DNV GL kicked off its 150th anniversary year with an event in Singapore for more than 500 customers, employees and stakeholders, together exploring insights and actions necessary to achieve its vision of ‘global impact for a safe and sustainable future’.
Can the shipping industry cut fatality rates by 90 per cent? Why should business help society build resilience to the effects of climate change that we can no longer avoid? Could cutting-edge floating offshore wind technology enable energy-challenged countries to provide clean and affordable power to their societies?
These are the types of questions that DNV GL has been tackling in a year-long scientific initiative to explore how to achieve its vision of global impact for a safe and sustainable future. Today, DNV GL President and CEO Henrik O. Madsen, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri and a group of next generation leaders drawn from across DNV GL’s global organisation met with customers and stakeholders to explore the initiative’s initial findings.
The initiative marked a double milestone: DNV’s 150th anniversary and DNV GL’s first year as a merged company. The focus is on six sustainability themes for the future:
- Safe and sustainable future
- From technology to transformation
- The future of shipping
- Electrifying the future
- Arctic: the next risk frontier
- Adaptation to a changing climate
Dr Henrik O. Madsen, President and CEO of DNV GL, said that the themes reflect the company’s aim to take a broader view of the relationship between technology, business and society. “I hope that we can use the findings of the themes, as well as the momentum of our 2014 celebrations, to engage a wide range of stakeholders in a forward-leaning discussion. With an eye on the bigger picture, we want to guide our customers in making the right choices for the business, the lives they touch and the communities in which they exist. We want to make a difference.”
Bjørn K. Haugland, DNV GL’s chief sustainability officer and responsible overall for the development of the six themes, adds: “It is my aspiration that we will use this conversation to inspire in three directions. Firstly, to engage the young generation. Secondly, to encourage leaders in business and politics to take the lead instead of maintaining the status quo. And thirdly, to promote collaboration among all partners and stakeholders, which is key to solving the systems challenge that a safe and sustainable future represents. It’s an exciting road ahead, a road paved with opportunities.”