Anke Hampel Head of Sustainability at ABB
Anke Hampel joined ABB in 2022. She was previously Global Innovation & Sustainability Director with Tetra Pak, prior to which she was Director of Procurement and led the drive to reduce emissions across the value chain. Before joining Tetra Pak in 2017, Anke Hampel worked in procurement at Procter & Gamble and at Coty.
AR ABB Review (AR): ABB and its predecessor companies have since their early years at been the forefront of electrification and hydropower projects, bringing clean electricity into factories and people’s homes. In more recent times, ABB has advanced energy efficiency, for example through its variable-speed drives, as well as helping industry cut waste and losses, for example with Industry 2.0.
Is it fair to say that that ABB was delivering sustainable technologies long before sustainability became fashionable?
AH Anke Hampel (AH): Absolutely. One example that comes to mind is DC power. DC has been around since the earliest days of the commercial use of electricity, but was historically swept aside by AC and relegated to special applications. The recent growth of renewable energy is bringing with it many new DC applications. Photovoltaic panels produce DC for example, as do some wind turbines. Battery storage and clean hydrogen require DC. Likewise, more and more electricity-consuming devices use DC. Variable-speed drives, for example, convert electricity from one frequency to another via an intermediate DC link. Data centers use DC. The vast and rapidly expanding field of E-vehicle-charging revolves around DC. ABB is at the forefront of providing connections between these different forms of generation, storage and consumption. If we can use DC for these connections, we can avoid many of the conversion losses that presently occur. Every time we do a DC to AC or AC to DC conversion, we are faced with losses of 6 to 8 percent.
Furthermore, DC grids offer higher reliability and resilience as they can be independent and secured as islands, eliminating influences of reactive power. They also make better use of resources as cable capacity can be used to the limit as they do not have to deal with reactive power. Beyond this, a DC Smart Grid can further eliminate transmission losses due to the localization of supply and demand.
Even if we don't see such a move to DC networks, ABB is, through its unique position and know-how, taking a lead in the energy transition. Our business and technology decisions have many effects, not just on mitigating climate change, but also on avoiding waste via circular solutions, protecting biodiversity, and water resources, etc. Then there is also the aspect of social progress. Increasing automation and artificial intelligence may be leading to the elimination of some jobs over time, but these technologies are also creating other jobs that require higher levels of education. Our focus is on leading by positive example in our value chains, especially when it comes to human rights, due diligence, and avoiding deforestation.
AR In public discussions we often hear about such things as green washing, meaning a company is pretending their activities are green when in fact they are not. What can we do to ensure our achievements are genuinely meaningful?
AH This is a very important topic. Greenwashing has a related phenomenon called greenhushing, which means people just stop talking about something to avoid being called out. Public awareness of sustainability has increased, and with it, the level of scrutiny. Consumers, customers, suppliers and investors have become more aware of the issues and Credible sustainability measures are weighing more heavily in purchasing and investment decisions. People understand that it is time to act and not just talk.
The increased calling out of greenwashing and the development of respective legislation is good for our business. Transparency and scrutiny ensure businesses are creating genuine value and not just making claims.
In this context, when we are talking about emissions, for example, it is important to emphasize that we are not just concentrating on our own emissions, but looking at the entire value chain. There are many claims out there that a company is achieving net zero, without clarifying that the claim may relate to the emissions of the company itself, and not to the full value chain. It is much easier to achieve an apparent net zero if you ignore the value chain, which is where on average, about 90 percent of emissions occur.
Supply chain decisions and offering smart technology solutions are powerful in improving sustainability.
AR ABB’s strategy on sustainability does not only relate to interventions in its own operations when it comes to emissions, waste and zero harm, but has broader aspects including environmental, social and ethical responsibility as well as a safe working environment in its entire value chain →01.
AH Indeed, by working across the value chain we can act, for example, against unethical working practices. It is not just about expecting others to act in a certain way but, we in ABB need to be a role model and show that it can be done. We are in the process of relaunching our Supplier Code of Conduct which will reinforce our expectations towards our suppliers and, importantly, their suppliers and pre-suppliers.
AR How difficult is it to convince people to change the way they do business?
AH I think we have reached an amazing momentum in terms of readiness and willingness to drive the changes that are required. Right now, my concern is not principally with awareness or willingness, but in helping industries get started on the road to sustainability.
Sustainability is an extremely complex area. We need to guide customers in recognizing the areas in which changes have the greatest impact and on how to quantify these, for example by measuring carbon emissions correctly. The fruits of these changes benefit the customers of our customers and so on all the way to the end users.
