 Good morning, and thank you for joining us. This is the opening press conference for the Welcome to the Co-Chairs of the 2019 Sustainable Development Impact Summit. Just a note on format. After a brief introduction of the summit, I'll then invite each of our co-chairs to talk a little bit about Why did they accept this role to be a co-chair and what does it mean for them? After all of the co-chairs have spoken, then we'll open up the floor to questions for about 10 minutes. Great. So in this third edition of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit, it feels that we're at a bit of an unprecedented moment. So a bit of a tipping point where we have the science and the data and we have the technology and the know-how, and we have the public demanding concrete actions from us all, especially to resolve the challenges of climate change, inequality, inclusiveness and jobs. This summit aims to respond to that call to action by spotlighting the world's leading examples of public-private cooperation to advance on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. And it's by showcasing these initiatives that we're hoping that connections can be made and synergies can be struck and through this interaction that the most impactful initiatives will rise to the surface and will prevail and be scaled. This gathering that therefore is more than just a meeting, it really represents a new way of doing business, a new way of operating and new forms of deep collaboration. And as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, we really feel it's our duty to offer a platform like this that can basically spotlight these kind of initiatives and really honor the kinds of action that all of the co-chairs and the participants are leading and this to be held alongside the UN General Assembly. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by three of our summit co-chairs who are really exemplifying going beyond the talk. So please welcome to my left Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. Yes, very well pronounced. Beside him, Malate Wysen, founder of Bye Bye Plastic Bags and finally Jesper Broden, Chief Executive Officer and President of INCA Group and that represents IKEA Retail INCA Centres and INCA Investments. Welcome to all of you. Really look, thank you for taking the time out of a very busy week, I'm sure, to join us here today. So Prime Minister, let me start start with you. And many national governments have really been criticized for their underwhelming, let's say, climate ambitions. But you've recently announced an agreement to reduce your carbon emissions by nearly 50%. That's quite bold. Can you tell us more about that and what are the practical actions that really implies? Well, let me first of all say that I'm so excited to be part of this panel and to co-chair and also very happy that the REF is taking this initiative on this important day in which we will also have, of course, the climate summit at the UN. And I think this has an excellent fit. Talking about the Netherlands, what we did about a couple of years ago, we decided we wanted to have an ambitious target. The 49% CO2 reduction by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. But then, of course, the question is how to achieve it. And we have been quite unsuccessful, I think, for about a 12 out of the 18 months it took us to come to the plan. It took us 12 months to struggle, to try to find the right balance of policies and support. But somehow in the last six months we were able to achieve that support level, also from society, to come to a very concrete plan, which is focusing on action. It has to be actionable, so no vague words, but very clear policies. Secondly, it all comes down to an agreement which has to be feasible and implementable, but also for the general population, for them to be able to drive their cars, to live in their houses, and to still go on holidays, so not to have to change their lives all of a sudden. So we have to take the whole of society along. And the third pillar is that next to mitigation we also need to focus on adaptation. The Netherlands half of the Netherlands is below sea level, so we have to make sure that the country keeps its feet dry. So next to mitigation it's also very much focusing on adaptation. I will chair a meeting tomorrow on the global commission of adaptation, climate adaptation, which was founded a year ago in The Hague. So there's really a pillar next to mitigation to make sure that also in terms of our dykes and our systems to control the rising sea levels and all the impact climate change has that we can still maintain the country as it is. So focusing on those issues and particularly bringing the whole of society along and the best Dutch traditions of our polder model, which means talking, talking, talking, and then agreeing, and then making speed and implementation, because it took us so much time to come to the agreement with such a broad support that we can really implement it. Yeah. Well, they always say, if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you really want to have impact, go together. That's it. But that takes time to come there together. It takes time to get there. And we made mistakes in the first half year, 12 months to get there. And then we accelerated. So if you were going to do this all over again, what advice would you have then to other governments who want, you know, I think who want to make those kind of changes but maybe don't have the courage or the confidence to go forward as you did? Exactly. Well, we had the pleasure of hosting the German climate cabinet under the leadership of Angela Merkel and her minister for environment and finance and economic affairs. And we basically spent the afternoon telling them what