Interview with Tapio Vahtola

Transcript

[Sheldon Young]
Welcome to No Footprints, a podcast brought to you by Alfa Laval. I’m Sheldon Young.

[Jason Moreau]
And I’m Jason Moreau.

[Sheldon Young]
And we’re here to talk about impact and to share the efforts of people behind making sustainability a real. Yes, we are, Jason.

Every time we show up, making it more real.

[Jason Moreau]
Making it more real right now, I’m busy avoiding all of the pollen happening in our particular neck of the woods.

[Sheldon Young]
Yeah.

[Jason Moreau]
Yeah.

[Sheldon Young]
Pollen is real.

[Jason Moreau]
Pollen is very real. The effects are very real. Yes.

[Sheldon Young]
My eyes definitely can, can, can attest to that for sure. Um, excellent. Well, I’m excited about today.

I’m excited about every day. I’m I, I’m really a very excitable person when it comes to this podcast. I enjoy all the conversations we have and the people we meet.

Uh, what do you get to kick us off with? Do you got a story for us?

[Jason Moreau]
Something, something interesting to talk about? I do, but on that point, I just want you to know that when people talk to me about the podcast, when they’ve listened, they echo that sentiment. So I just want to, I just want to say that your enthusiasm for the topic comes through loud and clear.

And then I think that that’s, um, part of the reason why we’ve seen this success that we have. So I just wanted to let you know that, man,

[Sheldon Young]
That sounds like a compliment, Jason.

[Jason Moreau]
Take it how you will take it.

[Sheldon Young]
Ah, yes. I will take that compliment and snuggle it close forever.

[Jason Moreau]
It’s a warm blanket, like a warm blanket. So my story is, uh, is, is one that’s close to home. Um, came, came across it and, uh, I found it interesting because, um, to me, it’s sort of touched on something that one of our previous guests, I think it was, um, Shayna with the Good Food Institute had talked about in terms of, um, how do we develop, uh, the alternative like protein space and, and get that going.

And, um, you know, we, we talked about funding and how that happens because it’s, it’s still a nascent, a nascent area. Right. And so right here in our backyard of Virginia, um, there is a new agricultural biotech company and they’re building, uh, a, a commercial facility out in Charlottesville, which is just a little West of us.

Yeah. And basically they are going to develop and produce biological crop protection solutions. So essentially, uh, trying to come up with biological solutions to replace chemicals and microplastics.

Um, so I thought it was really cool, but what I liked about it, other than it being, you know, I, I always like to see Virginia businesses growing and succeeding was, um, and especially manufacturing. Um, but the Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Albemarle County, Charlottesville is located. Um, and, uh, they, they got a $200,000, uh, opportunity grant.

So this was very much sort of a, um, uh, you know, got a grant from public to help a private company, but also that will produce, you know, jobs and attack. Right. Like, so it’s, it’s, it’s sort of, it was this example of what Shayna was talking about, right.

Which is if we, if we want alternative solutions, especially in sort of very early stage types of areas, you know, that, that public private partnership is a really key ingredient. And so I was just, I was really, I, I just really liked it. Uh, yeah.

And especially that it was just down the road from us was kind of cool.

[Sheldon Young]
I’d like to go see it now.

[Jason Moreau]
Uh, the company is called AgroSpheres.

[Sheldon Young]
AgroSpheres. Okay. Interesting.

All right. Good stuff. Um, we’re almost into the, I would call like the travel vacation season.

We’re kind of moving towards that very fast. And so I found an article was interesting. Uh, I believe it was on bookings.com.

I know it was their survey that they did. Uh, it was around top sustainable travel habits of 2026. I don’t know.

I felt it was definitely some, uh, clickbait for me. Cause it, you know, kind of hit a, hit a button. I went to, you know, I was looking on Google news for some, you know, stories around sustainability and now I’m popped up by, oh, that’s interesting.

I, I wonder what people are doing now. I know what you’re going to say. I’m, I’m going to let you, I’m going to hold my thought, but I know what you’re going to say after I read you what the study was, um, it was a 32,000 500 travelers are surveyed from UK, Spain, Italy, and Germany.

Now, what do you think the top three things they said they were going to do to, to, uh, to be more sustainable in their travel, let you, let you guess if you can get, there’s like family feud here, I want you to pick a top three answers to be more sustainable, uh, Europeans, maybe rail versus airline travel. That is, yeah, that’s a, that’s a good one. I think they, that is part of number three, take more sustainable methods of travel.

Uh, so number three was staying at sustainable certified accommodations and then more sustainable means of travel was what number three was. Okay. And these weren’t really ranked.

These are just in the order they were in the article. It’s right, right, right.

[Jason Moreau]
Okay. Uh, um, I, oh, um, maybe the amount of things that they buy, uh, and dispose of, you know, like sort of just, you know, good vacation consumption, you know, people tend to splurge, but also am I, do I really need this thing? Am I really going to use it?

Or is it kind of just a tchotchke?

[Sheldon Young]
Yeah. Yeah. That’s, that’s a, that’s a good answer.

I think, um, it’s just related. It’s really about how they spend, uh, it’s spending on tours that support local communities or, or wildlife. Right.

So yeah, so it’s kind of like the, how they’re going to spend. And then, uh, I’ll give you the third one. It’s really, I kind of cheated a little bit by saying we’re entering the top travel season.

It’s not travel during the top season, right? Don’t travel during peaks, right? Travel in the non peak season.

Actually my wife and I did that. We went to Italy, um, earlier in the year, we went kind of around the, after the, after the Christmas, uh, and the new years and like, that was honest. We loved it.

I mean, yeah, it’s, you don’t have as many things that are quite open, but still it was, I loved it. First of all, just not as many people and definitely felt like it was more accessible to get the things, which was really nice. Now, what are you going to tell me what’s wrong with this survey, Jason?

[Jason Moreau]
I mean, 32,000 people is, is a pretty decent base, but it was just, I mean, it’s the countries you mentioned were all European, so I don’t know. You can draw. Yeah.

Okay. I was going to say, if you were going to try to say US audience or Canada audience or like other countries have different, right? So, um, oh, uh, but that’s not the answer.

[Sheldon Young]
I can tell from, um, you’ve, you’ve, you’ve drilled a survey on this or for, I’m going to give it to you. It’s saying what they’re going to do. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Not what they did. Not what they did.

