Welcome.
My name is Bas Sudmeijer.
I'm a managing director and partner at BCG,
and I'm delighted to be joined today by Lindsay Levin,
the CEO of Leaders' Quest and the co-founder of Countdown.
And we've been very pleased for the last six months
to be a strategic partner of Countdown.
Lindsay, it would be great to hear a little bit
more about Countdown.
Our goal is to show people that it really is possible
for us to half emissions in the next 10 years,
which is, of course, what we need to do,
and to really bring to life and celebrate solutions
that already exist,
showcase examples of what people are doing, and really help
accelerate action in the run-up to the UN Climate Change
Conference in Glasgow
that takes place in November '21.
But if I could turn the table, Bas, and ask you, I know BCG
just made, you know,
new commitments on climate change.
It would be great to hear a little bit more about that
because, certainly, we're very excited
when we look at what you're doing and the level
of commitment you're bringing.
Thank you, Lindsay.
Yes, I mean, we've recently updated our pledge
to be net zero,
which is, we want to reach net zero climate impact by 2030,
and we want to reduce our footprint in terms of 90%
reduction in our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions.
But we also recognize that the majority
of our footprint is from traveling
and flying around the world,
and we've committed to reducing our,
which is, what we call in technical terms
our scope 3 footprint,
and we want to reduce that by 30% per FTE by 2020,
sorry, by 2025.
And we want to remove our remaining footprint with the most
effective nature-based and engineered solutions, averaging
about $80 per ton, by 2030.
And also, beyond 2030,
we also want to look backwards, and we want to become
a climate-positive company by basically removing more of all
the things that we've emitted before
also from the atmosphere beyond 2030.
What are some of the specific things, Lindsay,
that people should be looking forward to,
and what are some of the sectors and efforts
that we want to focus on starting on the 10th of October?
As we put together the program for the 10th,
you know, it's a long thing,
so you need to be prepared.
It's almost like a festival of ideas around climate change.
We've got five and a half hours of this incredible
show, but we start, really, with urgency.
So the first session,
the first hour or so, is helping people just understand
what's going on.
I mean, there's a brilliant new TED Talk
by Johan Rockström,
one of the world's greatest climate scientists,
that we kick off the show with
that brings bang up to date
the science of what is happening to planetary boundaries,
including because of climate change.
And then we kind of take people through a journey
of thinking about leadership--
so political leadership,
we've got various, Ursula von der Leyen
is gonna speak, the president of the European Union,
but also thinking about BCG's world,
what does business need to do,
and what does it mean to reimagine capitalism
and to reimagine business models?
And some examples of that in practice,
where companies are accelerating their level of commitment
to really looking
to make dramatic change in the next decade.
And then culminating with a section focused on action,
where we want to show people
what they can do as individuals.
We're actually launching a global initiative that day.
It's not yet public, but it'll come out that day,
which is an opportunity for citizens all over the world
to measure and capture their own carbon footprint
and make specific commitments to changes
that they can make in their lives.
So thinking about what does this mean for individual
citizens, but also what does it mean for businesses?
What does it mean for cities?
What does it mean for communities, and indeed,
what does it mean for countries?
One thought I also want to end on is, you know,
we're doing this, of course, in the middle of the pandemic,
and we're doing this at a time when the world feels
incredibly unstable and inequitable
and deeply challenging, with protests
and, I think, just huge levels of anxiety
and distress because of the state that we're all in.
And one of the things that I think is really important
to the whole climate discussion
is that all of these challenges
are interconnected,
and that is very evident in what we've prepared.
It's all, you know, everything touches upon everything else.
So racial justice, social justice,
global equity is inextricably tied together with
climate equity and, in many different ways,
we have speakers who really make that clear and give data
and examples to bring it to life.
I'm very much looking forward to Saturday, the 10th.
I'm going to be watching the whole thing with my family.
It's the defining issue of this generation
and many generations to come.
So I think it's a super important moment.
I think Countdown will play a critical role in really
shaping that narrative and bringing the key issues to bear.
So, yeah, thank you.
Thank you, Lindsay, again, for explaining it.
I hope many around the world will join,
either watching the live event
and/or participating in many of the local events.
I know you have tons of those lined up as well,
so thank you.
And thank you, Bas.
Thank you all for your partnership.
You've been indispensable and really fantastic colleagues,
so we hugely appreciate it.