AR Indeed. When we supply a piece of equipment, that is a one-time purchasing decision for the customer, but the savings and advantages are reaped throughout the equipment’s’ lifetime, which could be every day over the next 20 to 40 years.
AH Of course, and we also need to think about what will happen at the end of the equipment’s lifetime. We need to have a circularity framework that is applied to our product portfolio across all business areas to make sure new products or upgrades are designed with environmental impact and recyclability in mind and that the materials can be and will be recycled at scale.
AR Do you have any examples of any measures that we took, to make a product more recyclable?
AH Our circuit breakers are a good example. We set about re-designing them, starting with an eco-design mindset. We investigated whether we could replace any content by recycled material. We also looked at how we assemble the breakers, because if they are difficult to de-assemble at the end of their life, this could be a barrier to effective recycling. This would be in the very long-term future as we want these units to have long lives, meaning the ease of disassembly needs to be balanced with the stability and robustness throughout their operating life.
AR Circuit-breakers are an area where we already have a high potential recyclability because we use copper and other metals, which are by nature well suited to recovery and recycling.
AH Steel, aluminum, copper and then PVC (in that order) are the materials that cause high emissions in our value chain. In all four cases, recycled options exist and we are actively engaging in how to increase our use of these.
Local manufacturing and sourcing is another way to reduce the footprint of the value chain. Sourcing needs to be smart and efficient, and parts should not be shipped further than necessary.
AR This is where Factory 2.0 comes in. We, and our suppliers, can produce locally and in small batches because modern manufacturing methods are making it increasingly viable to do so. This creates value locally and feeds back into the local economy - all across the globe.
AH Exactly. Modern and precise manufacturing also mean less waste because operations can be steered in a more accurate manner. ABB supplies sophisticated systems and service solutions that support this →02.
Rather than just looking at recycling, we need to avoid the creation of waste in the first place.
AR Is it difficult to convince our investors of our sustainability strategy? Is there a risk that they could chose short-term gains over long-term sustainability?
AH I don't see a conflict here. We have seen a major shift on for example ESG KPIs (environmental, social and governance key performance indicators), especially in investment funds. Our investors are very keen to see us meet our commitments and raise our ambitions further.
Many of our investors are telling us that they see us as “go to company” for sustainable solutions. At the same time, we do face a very strong competition and we are far from the only ones to view our purpose and business model based on sustainability and technology leadership.
It is the companies that are not meeting these expectations who are going to struggle with their business.
AR Do you have any success stories you would like to share?
AH As a company we have demonstrated what a focused approach is able to deliver. Since 2019, we have reduced our own emissions by 73 percent. And that was possible only because everyone was moving in the same direction.
We did this by tapping into our engineering leadership across the company. We used an “all hands on deck” approach in our Mission to ZeroTM effort1).
As somebody who has just recently come into ABB, I am extremely impressed how this has been approached in a consistent manner across all the very different businesses that form part of ABB.
This puts us in a strong position to be able to inspire and support our customers. People are turning to us for help to manage the complex decisions that are required and hence to drive technologies that reduce or capture carbon and avoid wasting resources. One of the great examples I see is the North Sea becoming Europe’s biggest green power plant based on the April 2023 Ostend Declaration →03. This is only possible because different companies and different countries are coming together to jointly make the investments. Collaboration and innovation are key for any successful sustainability intervention.
AR Do you have advice for our readers? What should we do in our personal lives to better support sustainability?
AH Our greatest personal impact is always going to be in our own area of responsibility. Whether we are at work or in our private lives, we can ask what it is that we can stop doing, or if we can’t stop doing it, seek how we can do it with more sustainable means. This is the three-step approach of reduce, reuse and recycle. Reducing, reusing and recycling are all good, but we should reduce first of all – find ways to consume fewer resources. The best way to protect natural resources is to not touch them in the first place. Having done that, we should then reuse what we cannot reduce and finally recycle what we can neither reduce nor reuse. Doing this can sometimes call for creative solutions, and thinking outside the box, not just at home. I am fortunate to meet many of our ABB employees through my engagement as a Climate Fresk trainer 2) and experience their passion and readiness to act. If you have not yet participated in a Climate Fresk workshop, now is the time to reach out and get inspired.
AR Thank you for the interview.
This interview was conducted by Andreas Moglestue, , Chief Editor of ABB Review, andreas.moglestue@ch.abb.com .
Footnotes
1) Mission to ZeroTM is ABB's pledge to reach carbon neutrality at its own sites by 2030, while helping customers do the same. See also "On a mission" on pp180-187 of this issue of ABB Review.
2) Climate Fresk is a game-based tool for teaching and raising awareness about climate change. See also climatefresk.org .