So I’m like, yeah, that’s an interesting statement and all, but are they actually going to do it when the rubber meets the road? Excellent. So I, you know, again, it’s still, it’s a leading indicator, but it’s not a, a causal, like kind of data.

You can’t use it as data. You have to look at it as, okay, this is what they’re saying. Now, how do you get them to follow through on it?

Um, is really, cause again, once you get a vacation, you start, people forget that you get vacation brain and you just start doing whatever’s easy. And if it makes you happy.

[Jason Moreau]
And so, yeah, you know, no, it’s a aspirations versus action, right? Like these are the things they would like to do if they were being their most perfect selves. But yeah, but yeah, vacation being what it is.

It’s like, I’ll just take whatever I can get.

[Sheldon Young]
Uh, right, right, right. Yeah. Consume, consume, consume.

Uh, yeah. Yeah. But anyways, but you mentioned that the, you know, this, um, uh, the survey was a European, I guess it was.

And our guest is European today, Jason.

[Jason Moreau]
Oh, that’s true. That’s true.

[Sheldon Young]
Right. Uh, I met today’s guests while having the privilege to represent Alfa Laval at a meeting at the United Nations. So there’s a, say that three, three, three or four times.

Uh, I was at the United Nations, Jason, it was a wonderful privilege at our company. Uh, us, uh, US president allowed me to, to go do that, uh, for something called Global Pulse. We’re going to talk about that during the interview.

Uh, our guest today leads a Europe, uh, office for your, uh, United Nations Global Pulse, and I’m really excited that he agreed to, to come speak to us today. Can’t wait to get to it. What do you say?

[Jason Moreau]
Let’s do it.

[Sheldon Young]
Let’s do it. Our guest today is Tapio Vahtola, Head of Office for the United Nations, Global Pulse, Europe, a humanitarian and development professional and diplomat with over 20 years of experience. He has worked all over the world, mostly in Helsinki, Finland.

He’s a master connector and speaker of six languages. He brings together UN agencies, the public and private sectors and academia to solve some of the world’s toughest problems. It is my absolute honor and pleasure to welcome Tapio to No Footprints.

Welcome.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Thank you very much, Sheldon. It’s great to be here. Thanks for the invite.

[Sheldon Young]
Wonderful to see you again. And, uh, you know, you and I met, uh, as we were just trying to do the math is probably a year and a half ago and, uh, love what you’re doing at, at, uh, UN global pulse. And so can you tell us just to start about, tell us a little about you and your journey?

How did you get doing what you do?

[Tapio Vahtola]
Yeah. I mean, as you said, right now I’m based in Helsinki. I’m Finnish myself.

And, um, actually the way it goes is this is the first time I have, uh, an adult day job in Finland, uh, you know, in this, uh, over 20 years of a career. Um, so I, I have in, in between, I’ve spent time working for the European commission, European union, um, the UN for a very long time in particular for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, but also a little bit for the private sector. So I, I, I tried out different kinds of, uh, of, uh, sectors and organizations, but mostly in the multilateral world.

Um, but it, it feels a little bit odd to be back in my own country doing this work. After many years, uh, also in, in the field, um, on the ground, um, delivering services to, to those who need it. And, and then now have this sort of, uh, um, very different, uh, UN experience this time around.

Um, yeah, that’s, uh, most of that time I did spend with UNHCR and that was between headquarters in Geneva and, uh, and the field. Um, something that, that has always been, um, there are a couple of things that have been constant in this journey though, including when I worked for the private sector and consultancy world, it’s been, um, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, sort of that side of things. Um, and, uh, and then throughout my UN career and also, also the broader, um, international, I guess, international organizations career, it has been a lot about finding new ways for us to work with the private sector so that we can bring those solutions into the world of development and humanitarian, um, work.

And, and make the most out of where, um, uh, the private sector is, is admittedly, uh, uh, quite far ahead of, of, uh, sort of the heavier public organizations like ourselves. So it’s been a combination of, uh, public private partnerships and innovation in particular, um, sustaining scaling innovations, um, for the benefit of, of, uh, well for social good rather. Um, uh, and then, and then this sustainability aspect, you can, I guess, uh, I guess there are so many definitions for sustainability, but, but, uh, finding, uh, long-term solutions, combining expertise, uh, of, uh, of the private sector and bringing it into the context of, of the public sector.

[Jason Moreau]
That’s amazing. Um, so for UN Global Pulse, how would you like scope or describe that? And what’s, what’s a little bit more about the role there?

[Tapio Vahtola]
So your Global Pulse is the secretary general’s innovation lab. And here specifically the current secretary general, uh, Antonio Guterres. And, um, as a matter of fact, I served when Antonio Guterres was the high commissioner for refugees at UNHCR.

And so, um, I’m, I’m not, I’m not on this job because of that, but, but what struck me back then already was that he was a leader who, who saw, uh, all the right reasons, understood all the right reasons why organizations be the different separate agency fund or program of the UN or the UN at large must work more with the private sector, why it has to evolve, find better ways of delivering those services.

I actually rather use other words than innovation when I talk about innovation, because innovation can be understood in so many ways globally in general, but, but wait until you enter the world of the UN and you hear the multitude of, of interpretations, what that could be. In the refugee world, for example, it would have been innovative for us, or it was innovative for us when we started to install solar powered streetlights into refugee camps where otherwise after the sunset, it would be pitch black because there wouldn’t be a grid, there wouldn’t be anything else really. And that was innovative in that context for that kind of work.

So I, I rather talk about sort of, uh, uh, ways, uh, in which we can do things better or more effectively. Um, but, but so coming back to global pulse. So the policies is something that secretary general, um, when he took office at the beginning of his first term, now he’s at the beginning of the last year of his second term.

Um, initially he thought that we should just set up this massive innovation division at the UN headquarters in New York, that kind of oversees innovation across all agencies, funds, and programs. Uh, of course, then quickly coming to the conclusion that many of these organizations already have their own innovation services. There’s no point in duplicating that.

But what could we do and sort of to help those colleagues who are already trying to innovate within the UN and what might it be that they would need? And for that purpose, uh, he created UN Global Pulse, which is really a small organization. We are, besides Helsinki, we have offices in Jakarta and Kampala and, and, uh, New York, um, and, uh, but, but our presence is global through the programs that we run, uh, but we are not, we are not many people at all.