we did wrong. And the most important thing is that you have to be very clear in your communication on what you want to achieve. Then you need to tell people we think by then that we know the next step. Because if you are not very clear in your communication and that was what you learned over time, is what you are communicating is insecurity, is un-clarity. And people start to think, yes, of course we want to avoid this CO2 emission issue. We want to avoid the fact that the climate is changing, but can we still live our lives? What does this mean financially? Can we still raise our children? And all these insecurity issues started to come up because we were not able over time, soon enough, to tell people what we wanted to achieve with this broad support from companies, societal organizations, the industrial sector at large, but also Greenpeace and the whole environmental sector. That took time. And I think that was the main lesson, that you have to be very clear by which date are you going to communicate what instead of saying, well, in 12 months we will be there. And in the meantime, the press and others starting to speculate and then people starting to become unclear on what is happening and therefore unsecure on what it will mean for their own personal lives. You really have to have that resolve to push through. Exactly. And it takes time. So you cannot really allow yourself to do it in a shorter time span, I guess, because you want to take so many companies, organizations, NGOs along in the whole process. But in the meantime, be very clear on by what date you can communicate what outcome. And we didn't do that. Lessons learned. Absolutely. So Milate, the Prime Minister has outlined a very inclusive process. You've spent nearly half your life, actually, bringing awareness to these topics, mobilizing, I guess, a grassroots kind of backing behind you. Tell us a little bit more about Bye Bye Plastic Bags. Yeah. So Bye Bye Plastic Bags is a story that started about six years ago at the age of 12. And when my sister was 10 years old, we learned about significant people all around the world. World leaders Nelson Mandela, Lady Diana. And I remember going home that day thinking with my sister, what can we do as kids living on the island of Bali and Indonesia, what can we do right now? We didn't want to wait until we were older to start making a difference. And so the idea with Bye Bye Plastic Bags is 40 other countries around the world at the time had already banned single-use plastic bags. So you can imagine in the minds of 10 and 12-year-olds, we said, well, 40 other countries already did it. Come on, Bali. Come on, Indonesia. We can also do it. And so there is the story of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, the story of how we tried to campaign through our community, through the villages, go on the streets, mobilize the businesses. But the power of, I think, Bye Bye Plastic Bags is really that we were youth led, that all of a sudden on the island of Bali, here came the voices of the young people. And we would go knocking on the doors of our government, writing the letters, picking up the phones, writing the emails and saying, this is something that we truly see as a solution. And only after six years of campaigning, continuous efforts on a daily basis, only two months ago, or three months ago at this stage, the ban on plastic bags, straws and styrofoam has finally come into effect on the island of Bali. Okay, so one year's not too bad. It took 60 years to get the legislation. Yeah, definitely. And I really related to the fact of clarity within regulations and clear communications from government to public, because I think one of the most frustrating things as a young changemaker is access to information at high level gatherings and high level political meetings. So I think young people have a very important role to play to act as that bridge between all of these industries and connect the dots, because currently it's not happening enough. And that is where the frustration of things happening too slow comes from. It's that clarity within our community that is lacking, where we all, I think at this stage, we all have to be on the same page. We all know that 2030 is around the corner. What are those tangible action steps that we can implement today? And I think while having set in stone regulations for timelines like 2030, it shouldn't have taken six years to implement a ban on one single-use plastic item. So starting today with those actions that we know are already solutions that exist, start implementing them. And I think investing in people is how we get those solutions to come into reality. Fantastic. It's great. Well, we'll speak to Ikea in particular in a moment, but you were just at a youth summit yesterday, and you were highlighting some of the great takeaways that you had from that gathering. Maybe as a connect, why don't you start? That was very scary. I mean, inspiring to meet. So basically it was just an evening and a workshop with some 15 youth leaders and 15 representatives of big companies. And the inside is that there is a gap between us, and there is a dialogue. And sometimes the assumptions might be right, and sometimes they're very wrong. And in a time that we are in now when humanity is facing the biggest crisis ever, we simply don't have time for misunderstandings. So dialogue, bringing people together, courage to open up, to be transparent, to be with both your intentions and your weaknesses, et cetera, is, I think, incredibly important. So that was an appetizer for something that we think needs to happen much more. Very good. Well, you have a very credible story. So maybe you can talk through some of the changes that you've made throughout the companies and organizations