In practice, sustainability often requires companies to change their business model and reorganise or renew all or parts of their production facilities. An increased cost for the company, where new technology can be an expensive and risky investment.
Such investment can clearly be good for the climate, but there are many opportunities to invest in sustainable initiatives that are not directly repaid in monetary terms. The business case is however more nuanced, and to a greater extent than before, it has become a strategic issue for companies to make sustainable investments that do not necessarily have a clear financial payback in the short term. Sales Director Jacob Fogh has been working on this for Copenhagen Malmö Port.
"World trade and the amount of goods transported is steadily increasing, and sustainability is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the business case for transportation companies. Increased regulatory requirements and demands from customers and the outside world are increasingly forcing companies to include sustainability in their business model in order to maintain a license to operate," he explains, referring to his final project in the Master of Business Development (MBD) programme, where he was awarded the prize for the best master's thesis of the semester.
But as a port company, and a part of a long value chain with shipping companies, freight forwarders and cargo owners, it is difficult to raise prices immediately to fund sustainable initiatives. For example, switching from diesel to battery or building more sustainably. Jacob Fogh has investigated what other options ports have.
"Green investments are crucial for the future existence of companies, and they are part of a shift in which the company's customers must recognise the value of sustainable initiatives and investments in a competitive market. When this happens, the increased investment costs can be priced towards the customer or alternatively used as a differentiator. This can ensure customer retention and reduce competition from the market in the long run," he says.