Going Green? What’s In It for Your Business and How Can It Be Done?

Moderator: Ján Kubiš

Panelists: Martin Bursík, Radek Špicar, Ladislav Miko, Andrzej Blach, Tomáš Víšek

The panel’s attention focused on the importance of the various sources of energy. Martin Bursík, former Minister of Environment of the Czech Republic, noted that the Czech Republic currently obtains its energy from a combination of coal factories, nuclear power plants, and wind turbines. An emphasis was placed on consolidating all energy sources into renewable technologies, prompting Mr. Bursík to assert that the industry is “the most dynamic segment of the energy sector today.” Most on the panel agreed that a strong renewable energy sector would be paramount in the development of new investments in green solutions like eco-friendly cars.

 

Representing Škoda Auto was Mr. Radek Špicar, bringing the perspective of the automobile industry which many believe (as Mr. Kubiš pointed out) to be in outright contradiction with the idea of green development. However, Mr. Špicar was proud to open his address by mentioning  that at the recent Paris Auto Show, Škoda had premiered its new Electric Octavia car as one of the company’s many approaches to addressing the issue of environmental friendliness in business. When asked why Škoda should consider the environment, he answered, “It’s not a question of why. It’s a question of when and how.” Škoda, like many other oil-dependent companies, has begun to develop more environmentally-friendly technologies as public opinion, government regulations, and economic incentives have created the need for green solutions.

 

Although various steps have been taken towards developing a green economy, the European Commission’s Director of Nature, Ladislav Miko, criticized the world’s attitude towards biodiversity, a lesser-known measure of the health of the world’s ecosystems. While many of these green technologies focus on the fashionable topic of sustainability, they ignore the aspect of biodiversity, which he believes is just as critical to the environment. He encouraged businesses to harness the processes that are already active in nature to solve problems, a cost-effective approach which would minimize their ecological impact.

 

Bringing the legal perspective to the panel, Mr. Andrzej Blach, Partner at CMS Cameron McKenna and Head of CEE Energy Sector Group in Poland, explored the impact of the law on the process of going green. He stated there is a prevailing misconception that “without direct intervention of government, none of this [greening] would be occurring”. He implied that it would occur with or without such intervention. He stated that the responsibility of the legal profession in the green movement is to create a playing field for all business to achieve effective, environmentally-friendly standards. He went on to stress the importance of financing, with lenders being at the forefront of voluntary compliance in the transition period. Finally, he stressed the importance of energy diversification because inevitably, fossil fuels will be exhausted.   

 

Mr. Tomáš Víšek, Chairman and member of the Supervisory Board at McKinsey & Company, Czech Republic, discussed the evidence emerging of the actual speed and effectiveness of the green movement. Citing his survey of 1,400 managers who were asked which trends they believed would shape business operations in the future, “going green” scored in the top five trends, but ranked the lowest of the five. Mr. Víšek explained that despite the consciousness and effort being put into the green movement, it is still not a priority for businesses with respect to achieving higher profits. His research also polled 4,000 consumers and found that they ranked environmentalism as their highest priority, but that this was often contradicted by their actions. He concluded that the effective transition to a green economy will “require a broad societal agreement” in order to take off.