that you're responsible for. Yeah. No, I think we are here to be part of a big movement. You know, nobody can do everything, but all of us need to do a lot in order to resolve the crisis. And I think of the last decade or more, it's been a growing insight within the community of all of IKEA that this is not only a responsibility for us, but it's a matter of survival for a business model going forward. You can say there are three reasons that each one of them are enough for us to take actions. And the first one is interesting enough, the awareness in the world is on a rise. We made a survey last year, 14,000 people in 14 markets were asked and more than 90% today are deeply concerned about climate change and global warming. And only 3% know how they can contribute. So there is a frustration and a gap between the issues that we all see, but also the solutions that are there and how we can scale them. So we think customers should deselect companies that are not doing their part. And in particular, if you're a big company in your business, you need to be the leader. Now, secondly, which is I think one of the fascinating things that the world still believes that sustainability is going to come at the premium and that sustainability is going to be a cost that we have to take. But it is the opposite. It's a matter of timing maybe in some cases, but we see in area after area that we will simply not be able to serve the many people within a wallet unless we take back materials. We discussed before here about taking back mattresses in Netherlands, which is great, but it's also probably the only way we can do it affordable tomorrow. And the third reason is it's just the right thing to do for ourselves and for generations to come. But you touched upon kind of the fiduciary responsibilities and in terms of a driver of where you're feeling, you know, the contrast in the pressure from consumers or from the public. Some would say because you're a private company, it's actually easier for you to make those ambitious commitments. Tell us more about that. I think there are some realities around what we need to help each other with. I think also in the collaboration, not at least between governments and companies, if you're in financial stress to have the guts to take investments going forward, it can be difficult. So I think in certain sectors, we need courageous governments who give, who basically reverse the models of what you incentivize in society. But I'm sort of saying not here to negotiate, but more to say, I think for us being a private company, we are today not in a place where people think that we and I try to convince our board, but it's the opposite. Our board is putting pressure on us in the management to do more. So it is a conviction that is growing, I think throughout. And here, I just wanted to add that also, we believe the important thing, what you were referring to, Mr. Prime Minister, is that good intentions are important and words give them power. But in the end of the day, it's actions that's going to change things. So how do we lend ourselves to principle of actions, support each other to have speed, make sure like in this headline of this summit that symbolic actions are nice and can inspire. But we need to have impact and be able to measure impact. And finally, we need to prove that together, we can change the models of the 1900s into something new. Could I very much stress this last point because what I found in creating this climate agreement in the Netherlands with the right to organizations, NGOs, but also the industrial sector is that you need them on board in two ways. First of all, because some of them, actually a lot of them are inspiring. Comes in the Netherlands like indeed Ikea, but also DSM, Unilever, others, are inspiring to raise the bar because they are really at the forefront. And it's in very practical terms, very action oriented. But secondly, because you need to dialogue, for example, to discuss a carbon tax. And there are many ways to deal with this carbon tax issue. You could say we raise the overall carbon tax, the base level, and then we have exemptions for, for example, the steel industry. Or what we decided, you have the European trading system, the European tax, the European carbon system. But on top of that, we will have an excess levy by which you stimulate companies to be best in class. And if you are, you don't pay. If you are not, you have to pay. And that will incentivize companies to become the best in class. So you get a sort of raise to the top. So these are various ways to do that. And you need the dialogue, for example, with the steel mill industry, because if you don't do that, there is the risk that they will then decide to take their investments to Germany or to Belgium. So there's also the issue of the level playing field with other countries. And this is not because the steel industry is not interested in CO2 emissions. They are. But of course, they also have to stay competitive. And by doing it this way, also with countries like Germany and France and Belgium, you are able to create that level playing field. You need that intense dialogue within this tree and their knowledge and expertise. And of course, at the end, it is the political class which has to take the decisions in a democratic society. But you need maximum input. So in these two ways, I found that industry has been very helpful in creating, helping to co-create that climate agreement. Yeah, it's almost like we have the perverse incentives right now that that's what we have to reverse to get to the right economic model. And you're saying you've got to take that outside of your boundaries for it to be effective. Because if the other markets offer something, you know, are incentivizing in a