So we have identified the niche areas in which we intervene in support of the colleagues who are innovating on the ground. And specifically the focus is increasingly on two things. One, um, in finding ways for colleagues to be able to scale the kinds of innovations that they would have already successfully piloted, but are struggling to bring up to scale because that also wherever you innovate, that’s your number one problem.

And then the second one, which is very much aligned, um, with the ongoing, um, UN reform transformation, which I’ll speak to a little bit more later. Um, the introduction of modern technology, digital tools that are out there already that most of us are using on daily basis on our handhelds and other devices that we use, but how can we make use of that technology for social good? Uh, and how can that be, um, quite a significant trigger in allowing for colleagues to scale innovations.

And so I like to say the following. Um, I’m not entirely sure this is a corporate okayed sentence, but I like to say that at Global Pulse, we are the consultancy that UN didn’t know it needed. Nice.

[Sheldon Young]
I like that. I say that about myself sometimes too. So I think you’re, you’ve answered kind of part of my next question.

I’ll ask it anyways. Uh, but I think there’s a second part here that you’re, that you’re leading right into. So how does UN Global Pulse support the transformation of the UN system?

You started to answer this a little bit, but then how does that, the accelerator program in particular plug into that mission?

[Tapio Vahtola]
It’s a bit of a long story. I tried to be not too long and windy about it, but again, the, the SG articulated his vision, um, in, in something that became known as the UN 2.0 strategy for the United Nations. Um, it’s really his vision of a modern United Nations.

Um, and that’s all about equipping the UN system with cutting edge skills and forward-thinking culture for stronger results, better support to member States and on delivering, um, on greater and improved SDG impact. And if I, that, that happened in 2023 and I’ll try to fast forward here, uh, into 2025. So in 2025, which was also the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, the, the secretary general on something called UNAD initiative.

And that’s really a very ambitious effort towards system-wide reform. It builds on previous reforms, of course. And, and, and, you know, thankfully, uh, including the sort of UN 2.0, which I would call as a seed for, for this bigger, bigger, uh, approach, but it takes it further and it really aims to make the UN more responsive and resilient. And to do more effectively and with accountability towards staggering resources as well, which is, which is really the harsh reality of ours right now. So how does your global power support these, this agenda? That’s, that’s the question, right?

Um, um, we do it in many ways. Um, again, under the UNAD and looking maybe a little bit more, um, this sounds top-down because it is a little bit at this point, but I’ll come more to the bottom up part as well from scaling AI expertise, for example, through something that we are launching or have launched as a new program, which is called the UN technology accelerator platform. Um, to advising UN system data commons, which is something that’s happening out there already.

But, but, you know, this is one of the big, big issues of the UN is that we sit on a goldmine of data, but, but we haven’t quite figured out how to make that data interoperable, how to make the most out of it for our, for the purposes of our own improved efficiencies. Um, and so our contribution to UNAD will really focus on turning that ambition into practice and supporting new innovation capabilities throughout this reform process. Um, so of course, as the SG’s innovation lab, our approaches are always will be defined by the, this agenda sort of forward thinking culture.

Um, and something called the quintet of change, uh, which are skills that focus on data, digital innovation, strategic foresight, and behavioral sciences. But so as I said, while the UN 2.0 and UNAD are quite ambitious and very top down, and then we all acknowledge that. And sometimes it just works that way that, you know, from the CEO’s office, something comes down and, and it kind of, you know, then goes through the system.

Sets the tone for you. Yeah. Global pulse is, is really here.

Like our role is to balance this by delivering really specific bottom up pathways for colleagues to achieve a much more responsive and resilient UN at large. And this is where our flagship offering the, the global pulse accelerator program or the scale accelerator program. It’s really a dynamic example of this.

Um, and I’m, I’m happy to talk a little bit more about that. Actually. It’s, it’s, um, so we launched it, um, following a series of, uh, of, um, studies, interviews, really informing ourselves, talking to people on the ground, different organizations, what is it that’s, that’s missing.

And as I mentioned earlier, the really the one conclusion, which wasn’t really a surprise to anybody was that innovative pilots across the UN were failing to scale effectively due to fragmented support, um, often lack of the right kind of an expertise, and of course it’s sustainable funding and business models that allow for sustainable funding to flow in. And, you know, although there are established accelerators already within the UN, UNDP has one that’s very good. WFP the same.

They are governed by their mandates and specific expertise, but there was something that was missing that was more sort of cross-cutting, um, mandate agnostic, but still answering the kinds of questions that everybody is grappling with and, and this is, so this is sort of where the accelerator is unique. And this is also where Global Pulse is unique. We are uniquely positioned, uh, to support this kind of a range of initiatives across the system.

Um, and, and as a matter of fact, until, um, our last cohort or, you know, counting until our last cohort last year of the scale accelerator program. We’ve now supported, and this seems small, but, but, but it’s, it’s actually quite significant. 22 innovation teams, um, in, um, I believe, uh, some of them are multi-country operations.

So 63 countries, I believe, and 25 different organizations since 2024. So that’s actually in, in a little bit over a year.

[Sheldon Young]
That’s that’s actually, that’s not small. That’s a lot to pipeline for sure.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Absolutely true. But when you think that the UN has, and actually this is my quiz, Friday quiz question to you. How many mandates does UN have?

[Sheldon Young]
Oh, gosh, I have no idea. I, I, I’m not going to pretend to answer that. I want, let’s just say 300.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Jason.

[Jason Moreau]
I’ll go Price is Right rules. I’ll go under that.

Cause so I’ll go 300 is actually a good guess. I’ll go 180, 180.

[Tapio Vahtola]
It’s a little bit over 44,000.

[Jason Moreau]
Oh my gosh.

[Tapio Vahtola]
So order, order of magnitude off just, just, just a little outside. It is quite so in, in that, in that context, so obviously many organizations work across mandates and whatnot, and one specific mandate can be the protection of a species or, you know, but, but it is, it is quite, uh, um, Yeah, that’s a lot.

[Sheldon Young]
That’s a lot. And I can see why working agnostically outside of that can, can be freeing and on, on, on scene lets you just kind of really, okay, look, what do we really want to put some focus? Right.

And, um, uh, I can see that being a, uh, a little more, that flexibility being fantastic. Um, you mentioned a couple of times, the SDGs, uh, which, you know, we’ve talked about on this program, the sustainable development goals, a lot of our sustainability people kind of understand, okay, what those are at least, how does the UN global policy kind of tie into those and the, what is the role of sustainability in their work in terms of like the, what you’re putting through the program, et cetera?

