders
embrace and confirm that the required ambition level is to be spent on perspiration, by which I mean, rolling up our As businesses, we can afford to do even better, and we
(global and national) carbon neutrality and the deadline is sleeves and getting the job done. encourage companies to aim for carbon neutrality at latest
at latest by 2050. This is the legacy the next generation by 2030. In ten years’ time, what we now consider best
So, let’s put a line in the sand and commit to something
deserves, and we must set about achieving it now. practice must be common practice.
quantifiable. Global carbon neutrality by 2050 is
achievable if governments make this a priority target, set To demonstrate this in action, we like to use the 3% rule. If we
Meaningful targets meaningful milestones, and cast this ambition level into achieve an improvement rate of 3% energy efficiency each
The Climate Group is driving a series of first-class law. Governments must enable regulatory frameworks and year, driven by a similar 3% in infrastructure (mostly building)
programmes; among them, the LED Light Savers program, hold themselves continually and consciously accountable. renovation rates, combined with a 3% increase in the use of
RE100, EV100; and from the World Green Building Council, Political leaders can apply the third part of the 10/20/70 renewables per year, we will be well on the way to achieving a
the Net Zero Carbon Buildings program. These initiatives turn rule by creating Net Zero Carbon Building programmes carbon-neutral world by 2050.
talk into action and have Signify’s unequivocal backing. We for government buildings, by converting all public building
can make sure the climate neutrality ambition delivers results electricity consumption to renewable energy, and by joining
Good for business
by holding our time and efforts to what I call the 10/20/70 EV100 and switching ministerial car fleets to EVs. These
There’s no doubt that having zero-carbon operations
rule. That means spending 10% of our time and effort in actions will create case studies, jobs, and a positive example
inspiration, creating awareness and education on why we that enhances public engagement and support. Not least, we will be good for business as consumers become more
need to become carbon neutral. 20% of our efforts should shouldn’t underestimate the learning that will help to fine- aware and B2B customers hold their supply chains under
be on aspiration, defining more closely what we’ll do, and by tune policies and financial instruments so that these deliver closer scrutiny. At Signify, we’re taking this so seriously
Signify CEO, Eric Rondolat, speaking at the UN Climate
when. But the majority of our time, the remaining 70%, has better results in shorter periods of time. that sustainable operations is more than just a public
Action summit
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