different way. Exactly. We have one of the most environmentally friendly steel mills in the world in the Netherlands. They employ 8, 9, 10,000 people. But at the same time, you also want them to become the industry standard worldwide and stimulate that process. And we also know that of course steel mills and in general, let's say, the oil industry or the chemical sector, they of course are responsible for large parts of CO2 emissions. So we have to bring them down because you still need those products. Absolutely. And we need the jobs and we need these beautiful companies to stay healthy. That's good. In fact, the World Economic Forum was managing the industry track of the UN Climate Action Summit that's launching almost as we speak. And it's 30%, you know, the seven hard to abate industries of shipping, cement, aluminum, mobility or tourism. These account for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. So if you can make a difference and transform those industry sectors, you can have a significant impact on reaching. Very good. Maybe just to make a comment, I think from what I hear from fellow leaders of companies, there is actually three things we ask for governments. One is the collaboration of the borders because otherwise it becomes complicated to move, as you said, from a competition point of view. And including that level playing field dialogue. Then long-termness, meaning that even if politics can go left and right, etc., this change requires predictability. If we're going to invest our way forward. And finally, to have some, to make time a friend, even if, to your point, the clock is ticking, give us and the industry two, three, four years to shift. Like some now cities are very clear on saying that by 2023, 2025, you will not enter the city without being electrical. And that's giving enough time for companies to do the hard work to shift. Where we, for example, will be 2025, we will be aiming to the only electrical deliveries, home deliveries worldwide. First city, Shanghai is up and running. Paris, that's a secret, but it's going to be announced in half a year or so on. Amsterdam, New York, etc. And a lot of cities is basically doing the hard work that it takes governments, infrastructure, providers of electricity and providers of mobility to actually do the job together. But that takes a couple of years to get it in place. Right, right. I'd like to add something as well, just because this week has been full of conferences and different gatherings. And a lot of them are high level, at least the ones that I've attended. And we stress the fact that the time for talking is over. And it's really this action that we need to have. And a lot of the timelines that we're looking at is 2030. I'll be 30 years old. And I'm 18, and that seems so far away. So I think that starting with the two to three years where we see the change happening with clear guidelines and clear outcomes is so important. And actually, that's where in two weeks you'll be coming to my home country in Indonesia. And I think one of the things we struggle with is clarity within policy, but also policies that invite businesses, invite the communities to start adapting to the changes that we need to see. And so having the government really creating those platforms for us to be able to make the difference, instead of it being a struggle and a fight or a continuous dialogue, it needs to start turning into an implementation of action. Honestly, what we have learned only by co-creating, because if government would only take the input and then take the decisions, that's good. But if you are able to come to a sort of agreement in which parliament and government together with societal organizations would say, this is the way forward, that's the best way. Because otherwise, well, governments try to govern and to take decisions as good as possible, but of course they don't have all the knowledge and all the latest expertise and the real innovative ideas typically come from you, come from companies, come from small or large-scale societal organizations. Then you have to be sure that they are not too much driven by a particular interest group or a lobby because that doesn't work. If it is a lobbying issue, the whole thing gets killed. But if it is true input based on lessons learned, the latest insights, then you get a broad base and then you're able to take the whole society along. Of course, we still have to prove whether that will work. I mean, I'm fairly confident that where we are at now, that we have created something collectively which will inspire others in society to join. But of course, to prove that the pudding is in the eating and that eating has started a couple of weeks ago. Very good. Maybe you'll start that. I also think it's a bit of an old dilemma about how do you share, how do you avoid being perceived as greenwashing, for example, when it comes to companies. I think for myself, I think we're almost to say we have to take the risk to be wrongly perceived here because the sharing of examples is so important. And here we need to collaborate also, I think, with you in WEF to say, how do we share more examples? The network that you have, because we believe when we start to look into the problems that the solution is already here, some can get better, but it's about scaling existing technology. And that requires a dialogue between all of us. Absolutely. Well, it looks like, thank goodness, we've got two days of dialogue to go because it looks like we could carry on this conversation. We're saying considerable carbon footprint by traveling here, but we have to make the best of it. Make it worthwhile. Absolutely. And thank you for your time on that. Indeed, I've got, I would say three real takeaways from this discussion so far, really