[Tapio Vahtola]
Um, again, I think, uh, sort of, how do we, how do we, uh, uh, sustainable development goals and sustainability from a business’s point of view, it’s one thing from our point of view, it might be a little bit of a, of a, of a different thing, but let’s say that the core philosophy, um, at Global Pulse for us really is to innovate for people and planet and full stop. Um, and it’s really that, um, on the current, I I’d say that determines the design and impact of our project. Um, maybe picking up on the accelerator program again.

Um, I I’d say that’s a compelling example of the SDG 17, which is partnerships for goals. Um, um, you know, having supported those 22 teams across 63 countries, um, um, it’s been all about ensuring pilots across the UN, um, ensuring that pilots across the UN are really tapping into their potential and networks effectively. Um, so within the program, we’ve added an extra layer, for example, of intentionality by inviting teams whose pilots contribute to the SDG agenda as well, um, like directly, directly, and very specifically.

Um, I think the last three cohorts have had teams, um, um, that were, I used to remember this, I let’s try, if I remember off the cuff, uh, digital literacy, access to information technology, sustainable income sources, uh, there’s decent work for sure. And economic growth, uh, climate change solutions, obviously biodiversity protection is there. Um, and, uh, yeah, so it is obviously for us, it’s such a, such an obvious goal to have in mind always, but, but then concretely, what do you do to, to bring that SDG in life, um, in work, um, is much about, uh, and, and now I’m, I’m sorry, we have a cat in the, in the special guest star.

[Sheldon Young]
They have opinions on the sustainable development goals. That’s all I want to know.

[Tapio Vahtola]
I think he’s, he has other kinds of goals. But yeah, I, I like your, your podcast because it is to keep it light as well. So there you go.

This was not even, but yeah, no, it’s, it’s really, um, it’s really something that we are, as I said, intentional about, uh, our, our calls are specific, but, but then again, then that’s something that every piece of work that’s being done at the UN is intentional about. I think what we should be much more, and we are very concerned about is how badly we are doing collectively in meeting those SDGs. And maybe that is a moment for rethinking.

What is it that we could do differently or better in order to be better placed to meet those SDGs? We are somewhere to the tune of 20% goals met. I can’t remember exactly how, but it’s, it’s, uh, um, uh, and these are not even the first ones.

We first had the millennium development goals, which then converted into the SDGs. Um, but so, I mean, I could do a long list of the different projects and how they contribute to different, uh, SDGs, but, but I don’t say, I think that’s a given for us, um, again, uh, the, let’s say the quite heavy focus that we’ll be now putting on, uh, technology and digital importantly, including, um, AI for good, um, open source, AI based solutions that could be of assistance in really rendering the work that colleagues do more effective is, is probably going to be in, in some ways, uh, I would say in this year, 2026, the best way that we can help our colleagues on the ground to meet their SDG goals better. I think technology in this, in this sense, um, can be a really big game changer. I genuinely believe so, but it’s all about the responsibility in terms of how we bring these tools and these technologies into the, into the picture.

[Jason Moreau]
For sure. Um, going back to the accelerator program, I was just curious if, um, you could give a few examples of, of some of the projects, uh, that were in the cohorts and, and maybe a little bit, how, how did you choose or prioritize those particular projects? You know, was there like they had reached a certain point in their pilot and there was that opportunity to scale that you’ve been talking about, or, um, maybe just highlight a few of the, of the projects that are going through the accelerator.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Yeah. Um, maybe here I’ll talk about our last round since it’s, it’s fresh in my mind as well. We, we actually very recently announced, uh, um, uh, three grant winners from our latest cohort, which took place in October last year.

Uh, we announced those in January and they have seen them already. Um, and I think they are all great examples of what innovation looks like in practice at the UN. Um, we chose these three because they’re not just strong solutions in themselves, but they, they came with serious, credible scale strategies.

There’s something called Digi Child from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, um, Civic Space Pulse from the office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and something called School Connect from World Food Program. And they all showed exactly how they’ll move from promising pilots to system level change across countries and organizations. And that’s really the, kind of the key criteria for us as well is that, that, you know, there’s not only a promising idea, but, but that there is, there is, there are pathways that have already been identified.

It’s not a, like we welcome projects where they have, they wouldn’t come to us if they would have figured out their, how, how to get over those hurdles that they have, but if they do have a plan and there’s just this wall that they are hitting, um, that’s, that’s absolutely okay. But, but, um, and so here what really stood out, um, I would say, um, is how they use data, digital tools and AI in practical problem solving ways. And this comes back to my earlier point of, of, uh, modern technology being perhaps our best bet right now to accelerate, uh, us reaching the SDGs as well.

Um, so for instance, in this Digi Child project, uh, mapping child labor risk, which is, which is what it’s all about, um, with geospatial precision. And, um, that’s something that, that hasn’t been done anywhere, at least in the human context before, uh, for human rights, it was about tracking threats to civic space in real time, like live data. And, um, for WFP, believe it or not, digitizing school meal systems, um, because the, you may, may be aware of the school meals program.

It’s a global program run by WFP, um, and implemented in many countries. And, and we all know the importance of free school meals for children’s education, the fact that they go to school, but also so much more of their wellbeing, their nutrition and the rest of it. And there hadn’t been a tool until now that would have been able, for example, to compare data across countries, to, to be able to see, uh, the, um, what do you call it?

The, the, the correlation between certain behaviors by, by certain, um, uh, pupils and, and, and the school meals, so forth. So, um, and then sort of the last thing that was critical, um, across these three projects, um, they all really aligned clearly again, uh, with the secretary general’s transformation agenda. They were great examples of what we want to see more often.

We also do want to encourage that because we want to create this kind of a, uh, virtuous cycle where, where, where we get, we, from our little push that we can give to help, to get the bigger ball rolling in terms of people seeing results coming from making certain changes and, and, um, and, um, and having the, almost the courage, and this is by the way, where the behavioral science part comes in as well from our so-called quintet of change.

This is all about change. This is all about colleagues changing their ways of working, uh, not being afraid of, of, uh, learning how to use new tools. Um, we, or some colleagues ran this global risks report, uh, last year, we do the UN does it annually and it’s, it’s also part of it is, is, uh, collecting data from colleagues around the world in terms of how they perceive risk and, and technology was actually quite high up in terms of as a risk identified.

