Tag Archives: Høyre

AmCham Sustainability Forum: The Role of Business in Building Collaborative Solutions

AmCham Sustainability Forum: The Role of Business in Building Collaborative Solutions

AmCham Sustainability Forum participants gathered digitally for the latest edition of the forum, with Gard Special Adviser Kim Jefferies and Høyre Political Advisor Daniel Skjevik-Aasberg joining to address building collaborative sustainability solutions with the public sector, international institutions, youth, and environmental organizations.

Presenters

Kim Jefferies

Special Adviser

Daniel Skjevik-Aasberg

Political Advisor

Make It a Part of the Job – and Consider it a Part of Everyone’s Job

Jefferies, an American transplant who has played a critical role in Gard’s work with the UN Global Compact Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business, opened up the session by highlighting Gard’s sustainability work – both at the international and local levels.

 

Jefferies offered participants insights based on years of experience, including serving on the editorial board of the UN’s Ocean Opportunities Report.

 

“If you’re company is looking to get more involved, do some research and find out what the infrastructure is out there. For us, it’s been great to connect to the (UN) Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business – and the great thing is that they have additional platforms for other business sectors.”

 

Critical to success, Jeffries noted, is that companies cultivate a genuine culture of enthusiasm around sustainability. By connecting passion with expertise, companies can better engage in transnational sustainability initiatives.

A part of Gard's extensive sustainability work with UN Global Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business has included serving as one of the maritme representatives for the UN COVID-19 Task Force.

“One lesson we at Gard have learned is that its important to have expertise within the company, and you also need to reach into your organization and find those employees who are passionate about sustainability…and give them space and support. Make it a part of the job and consider it a part of everyone’s job.”

 

To conclude, Jeffries shifted her focus to Gard’s local, youth-focused sustainability initiatives such as Gard Our Oceans. For her, the dialogues and sense of community engagement fostered by such initiatives represent a valuable opportunity to learn from youth – lessons that can then be taken back to the company.

 

“Many of the young people we work with know a lot more about environmental practices and the importance of climate change than we do as adults, and we can learn a lot of them through initiatives such as Gard Our Oceans. In fact, this really gives me hope for the future.”

Make It a Part of the Job – and Consider it a Part of Everyone’s Job

Daniel Skjevik-Aasberg, who served recently as Unge Høyre’s First Vice President in addition to his role as political advisor for the party’s parliamentary committee for labor and social issues, followed Jeffries, drawing upon his 10 years of youth political experience to discuss issues such as private-public sustainability collaboration, engaging youth, and collaborating with environmental organizations.

 

To begin, Skjevik-Aasberg noted the importance of financing green innovation and climate friendly business projects, touting organizations such as Enova, Innovation Norway, and Nysnø for playing crucial roles in providing the partnerships and capital necessary to build a sustainable future.

 

“One of the most important measures we can take is to ensure enough capital for green investments on a long-term basis. That will help accelerate green innovation, particularly in terms of public-private projects, such as the Longship and Northern Lights projects, as well as the Tampen Hywind project with Equinor.”

 

He also noted the importance of working not just at the national level to develop public-private sustainability initiatives, noting that there is an abundance of collaborative opportunities at the municipal (kommune) and country (fylke) level.

From there, Skjevik-Aasberg discussed how businesses can better engage youth and environmental organizations, noting the truly incredible impact these stakeholders can have in concert with business.

 

“We love meetings!” he proclaimed, noting that inviting youth politicians and other youth groups to companies via meetings, “sustainability days,” and sustainability forums can spark engaging dialogues, raise awareness about corporate sustainability efforts, and even lay the foundation for collaborative projects.

 

Collaborative projects featured prominently in Skjevik-Aasberg’s tips for better engaging environmental organizations, where the expertise of environmental organizations and the technical competence of companies can come together to build scalable solutions with a lasting impact.

 

To conclude, Skjevik-Aasberg reminded forum participants of the tremendous influence companies, youth, and environmental organizations can have when they work together.

 

“Companies and the climate movement, when they combine forces, can greatly influence government policy…I think it’s better for businesses to use the engagement of environmentalists in a more constructive and productive way, developing new projects and furthering innovations.”

About the Sustainability Forum

Many AmCham companies have been on the sustainability journey for some time, while others are trying to find their way to a sustainable future. Though our members are represented through the full spectrum, we know that several are at the forefront within their respective industries.

Hence, AmCham brings select, cross-industry member company representatives together on a quarterly basis to discuss opportunities, share best practices and find out how AmCham members can play a role in the Norwegian sustainability agenda going forward. Read more about our Sustainability forum here, and please contact us for interest in future forums at amcham@amcham.no.

Bloomberg: Norway PM Loses Majority Coalition After Populist Partner Quits

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg lost her majority coalition after her main ally quit the government to protest the repatriation of a woman who’d joined Islamic State.

The prime minister, who leads the Conservative Party, will continue to run a minority coalition without the anti-immigration Progress Party. Though she avoided a total government collapse, Solberg now faces a tougher future getting legislation through a more fractious parliament. Progress Party Leader Siv Jensen, who was also Norway’s finance minister, made clear she’s sick of political compromise and will now pursue a much harder line to defend her populist program.

Read entire article HERE.

Rising Leaders: Tackling Sustainability Challenges as a Young Leader

Rising Leaders: Tackling Sustainability Challenges as a Young Leader

Rising Leaders participants gathered at TGI Fridays Aker Brygge to focus on how to tackle sustainability challenges. Attendees heard from McDonald’s Nordic QA and Supplier Sustainability Lead Hilde Øverby, who highlighted the company’s extensive sustainability and youth outreach efforts. In addition, program participants took part in a highly engaging debate on sustainability in business with AUF General Secretary Sindre Lysø and Unge Høyre Functioning Leader Daniel Skjevik-Aasberg.