make time your friend. So embrace the fact that this is going to take a long time, but communicate that. Lay out the plan and manage expectations on that. I think go together. That dialogue does take time, but you've got to do it now. And to Malati's point about, the time for talking is over, except I think if it's to really get to a point of constructive collaboration. But she's also proved the fact that one person can make a lot of impact or two, you and your sister. But still, two people, it's a very small group, still a very small group. And now you've gotten rid of all the plastics on the whole island of Bali. So let's see how we can help to get rid of these plastics on the whole of Indonesia. Yeah, I mean, I think also just representing the larger younger generation, we're unstoppable. And you saw us on the streets on Friday. Millions of us came out, and it's this unstoppable movement where we are demanding a change in the community. We're recognizing that at the rate that we're going at, we can no longer continue. And there are exactly that existing solutions that we can plug into our everyday life. So it's about time. All right. I am going to open up the floor for the last five minutes for questions. Before your question, please state your name and affiliation. And I will try and take a few questions. So please raise your hand if I see three, four. We'll take them all, and then we'll turn to our panelists for answers. My name is Jochen Wiermoet. I, we are just about to travel to Holland on the Newtage von Prinz Constantine to go to your patrol ships and islands to talk about innovation. The mission innovation countries committed in Paris in 2014 to double innovation in renewable energies from 15 billion to 30 billion. And yet some of the innovations needed hasn't happened. So the World Economic Forum supported by KPMG has come up with an initiative to establish a global fund, the Sustainable Energy Innovation Fund, which would invest globally in innovations, both technology but also business innovation. If you already know how to do it in New York, then we should be able to do it in Sydney. And so that's an initiative where we hope the German, Dutch, other governments will be public participants as well as private participants matching public private money. And we look forward to doing that. And I just wanted to congratulate you on introducing a price mechanism. Greg, thank you, many Nobel Prize winners want a price for carbon and well done because the market can fix it. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We could get the questions very quickly. Thank you. I'm Steve Hamm. I'm from the innovator in Paris. And my question goes, comes off of that idea that we have much of it. We have many of the solutions, technologies, things like that. We need to scale. What's a great example of scaling right now? Yeah, I think there are many good examples, but some of them are actually a little bit in the background. If I look in my own company in the network, we have been scaling, moving from wooden pallets to paper pallets with a lot of saving in that. We have been scaling. We are right now scaling from assembling of furniture to clicking furniture with a lot of tons of material saving, et cetera, but actually enabling that you can start to rent and lease furniture because you can not only assemble, but you can disassemble, assemble again with higher quality. We are part of looking into not inventions, but scaling fibers and materials that has been on the radar for a long time, but there was no urge really to take the first investments to move up with them. Yes, I just want to move to the last two questions. Yes. I thought I had an hour to give examples of that. Such enthusiasm on this topic. Last question. Thank you so much for this hugely inspiring briefing. My question goes to the Prime Minister. You are going to be at the UN and meet all the world leaders. First of all, how did you manage to get the momentum in your country in the last couple of months to get the public opinion and the companies finally going to do the necessary changes which are inconvenient? And secondly, when you meet all the world leaders, how can you convince them that it is really, really urgent to take these measurements like taxes on carbon and how can it be done with an incentive? I think to the first question, because we were able to explain to the general public, people felt that we could do this in a way that they didn't have to change their lives all of a sudden, that they could take use of the logical decision moments like buying a new home, buying a new car, that these are the logical moments in the private lives of people to connect to what we want to achieve collectively. On the other issue, I think it is because it makes sense, but also because all evidence is there and there is, if you don't believe in all the evidence, at least there is a reason for the business opportunity because countries on the forefront, like the Netherlands or France or Germany, I am absolutely convinced, will also benefit economically from this because you will be the first with innovative technologies which will then be spread worldwide. So if you don't believe in the issue of climate change and there are not many people any longer there who don't believe in it, but even then do it because of the huge economic impact it can have. All right, with 30 seconds to go, I'm going to ask each of you 10 seconds, what's your one message to the audience today? I would say it is accountability and action-oriented. Very good, Milati. Holding those in power accountable. Great, Jesper. We're going to fix this. All right, thank you. Thank you so much. Great discussion. Great, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for joining us.