And so, so promoting, um, safe, um, use positive, positive, safe use of AI in particular is one, and I know, you know, our colleagues are all, we are all, we are all wondering sort of, yeah. So, so those, that was sort of, uh, those were the, the three examples from the last, um, or the three grant winners from our last cohort and a little bit on the, on the criteria, the criteria varies. Um, then of course can be more specific if we would do have a very sort of a sector or a theme specific call, but, but broadly speaking, it’s about the readiness and maturity of the scaling strategy itself.

Um, plus then a bonus is, is if the, if the solutions are, um, aligned also with what we are pushing for more broadly as part of the transformation.

[Jason Moreau]
Fantastic.

[Sheldon Young]
We take a chance. I asked you a couple of questions. I didn’t, uh, have on my list here because you’re saying a few things.

It’s, it’s drawing out of my brain. Um, one, you mentioned this quintet of change, uh, if you say a little bit more about that and my second question is like, when someone comes into the accelerator, like, what does that mean for them? I mean, what do they get for what, you know, what does that salary look like?

Cause I, it sounds fantastic. I just, I don’t have a vision as to what happens when they’re in there.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Okay. Um, um, maybe I’ll start with the latter, uh, or the accelerator question. So, and, and it’s a good question.

Thank you for asking that. And I, I should have actually elaborated a little bit more, but, but, uh, earlier, but you said a lot, this is, this is a very nice flow, uh, um, of it all. So basically, uh, we do get a lot of applications.

We just closed our fourth cohort and, um, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to disclose the number of total applications, but it was bigger than ever, even if what we were able to offer, uh, in terms of support for, for the teams, um, in terms of logistical support and those kinds of things was less than we were able to before. So that simply means that there is really a need and, and, and we, we are sort of doing better and better in, in terms of the product itself. So what it means is, um, after going through the hundreds of applications, we select 10 or nine finalists that varies a little bit from one cohort to another.

We invite them, um, to a week long workshop in Finland, where we work through their individual approaches and they work with one another. They learn from one another. We bring quite a lot of external facilitators.

We, we do all sorts of things from very practical stuff. Like, so how would you pitch your project to a potential investor, for example, to what is your business model look like? So how, like, where is the sustainability coming from?

Do you have a plan for this to, to be usable outside of the UN? Because right now we actually only accept applications from UN entities, but we are definitely looking at changing that because it is a limiting factor. It was just the way that, you know, we had to start somewhere.

We started that way. It’s very likely that moving forward, we will open that up. To any other actor who works in the context of the development and humanitarian work.

But so, uh, there are these, these numerous different, um, specific topics in which, uh, they get kind of masterclass types of, uh, two hour sessions. Um, there’s a lot of time together for exchange, for building networks between these different teams. Um, I don’t think we’ve ever had two teams from the same UN organization actually, and that hasn’t been intentional, but it hasn’t happened.

And it’s actually quite surprising how little UN teams mix. Um, generally speaking, you know what we’ve been around long enough.

[Sheldon Young]
No, it’s not, but it’s crazy. Huh?

[Tapio Vahtola]
It’s just human. I get it. But, but so there’s that.

And then it kind of, uh, um, culminates into them all pitching to a, uh, a set of, uh, reviewers or, or jury, if you will. And out of these finalists, three will be selected who each get a grant. Um, our grant has traditionally been, uh, more, you know, it’s not very significant at 60,000 US dollars, but the point is not that the money would be what met like that’s, that’s not the point and they will then also get, um, tailored mentoring for the next eight to 12 months, a little bit depending on, on what the topic is.

We are definitely trying to, uh, expand the mentoring opportunity for all finalists. Um, and we are also looking at sort of building now that we start to have a good sort of, uh, um, a critical number of, of projects, uh, in this portfolio. We are looking at building a bit of a closed community of practice.

And I say close so that it’s a really a safe space for these colleagues to keep on exchanging. And for us to be able to keep better tabs on, on how the projects are doing. Um, so yeah, so that’s, that’s what happens.

You, you come into Finland, you, you get this one week, pretty intense program at the end, three grants. Um, and, and at least for three of the, the, well, the grant winners, at least they will get that mentoring for up to one year, um, that’s right.

[Sheldon Young]
Yeah. I mean, it sounds again, that, that really paints a great picture. As because again, a lot of people have wonderful ideas and wonderful, uh, things they want to do, but they just don’t know how to get it done or they’re, they’re, they’re walking in the dark and the chance of failure.

It, it, it goes way, way up when you don’t understand how to get things done. Right. And cause you’re, you’re, you’re making guesses and that just slows your momentum.

So it sounds like you guys are removing that, you know, excuse me, absolutely true.

[Tapio Vahtola]
And I, I mean, I can think from my unit chair career, a number of situations where I would have loved to had, have had this opportunity to get this kind of a support. I mean, at the time I was somewhere in, in, in the Ethiopian Somaliland trying to figure out what would be the best crop for 5,000 hectares of arable land. I had no clue whether it’s a cash crop, whether it’s a money crop, what do I need to take into account?

In the end, I ended up contracting actually a anthropologist, but that’s a different story. But very interesting story though. But just to say like that kind of a help with scenario building, that’s what we do a lot with these teams as well.

We let them lead the conversation, but we guide them and then they’re okay. So if we go to that direction, what’s going to happen and, and, you know, what are the things that we would need to take into consideration?

[Sheldon Young]
Yeah, very good. Yeah. And second thing I’d asked you about was, um, the, uh, the quintet you’d mentioned, uh, the quintet of change.

Yeah.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Right.

[Sheldon Young]
I was just curious if you can, if you’re allowed to elaborate on that a little bit, you said it a couple of times.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Yeah, no, sure. It’s, it’s something that’s kind of, you know, it’s also a part of our, like, like the, the internal jargon jargon that we use, but so that really comes directly from the UN 2.0 strategy, which was launched at the general assembly in 2023, and this was an attempt to sort of highlight those capabilities, uh, that were viewed to be most sort of meaningful new methods or, or areas that we should focus on to facilitate the really anchoring innovation and sustaining scaling innovation. And so the quintet is strategic foresight.

