To DNV’s Jørgen Kadal, the acquisition of the electric car brought about a new awareness of just how easily one can make changes that matter in your everyday life. To DNV, this was to be the first step on a different kind of journey; one where facilitating the personal commitment of employees through providing incentives to break barriers would take centre stage.
Jørgen Kadal has always been conscious of sustainability and of limiting his own personal footprint. "As a technologist, environmental technology has always stirred my curiosity. The environmental challenges we’re currently facing are too grave, however, to allow us to wait for new technology to develop or new political solutions to emerge. There’s so much that we can do as individuals, for instance with regard to our daily consumption and transport needs. We simply cannot afford to wait," says Mr Kadal.
Adapting to a new reality
For the Kadal family, the electric car triggered a new awareness. "When my family bought the electric vehicle seven years ago, we were forced to adapt to a new reality. All of a sudden we had to start planning our daily lives and movements based on a whole new set of conditions, with all the limitations that owning an electric car implies," says Mr Kadal.
Seven years on, the experience has been a positive one for the family. To Mr Kadal, one of the most important teachings has been that it is possible for individuals to make an impact and to develop a new awareness. "People tend to take things for granted. We have an inbuilt impulse to leave it to others to think of the consequences," he says, adding that "the fact that my family and I managed to organise our lives around this new set of conditions made me think about what more could be done."
And it inspired him to take his ideas to a whole new level.
The beginning of WE do
It was upon reading the DNV Strategy 2006 – 2010 that Mr Kadal was encouraged to introduce his thoughts to DNV management. "Reading the strategy made me think that the organisation might be receptive to input that would help reduce the employees’ environmental footprint," he says. The immediate positive feedback from President and CEO Henrik O. Madsen was a source of personal inspiration to Mr Kadal.
"It took me a long time to decide to approach the CEO. His instant, positive response and his involvement in this project ever since have been very encouraging. The strong foundation at the top of the organisation has been an important success factor for WE do," says Mr Kadal.
Barriers to cross
Today, WE do is a partnership between the employees and the company, and the scheme is entering its second year these days. The partnership is based upon a realisation that individuals face a number of barriers, both psychological and financial, to reducing their environmental footprint. It is also based on a vision of the employees and DNV working together, and with other players, to identify and remove some of these barriers.
"In order to succeed, we rely upon a good, constructive dialogue with the authorities. We need a reliable framework that works to our advantage," says Mr Kadal. "Right now I’m in dialogue with the municipal authorities where I live. I have suggested that they implement a financial scheme that would remove barriers currently preventing people from investing in environmentally friendly solutions in their homes. One example is making it easier for people to take on high cost initiatives such as insulating their houses. The initiative will result in a reduced energy demand in the long run. However, there are many small barriers in the legal and political systems that are not so easy to remove just like that," he says.
DNV has also been in dialogue with the Norwegian authorities, seeking to improve the Norwegian tax scheme which currently requires employees to pay taxes on the financial contributions they receive for their WE do projects. In principle, the current system means that 50% of the financial support given to WE do projects is retained as taxes.
Best practice
In the end, Mr Kadal is pleased with the result. "I think the WE do initiative is a good example of how businesses and organisations can make important and lasting contributions towards a sustainable future," he says. Today the idea has spread and other companies are now looking at similar programmes for their employees.
So what about the electric vehicle and some of the life lessons the past seven years have taught him?
"You learn to relax and take things easy. You simply can’t do everything at once, given that the range of the electric car is limited to 60-80 km per charge. One day you might have to skip driving to the grocery store if the car has already been used to pick up your children from kinder-garten. These limitations force you to think about your own personal consumption and your own environmental footprint in a very pragmatic way," says Mr Kadal.