In this edition of DNV Forum you can read about Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association: Wind power pays off. Also inside: At the frontier of food safety, Testing a fuel cell on a ship, SCF Unicom's Arctic ascension
Date: 09 June 2009
2008 started with full order books, an all-time-high oil price and a fierce fight for talent. The year ended with a financial crunch and economies around the world almost grinding to a halt. Nobody knows how long the financial turmoil will last. What we do know is this: Now is the time to take action in order to be prepared when the sun starts shining again.
The United States has used wind power for more than a century, and passed Germany in 2008 to become the world’s no. 1 in total wind power installation. “The potential for wind energy in the United States is formidable, and it’s the only emission-free energy source that’s ready to deliver right now,” says Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
The financial crisis and the economic recession have created completely new frame conditions for the fight against climate change. The question is: Will this put a solid brake on governments’ and businesses’ commitment to invest in emission reducing activities? Or will new systems and governance practices emerge, where sustainable development and the environment will become more central?
Grameen Bank reversed conventional banking practices by lending to the poorest people. The basic idea is that all humans are entrepreneurs. They just need the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty. Micro-credit has been the tool to do just that for millions. Unlike philanthropy it has proven scaleable and with great spin-off effects. Mr Yunus calls it social business.
Sergey Popravko knows the Russian Arctic in and out. He is at the helm of SCF Unicom, the ship management company of JSC Sovcomflot, the world’s number one Arctic shuttle tanker operator, and the world’s number one ice-class LNG operator.
To Theodore E Veniamis, the President of the Union of Greek Shipowners, the current turmoil in world shipping is due to the cyclical nature of maritime freight markets. According to him, the winner is the one who stays in the game even in difficult times such as these.
When Telenor needed a new system in place to improve their supply chain management, they turned to DNV.
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was established twelve years ago in response to the call for more sustainable management of the world’s oceans. At the time, the task seemed far-fetched. Today sustainability has become mainstream.
A long and systematic process has brought the Maurya hotel in New Delhi to the very forefront of the world’s luxury hotels when it comes to food safety.
The financial crisis is not putting a stop to the world’s first ship with a fuel cell. The testing of this technology, which may halve the climate emissions from shipping, starts in a couple of months.
To DNV’s Jørgen Kadal, the acquisition of the electric car brought about a new awareness of just how easily one can make changes that matter in your everyday life. To DNV, this was to be the first step on a different kind of journey; one where facilitating the personal commitment of employees through providing incentives to break barriers would take centre stage.
In 2008, DNV piloted its environmental programme, WE do. The programme aimed to reduce individual employees’ environmental footprint in their daily lives – a footprint comparable to that of DNV’s operations. Since its launch, one of the aims of WE do has been to not only motivate employees, but to get other companies to follow suit as well.
How can companies operating in an economic downturn ensure that they not only have a ticket to trade but also a ticket to stay in business?
On 18 December 2008 there was steel cutting on the fifth drillship in a series of five constructed at the Daewoo shipyard for Transocean. With this steel cutting Daewoo had nine deep water drilling units to DNV class under construction at the same time. This is the largest number of such offshore units that has been constructed to DNV class at the same yard at the same time in the history of DNV. The activity is set to remain high throughout 2009 and 2010.
DNV has opened a new office in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The office is established to support growth of DNV’s certification and risk management business in North America.
Oil and gas exploration, production and transportation will increase in the Barents Sea in the years to come. Authorities and industry, both in Russia and in Norway recognise the special challenges facing the industry in this area due to harsh weather and a special need to protect the environment.
During 2009 a selected group from DNVs energy and maritime business areas will take an International Welding Engineer qualification. The purpose of the project is to further develop DNV’s expert competence within welding technology.
Chief of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party Wang Jiarui visited DNV headquarters in Oslo on 8 May. Arriving DNV headquarters by boat, Mr Jiarui met with President and CEO Henrik O. Madsen. Mr Jiarui also met with several representatives from the Norwegian Government while in Norway, among others Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre and Minister of Finance Kristin Halvorsen.
Towards the end of 2008 Mexico approved a comprehensive energy reform, opening up for more international engagement in the Mexican energy sector.
Yuri Sakurada has started her new job as the first female country manager for DNV in France.
The shortage of competence and skills in climate change is a major bottleneck limiting success for companies operating in the fast growing carbon business. DNV has launched a Climate change academy and network, focusing on important growth markets such as the US and the Middle East, aimed at addressing this issue.
DNV Chief Operating Officer Tor E. Svensen predicts that 2009 will be a tough year for the maritime industry, but that DNV has the right strategy and resources to face the global economic crisis. “We have yet to see the full impact of the crisis. I know there have been order cancellations, and so far some 10% of the cancellations have directly affected DNV”.
On 25 February Bjørn K. Haugland, Chief Operating Officer in DNV, handed over the environmental certificate ISO 14001 to Boeing Vice President Mary Armstrong and Boeing Compliance and Services Director Aileen Yankowski. The event marked a milestone for Boeing as it established that the company has reached one of its major environmental goals; getting all of its major manufacturing sites ISO 14001 certified by the end of 2008.
In order to meet the burgeoning demand for climate change services in the U.S., DNV has opened a new office in Portland, Oregon. The new office is led by director of climate change strategies and markets Dr. Mark C. Trexler. He has extensive experience within the field of climate change, among other things from his time serving on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
DNV has secured a contract with CONAD, one of the largest independent cooperatives in the food and beverage industry sector in Italy. DNV will assess CONAD’s most critical suppliers according to CONAD’s ethical protocol, which is based on the Social Accountability standard SA 8000. The assessment will help CONAD manage ethical risks in the supply chain as well as evaluate their suppliers according to these requirements.
DNV in Italy has verified the sustainability reporting of UNICEF Italy, disclosing performance along social and economic parameters and the relationship between UNICEF and its stakeholders. The verification assures stakeholders that the information is trustworthy and that UNICEF Italy is working towards continual improvement.
The Taiwanese company ASUS, a global player within the information technology industry sector, has received the EuP certificate. The EuP certificate, concerning environmentally conscious design of products, was for their Notebook N series.
DNV has awarded quality, safety and environmental ISO certification to Dubai Maritime City (DMC) and its regulatory arm Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA), recognising their strong focus on quality, health and safety and environmental management practices.
Are oil and gas operators in the UK fully exploiting the benefits of Enterprise Risk Management?
DNV has been asked by the European Commission to facilitate a process to shorten the time from policy making to industry implementation of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
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