So introduction of basically of that expertise into the workforce. We had that expertise, quite deep expertise in that area for a good while. Uh, we had to, uh, sort of pivot away from, from hosting that expertise because we, we needed to make a little bit room for something else, but we also did it because during those years that we were able to support organizations, they built their own internal capacity and since our resources are limited, we kind of felt like, okay, that’s already solid enough within there’s, um, better use of data. So, and that’s where sort of the data comments that I alluded to would, would, uh, address that capability quite a bit, hopefully in, in short by, by creating a more central database, um, where, um, good data could be searched and used centrally, better use of digital tools.

And that kind of links to data, um, there’s behavioral science. And then the last quintet area was innovation more broadly, but, but we actually took a liberty in consultation with the executive office of the SG to really focus on the scaling of innovation and sort of, yeah, it’s so important.

[Sheldon Young]
Okay. So the UN and the world are a complicated place. Um, uh, what advice would you give to someone looking to make a sustainable, sorry, significant sustainability impact at an ecosystem like the UN?

[Tapio Vahtola]
That’s an easy one. Thank you. And I I’d say when we think about the UN, we, we think about the, well, we just talked about the 44,000 plus mandates, right?

So I’d say, start with the problem, not the institution. I think that’s sort of always, um, a good way to approach it. So, because it’s just so easy to get absorbed by structures, mandates, processes, all of that, because we are a bureaucracy and we are bureaucracy for a reason, we are a hierarchy for a reason.

So I’d say it’s, it’s important to focus first on the sustainability outcome that you want to move. So whatever it is, it’s climate resilience. It’s, uh, I don’t know, inclusive digital systems, food security, et cetera.

Institutions are tools, but the impact comes for me from clarity of purpose. I’m sure this applies everywhere else as well, but I think it’s important in the UN so that you kind of get past that, that what may seem like, you know, impenetrable, very complex system. I’d say also it’s good to work across boundaries early on as well.

If that makes sense, um, in the UN ecosystem, um, kind of meaningful change, to be honest, rarely happens inside one agency or one discipline. Um, the biggest sustainability gains, I think, and this probably applies again in other parts of life and the world as well from, these gains really come from connecting sectors. So data with policy or, or technology with local knowledge or, or humanity work with development finance.

Um, so it’s important to be ready to, or to learn or to, to, yeah, to be ready to translate between communities. I think that’s really, really critical. We have enough of, of, uh, experience from, from that very siloed way of working, and that’s really not good.

Um, I’m a little bit data technology focused today, but I’ll, I’ll go on with that still. Uh, so I’d say, cause I really wanted to say something about data and I wasn’t, I was thinking until, uh, until I joined this call, but I’d say use data as a bridge, not just evidence. I think that’s because often that’s how we go.

We go like data is evidence. And actually that’s something that we’ve really seen in our work is that data is most powerful when it builds this kind of shared understanding between different actors, people who maybe normally usually don’t collaborate. So treating data innovation sort of as also as convening tools, really not just, you know, analytical outputs or yeah, bring that kind of an angle in, um, also the project-based thinking, I, I really advise steer away from that.

And I like to also challenge our, our own teams and people we work with to thinking coalitions, um, you know, um, source projects come and go or longer projects come and go, but collisions create so many more opportunities and they create sort of much more durable change, I’d say. So I kind of trust building and then sometimes it’s, it’s the part of the work that we do that, that, you know, uh, it’s not that easy to explain necessarily, but it’s actually really, really critical. And you, you see the value of that when it, when, you know, uh, you come into a tough situation and, uh, you know, uh, um, last but not least, I’d say just stay optimistic, uh, but it’s hard sometimes operational for, for coming from outside of our system and also sometimes within the system, like you can feel really, really slow.

Uh, but it is, you know, after all, and still one of the few places where global norms, uh, financing and partnerships can all intersect. And so kind of combining patience with the, with the bias toward action or something like that, uh, uh, allows, I think in the best way to influence change and, and, you know, at the level that’s hard to achieve anywhere else, to be honest, yeah, those would be my points.

[Sheldon Young]
No, those are again, sage advice. I have to say in terms of like, uh, getting things done in a complicated organization sounds very much like that. So we hear that it works there.

Okay. So we’ve talked about a lot and I love it. It’s, uh, so such an interesting, uh, look into something.

I think most people don’t know this even exists, frankly, and we’ve opened the hood and looked underneath it. Um, I know people are going to want to learn how to connect and learn more. I’d love to hear from you how they can do that.

And if someone, what did, what does the UN Global Pulse need? I guess I’ll, I’ll throw that in there as well. What does, uh, UN Global Pulse need?

How do they connect it? And how can they learn more?

[Tapio Vahtola]
Absolutely. Um, by far the best channel to follow our work is our LinkedIn channel. It’s as simple as that.

Uh, we are keeping deliberately our social media presence, very focused on LinkedIn. We don’t want to go into other platforms right now. Um, we, we hope that we reach, and I think we do reach, um, um, a variety of audiences, uh, through that platform.

So that, that’s a great place to be, uh, to follow us. Um, there’s almost daily updates. Um, we will also, there’s a bit of a, uh, publicity announcement, but we are going to go into, not into podcasts, but a little bit more into sort of personal stories from our side as well, that we’re going to start publishing on LinkedIn.

So, so that it’s, it’s not, you know, of course there’s a lot of, uh, just information there. And, uh, through our LinkedIn, uh, um, profile, one can then get to our website, which, which I actually think is quite cool. It’s a little bit different perhaps.

And, uh, uh, so the usual sort of, uh, digital outlets there, um, obviously I don’t know if there’s a way of sharing my contact information. I’m happy to be contacted by just about anybody. Please do also, uh, do so do through LinkedIn.

That’s, that’s, uh, that would be great. What we need are great partners to, to join us in this endeavor. And there are just so many ways of, of doing that with us or with those that we work with on the ground.

Uh, be them UN agencies, NGOs, um, increasingly, hopefully local private sector and not for, yeah, not for, uh, sorry, social enterprises. That’s, that’s really sort of, we, we really want to tap into the private sector of those countries where the projects are ran that we support. Um, so, so we are a platform also that can connect all kinds of partnerships, ideas, um, questions, queries, uh, anything is welcome and it’s not just for us, but it’s for that broader audience that we are that platform for.

