Ellen and two more at the first Swiss Sustainability Forum

Thank you, Lukas and Corine, for the first Swiss Sustainability Forum. Today at the Business Day, three people impressed me.

Dame Ellen McArthur not just answered her questions very witty, but also explained how living in solitude (during her solo long-distance sailing races) taught her to manage and reuse resources: The basic concept behind Circular Economy -- the mission of her impactful foundation with which Kickstart is collaborating for years. It is so obvious, that the linear way of producing products to be destroyed is not the way to do business anymore. When asked about her “consumption sins” she outlined, that we are all victims of today's economy and she explained what is takes to change such complex systems as a whole.

Another excellent talk was by Adrianne Gilbride, ESG Leader at On running. She mastered the extremely complex task of explaining what a company, that’s in fast moving consumer goods build out of carbon, is doing to become more sustainable. Her combination of honesty (when asked about the quality of the shoes), detailed knowledge and mindset could make me listen to her forever. Fun fact: the theoretical price for a pair of CleanCloud would be about half a million USD.

And my third highlight was a breakout session co-moderated by Fiona Stappmanns of Wyss Academy, where she introduced the concept of a “Circular Society”. A vision of a sustainable, just, and resilient society that delivers social wellbeing within the planetary boundaries. Imagine the ecosphere, the technosphere, and the sociosphere living in balance.

And one last word: Kudos to Swisscom! There were many company booths at the expo. All of them talking about whatever. Not so Swisscom. They were present with free repair services for mobile phones. A great contribution.