Energy transition

Do you remember? Working in groups on a project at school; that often caused a lot of stress. There were always one or more lazy students among them who didn't do anything, didn't keep appointments, leaned back comfortably, waiting for the results.

A lot has changed, but this has not. This type of student still exists, I understand from the tirades of my offspring. In high school as well as in higher professional education, the parasites manifest themselves; letting others work for them. "I have to do it all by myself!" says the eldest. "I'm done! "I'm done with it! I quit. Let the rest of the group get on with it." But yeah... there's only one group grade. Look at her dilemma: is she giving it up and risking an F on her list? Or does she let the slackers benefit from her efforts?

I tell them that in the end it's all about everyone's own learning process and development. That process is more or less independent of what someone else does or does not do. In the end, every loser is going to fail at some point, right? And there is a third option: could she manage to take the lead and motivate everyone to take responsibility? The middle one is luckier this time: in her current group there is good cooperation. I see how much energy she's getting from that.

While we are discussing this at the kitchen table, I notice the analogy with the discussion about sustainability, and with measures we do or don't take to live more sustainably. Too often I hear comments around me like 'Why should I invest/ fly less/ change? Take a look at that other sector/ the Europarliament/ that other country; let them set a good example first, clean up the mess!

The EU wants all businesses to be climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this, corporate Europe will need to invest many billions in the coming years: 25 percent of the capital investments must be sustainable in order to meet the target, according to the not-for-profit organisation CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project). One thing is clear: we are at the beginning of a large-scale 'greening'. The energy transition is gaining momentum and investments are being made in circulars. A more sustainable world is everyone's responsibility. It's just like at school: working together and getting down to work generates energy; exactly what we need to keep the economy going.

Judith Witte