That’s, that’s what I meant to say. So please consider us as an, as, as some kind of a route to somewhere else as well, if that’s what you’re interested in. What we at Global Pulse do need ourselves is, uh, um, a lot of, I’d love for us to find some more partners who would be keen to share their expertise, uh, share their, um, solutions.

Um, so their innovations and see with us whether those innovations could be, um, perhaps redesigned a little bit so that they could meet those needs that we are identifying on the ground. So again, it would be that sort of role of ours as a platform, but, but, but so that we would have access perhaps to the broader reserve of, of expertise. Um, and, and, you know, the areas may vary.

It can be anything from, from, um, uh, circular economy to, to something very high tech. Um, but, but basically our business model is one where we are trying to our own budgets as small as possible so that we can cover the bare minimum where we need, and the fact of the matter is that that’s 80% people. We don’t spend much more money on anything else.

Our budget is, is two for people, but there’s no point for us to build ourselves into a 500 individuals army because the knowledge gets old really quickly. So I’d rather have us to have access to a large pool of partners who could be on standby and to whom we could go for that expertise so that we don’t need to spend anyone’s money in keeping on board people who may be experts today, but may, you know, that may not be the one kind of expertise we need tomorrow. So that’s a little bit of an unusual business model for the UN, but, but that’s something that we really, really want to build.

We do need the money as well. We do have donors, but that’s also, of course, always something that unfortunately is, is need. Yeah.

[Jason Moreau]
That’s the coalitions that you spoke of, right?

[Sheldon Young]
So absolutely having those partners. That’s right. It’s, it’s about being a partner.

Well, Tapio, this has been absolutely fantastic. Thank you for, for opening the hood and the curtain to the UN Global Pulse and Accelerator Program and all the things you’re doing. It’s wonderful work and I’m looking forward to, to helping spread the word about it.

And thank you for spending the time with us today.

[Tapio Vahtola]
Thank you very much Sheldon. Thank you, Jason. It was really a pleasure.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I’m looking forward to seeing you in person soon, somewhere.

[Sheldon Young]
Absolutely. Ah, yes. The UN Global Pulse.

Fun convo.

[Jason Moreau]
It was a fun convo. I, I’m glad you were there. I felt like that was a conversation that I would never have had the chance to except for you going to the UN Global Pulse meeting and meeting, uh, making the connections to make that happen.

Like that was like five levels above. Like I just, it felt like, I don’t know that I should be in this conversation. There was a pretty like hefty stuff being discussed.

He’s a very important person who plays a pretty big role in what he does. So, uh, no, I was just happy to kind of be there and be able to listen and learn. Yeah.

[Sheldon Young]
Tapio is, is a, he’s a great person. You know, we, uh, when I went, um, Esther, uh, uh, who’s our president here in the U S uh, is, uh, she came, she was there as well. We had got to have dinner with, um, with him and, uh, another colleague of his, uh, Emma, who was also fantastic.

And, uh, you know, it was just really nice getting to just know them at that level. And, you know, and just the stuff they’re doing is so interesting. Right.

Yes. And it’s, you know, just getting right down to it. The U the UN is huge and this, the, the, you know, getting things done in an organization that big is a challenge.

If they’ve really kind of got the approach down to a point where, Hey, look, they’re making real impact. They’re, they’re moving projects. Uh, they’re getting things done.

Uh, you know, using technology for social good. Right. And it’s really fast, you know, fascinating to see it in action and get to meet someone that’s kind of at that front line, moving it through.

And I truly just enjoyed talking with him.

[Jason Moreau]
Yeah, I did too. And I thought it was, it was interesting, the solution, right? So in a, in a big organization like the UN, lots of things happening, how do you, how do you develop and sustain those really good ideas and sort of give them, give the, you know, the Ember a little bit more oxygen so it can grow into, uh, into a bigger fire.

And I, it was really interesting where their approach was and what they identified is the gap was okay. Some of these projects were sort of pilot scale, if you will. And the gap was, how do we, how do we scale it from there?

How do we get from pilot to making it this bigger thing, more, more self-sustaining, and that’s really what they were focused on. And so I just, I, I really found that intriguing and I think that’s probably true in a lot of larger organizations. There’s some really good, like green shoots of like projects and ideas.

And if there was a mechanism or if there was a team whose job it was to kind of spot those, give them some sunlight, give them some more nutrients, they could continue to grow. Um, I, I just, I found the solution to the gap or the challenge really, really interesting.

[Sheldon Young]
Yeah. It’s a, again, you, you, you’ve made a great analogy there. Like they’re, they’re almost like the gardeners of sustainability at UN, right?

Really finding these seeds that have lots of potential, lots of hope and, and, and fueling them and making them grow. And, you know, it’s a lot of lessons. I mean, I love, I love the stuff that Tapio talked about and, you know, working in an organization is big and is honestly just spread out as like the United nations is the keeping the optimism and keeping the momentum and the fire alive.

That’s a big lesson. I think, I think a lot of people face that if you’re a sustainability professional, a lot of places, you know, you’re kind of on an Island sometimes. And, um, you know, listening to, to the way that Tapio tells that story, uh, in, in how they do it at the UN, it’s like, there’s a lot to pull from that.

There’s a lot of good lessons, a lot of good things to think about, you know, how do you keep things going in an organization that, that doesn’t, where it’s not obvious how to go, right. Cause you’re on a, you’re on a journey. Sometimes the path is clear.

It’s most of the time it’s covered in, in weeds and, and bushes and scraggle and there’s stuff in the way. And you gotta, you know, trailblaze and, you know, they are certainly, I would say trailblazers for this kind of activity at the UN and it’s, it’s great to watch it just continue to grow and evolve. And again, the importance of that word, we hear so many times that ecosystem that makes it thrive, right?

These people that you mentioned, they have these ideas, what nurtures them. Well, they need people that. Uh, have experience.

They have people that can help them tell them how to get things done. They need to have, um, you know, kind of the, the wind in their sails and all, all what they’re putting in place creates that they’re creating that safe environment that lets them kind of move forward with a great idea in a way that, you know, that they’re not going to run into a brick wall.

[Jason Moreau]
Yeah. Well, and I, you know, people who are listening, you know, if you’re in a larger organization, you should take heart, right? And if you’ve ever thought like, man, my company is just working on a lot of stuff.

I don’t know how I can get traction. It’s like, well, what did he, 44,000 mandates that the UN has, right? So it’s just like, okay.

