René Rohrbeck: "Supporting and encouraging positive change at the system level is never easy or linear"

Through its research, the Centre for Net Positive Business intends to nurture new business models that will be catalysts for positive change. Is this a realistic goal?

Rene Rohrbeck: We are ambitious, so we want to contribute to making business a force for positive change. Today, many companies feel their investors pressuring them to continually deliver the highest possible returns, preventing them from making big leaps forward. At the same time, we need businesses that are capable of creating new economic models capable of solving our global challenges.

We should remember that capitalism has been an incredible success story, contributing to, among other things, drastically reducing extreme poverty — from 80% of the world's population in 1820 to less than 10% in 2020. Today, we need to again harness the power of business to safeguard our climate and our biodiversity, to drive global equality and to make education a common good, accessible to everyone on the planet.

The Centre for Net Positive Business identifies business areas that can be economically attractive and act as catalysts for positive change. At EDHEC, I draw a lot of inspiration from daily conversations with the leaders of family businesses in the north of France who, for three or more generations, have kept a strong sense of responsibility towards their environment.
They want to continue to be shepherds of the ecosystems in which they were founded. The concept of net positive business invites us to consider all the impacts a company has on the planet, on people, and on the ecosystem around it. A net positive business, in essence, gives back more than it takes from its environment.

Today we lack one single framework that would allow us to gain a full understanding of our impact, which is why we will also work with partners, governments and think tanks around the world to understand how we can measure net positivity going forward.

So, are you optimistic about the future?

Rene Rohrbeck: People who know me will attest that I am optimistic by nature. But the other day at the World Economic Forum, its founder Klaus Schwab told us that what is more important is to be “rational optimists.” I find this concept rather useful. It emphasises that we have to understand how we can bring positive change, why we should be confident that the change is possible and why we ought to believe that we will build sufficient momentum for collaborative action.

Positive changes must stem from new ideas, rational thinking and dialogue — what Plato called logos — combined with a collective desire to act — epithumia. I call the process of connecting these two concepts “collaborative anticipation.” Plans to decarbonise, such as the International Energy Agency's “Net Zero by 2050” scenario, are examples of this.

The EDHEC Centre for Net Positive Business intends to go one step further by defining sustainability pathways within each industry. In essence, we will create roadmaps to the necessary planetary outcomes and the valuable business opportunities that can act as catalysts for them.

Having seen, studied and contributed to such new positive business actions makes me “rationally optimistic,” especially knowing how resourceful industry can be when developing new technologies and solutions at scale. Accelerating the transition from discovery to business creation and scaling up will be key.

In practical terms, what will be the Centre for Net Positive Business's methodology for achieving these goals?

Rene Rohrbeck: Methodologically, we bring our expertise in foresight, trend research and systems thinking. We can identify tipping points — those moments when irreversible and disruptive changes occur. 

With future-back planning we can then engage our partners to co-develop solutions. We can also connect the private sector with macroeconomy-level players such as governments, industry bodies and regulators.

For example, our Future of Buildings programme has focused on circularity, which the European Union has identified as a key driver of a more sustainable future. Our research has shown that flooring is one of the many promising opportunities. In Europe, we install 3 billion square metres of flooring every year, of which at least 1.5 billion could be recycled or reused. But today, that is not included in the industry's standard procedures.

In our programme, two partners, JLL and Tarkett, have piloted a programme to advance the technical feasibility and identify a business model which, if scaled across the industry, could reduce associated CO2 emissions in Europe by 10 to 20 million tonnes per year. But for this to happen, manufacturers and customers need to rethink their processes and business models at scale.

As an independent stakeholder, we can help companies map future value chains and define innovative and collaborative business models. Sometimes a business might be able to implement this kind of new model alone, but sometimes a joint venture might make more sense, and sometimes mergers and acquisitions might help. Sometimes we will also have to adapt regulations that were originally well intended but are now holding back progress. We are also not alone in this mission; we collaborate with think tanks such as the World Economic Forum, with philanthropic foundations such as the Somfy Foundation, or with catalysts of sustainable technologies such as the Solar Impulse Foundation.

What obstacles remain to be overcome?

Rene Rohrbeck: Supporting and encouraging positive systemic change is never easy or linear. The case of Better Place, a project founded by Shai Agassi in 2007, is a good example. It aimed to solve the problem of long charging times for electric car batteries by building battery-swapping stations. It invested $850 million in the project before it went bankrupt in 2013. It was an ambitious concept, but it was ahead of its time. Moreover, its strategy was in direct conflict with the interests of the leading car manufacturers. 

However, a good concept never dies: It has recently been revived by the Chinese automaker Nio, which has built more than 2,300 battery-swapping stations in China for its luxury cars, and by Taiwanese scooter company Gogoro, which operates 11,000 stations where batteries can be swapped in just three minutes.

Why is it so important to develop such a centre within a business school?

Rene Rohrbeck: As a business school, we have an obligation to do more to discover, catalyse, and develop these new business models to drive positive change. We need to train leaders to think in systems and foster collaboration across the value chain. We also need to help enable leapfrogging and the embrace of radically new solutions. 

At different points in our lives, we all face trade-offs. If people fear for their personal or financial security and believe that this security lies within traditional business models, it will be very difficult to move them forward. We must ensure that everyone operates in a secure environment where they can truly take action. 

Finally, all of this requires co-creating solutions with specific industries, conducting research but also educating our students and developing their critical thinking. We are ready, and so are many of the stakeholders that are already helping us make a positive impact today and will help us going forward.

• This article has been initially published in the EDHEC Vox Magazine #15 - to read it online, follow this link