Scale for Good

TGI Friday’s Aker Brygge General Manager Nassim Khodadi welcomed program participants and highlighted a number of initiatives the company is implementing to become more sustainable, including attacking the problem of food waste head-on.

It was a welcome that set the stage well for McDonald’s Øverby. A long-time participant in the AmCham Sustainability Forum, Øverby took participants through McDonald’s comprehensive sustainability platform, highlighting why young leaders should not be afraid to bring their innovative ideas forward to their more senior colleagues.

“Don’t give up. Develop your idea, no matter how small. If you truly believe in it, you can scale it up and create good solutions that make an impact.”

Øverby then showed how McDonald’s itself is impowering young farmers and entrepreneurs to develop exciting sustainable products. Highlights included a pilot program with manufacturing companies Roltex (Belgium), GH Plast (Sweden), and Pla-Mek (Norway) that takes plastic waste from the fishing industry and furnishes it into trays McDonald’s hopes to eventually use in restaurants across Norway. 

In line with the definition of sustainability adopted by the AmCham Sustainability Forum, Øverby also highlighted how McDonald’s has developed a comprehensive sustainability platform by both working with partners such as WWF and following their holistic, three-E model (ethical, environmental, and economic) when making strategic decisions.

After her presentation, Øverby then fielded questions from Rising Leaders, a dialogue that included the importance of creating brand awareness around sustainability issues and how to empower youth from diverse backgrounds to become young leaders in companies such as McDonald’s.

Sustainability in Business: Perspectives from AUF and Unge Høyre

Following Øverby’s remarks, two youth politicians – Sindre Lysø from the Labor Party youth organization, AUF, and Daniel Skjevik-Aasberg from Høyre’s youth organization, Unge Høyre – took the floor to participate in a unique, roundtable debate with program participants.

Lysø and Skjevik-Aasberg spoke strongly about the importance of young people in business making their voices heard, particularly on sustainability issues, with both noting that the divide on various sustainability issues is more generation than political.

“We have visions, we know that society could be better. We are not in a position to think we can’t do anything – we are future customers, and innovation is driven by young people,” remarked Unge Høyre’s functioning leader.

Both additionally saw that Norwegian companies were making strong contributions to sustainability in raw materials industries, noting Hydro’s extensive sustainability work in aluminum production and Equinor’s growing commitment to renewable resources and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Lysø, an educated civil economist with a degree from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) added that the key to leveraging Norwegian corporate innovation to build critical sustainable solutions is increased public-private cooperation.

“Companies are great problem solvers. They bring together considerable amounts of competencies and skills, including bringing in international talent. However, companies alone cannot solve the climate crisis. Cooperation with the state is essential – and that type of cooperation is one of Norway’s greatest strengths.”

According to Lysø and Skjevik-Aasberg, an element essential to accelerating progress on sustainability issues is the establishment of innovative frameworks that promote sustainability and inspire both businesses and individuals to take action.

“We don’t have the frameworks we need to achieve the SDGs. Therefore, there’s a lot of talk, but we need to act – and we know businesses will be more competitive if they take steps to reduce emissions, among other actions,” Skjevik-Aasberg noted.

It was a sentiment that resonated with Lysø, who added that strong frameworks will also play a critical role in creating frameworks that aid workers in developing the skills necessary to thrive in a more sustainable global economy.

“Making the transition will be challenging, however, the energy industry in Norway has a lot of competence in the skills necessary to power sustainable solutions, such as offshore wind. Here the state, employees, and employers must work together [to aid the transition].”

To close out the debate, Lysø and Skjevik-Aasberg also discussed the importance of having a diverse, international workforce with the competencies necessary to power sustainable growth, actively discussing with international program participants who have struggled at times with the transition to Norway. Both noted the importance of attracting skilled immigrants to Norway and making them feel welcome – areas where both agreed that Norway could improve.

“We really need an inkluderingsdugnad,” Sjevik-Aasberg concluded.

About Rising Leaders

Rising Leaders is an initiative of the US Embassy and AmCham to provide access for young, up-and-coming leaders from diverse backgrounds to high-level representatives of the established business community. AmCham Managing Director Jason Turflinger and US Ambassador Kenneth Braithwaite officially inaugurated the program in April 2018.

The 24 program participants — consisting of 12 women and 12 men from nine countries between the ages of 22 and 35 — have demonstrated leadership, entrepreneurial, and/or business excellence in their educational pursuits and careers thus far. Participants engage business leaders, learn about AmCham member companies, and gain business and leadership skills.

For more information about the program or to learn how your organization can get involved, please contact tb@amcham.no.

E24: Høyres Heidi Nordby Lunde mener at Petter Stordalens forslag til skatt på digitale tjenester kan bidra til jobbflukt og dobbeltbeskatning.

– Jeg er ikke prinsipielt mot beskatning av utenlandske selskaper, men jeg må innrømme at dette ikke er spesielt gode forslag, sier Nordby Lunde. 

Utspillet fra Nordby Lunde kom etter at Petter Stordalen denne uken la frem to forslag til Stortingets finanskomité om skatt for digitale selskaper, som Facebook, Google og Booking.com. 

Høyre-politikeren mener at forslagene vil skape et diskriminerende skattesystem, som gjør at vi risikerer at bedrifter investerer i andre land enn Norge.

Les hele saken HER.