So it’s, it’s one of those things of like, do you think your stuff is complicated? There’s always somebody playing a different, bigger game and yet they’re still finding ways to identify those areas of promise and, um, but I thought there were some really good learnings in that, in that, um, um, well, he talked about, um, The people who were chosen for the program to go through those, you know, the master classes and to help them figure out how to jump from pilot to scale, um, he mentioned, you know, sort of the, the plan is paramount, right? Like they have already demonstrated some promise in terms of their solution. And they’re not coming with a, like, we don’t know what to do.

They’re coming with a, like, we think this is the plan. We think this is the way to jump the gap. We just need resources.

We need somebody to kind of like pressure test, whether that’s really real or not. Right. So like, don’t just, don’t just come with like, I don’t know, but come with a, I think this is it.

Can you, that’s a great point. Let’s have a conversation. Right.

And I think that’s true in a lot of areas.

[Sheldon Young]
And it’s actually, it’s a, it don’t take contradicts, but actually it enhances what I was saying before. Yeah. You you’re, you’re more right than I was.

It’s, you know, they, they’re actually coming here. They do have a general idea. They have a sort of a map, but they just do that.

I look, I’ve never traversed a ravine before. Can you, can you show me how to do that without hitting the side of the ravine? So they’re just looking for that guidance and that, Hey, help us take this map and make it real.

And yeah, so that, that was a really good, great, great enhancement to what I said. Thank you.

[Jason Moreau]
And then the other thing that he said that I thought was really great was. And he didn’t say it straight out, but like, this was sort of what I drew from his answer was that the people who applied to the program and were accepted not only had a plan, but it was very obvious to the committee. How that plan or initiative would align with the larger UN goals.

Right. And, and so there’s this, you know, there’s this dynamic push and pull where it’s like, look, we don’t have infinite resources. We have to pick just a handful of projects to support.

Of course, the organization is going to choose to support the ones that also like ladder up to those bigger missions. Right.

[Sheldon Young]
So if you’re in sustainability, yeah.

[Jason Moreau]
If you’re in the sustainability space and you’re like, how do I get traction? How do I get leadership to get behind this? How do you, like, how can you align what you’re doing with the larger goals of your organization?

And if you can frame it that way, you are halfway there, right. Or you are at least more likely to have that message land on sympathetic ears. So I think those are sort of two messages that he mentioned in terms of the project, but I think are maybe universally more applicable.

[Sheldon Young]
Yeah. Agreed. And just a couple of nuggets that I had kind of, you know, using data as a bridge for understanding, you know, you know, that, that was a great one.

I think, again, it’s like, it’s so important to think about, you can’t just come with no, I have a great idea. Okay. Back it up, help people get there, help people get there with data and information, right?

Yes. It helps, you know, people like people think in the data’s data set and mindset, not just a emotional one. Right.

Um, start with a problem, not the institution I’d written down. You know, that was, um, another great one. Uh, yeah, it’s not, don’t sit there and worry about the, the, the framework you’re in, it’s, it is what it is, right.

You have a particular institution. What can you do? What’s the problem that you’re actually solving and work on the focus on that more than anything.

Uh, and then just finally wrote down power coalitions. I mean, that’s, that’s anywhere. Um, but particularly in an organization as big as the UN to move through the waters, you have to build coalitions.

You have to build, you have to get people behind your idea. Right. And doing all the things you just talked about, uh, and we just talked about certainly is how you do that.

Right. And I think that’s a, it was a little bit of a great little package of lessons there, um, for operating in almost any organization, but doing it from a level that they’re doing it, it makes it even more impressive, frankly. And, um, uh, potential, the potential for impact could be huge, which is, is fun to listen to and hear.

[Jason Moreau]
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And those three sort of feed on each other, right?

Like if you identify the problem. You can identify who you’re the willing members of a coalition might be. And then if you’re in disparate parts of your organization, you know, finance, design, marketing, then using data to bridge those gaps.

Like it’s, it’s sort of creates this little virtual circle, um, to sort of help you propel whatever it is you’re working on. So no, it really enjoyed the insights from him for sure. Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

[Sheldon Young]
Oh, well, all right, Jason. A couple of now I wanted a couple of things around, uh, Tapio, uh, and you and global punts pulse, excuse me. You’ll hit global pulse.

Uh, if you want to learn more about you and global pulse, check out a recent report they did. It’s called scaling. What matters innovation for a changing world, uh, tells a story of the United nations rising to meet an increasing complex polarized and resource scarce world, not with more pilots or with solutions built to last.

So great little summary of kind of what they’re doing there. And so go, go check that report out. It’s it’s, it’s pretty new.

And then hopefully by the time or right around the time this episode will come out, which should be, I think middle of may, um, they’re going to have the launch of the next cohort. So, uh, make sure to go to UN global pulse.org and check that out and see what they’re working on. So I think that’s a couple of great little opportunities to get to learn more about the subject.

[Jason Moreau]
Yep. I’ve been following their stuff on LinkedIn as well. And, uh, oh yeah, great.

They post a lot of really great content and sort of similar to what we’ve been talking about. Yes. It’s, it’s specific to them, but also there’s some really interesting insightful stuff that’s applicable regardless of the type of organization you might be in.

So definitely give them a follow on LinkedIn as well.

[Sheldon Young]
And, and for, in terms of the UN global pulse itself, I think there were opportunities for external organizations to be involved. Oh, so definitely check into that. If you’re in an organization that has, has a passion around the things they’re working on, there might be ways to, to, to plug into it.

So be sure to reach out to them if you have any ideas for that. Um, well, great. So, uh, speaking of support, support our lovely little podcast here by listening, sharing, tell your friends, you know, uh, share it with someone that maybe you really like, and so that they can share it with people you don’t like.

I don’t care. Uh, as long as they, as long as they listen and, uh, give us some information and feedback. You have a great little website.

It’s called nofootprintspodcast.com. And if you have ideas for like a topic or a guest, don’t be afraid to send it our way. Nofootprints.podcast@alfalaval.com.

That’s a L F a L a V a L.com. And with that, Jason, I wish you happy May.

[Jason Moreau]
Thanks buddy. You too.

[Sheldon Young]
Take care.

Our guests come from many industries and companies, as we’re talking about how the world makes sustainability real.

Our company Alfa Laval is a global supplier of process solutions. So it’s very possible that the organizations our guests are with may use Alfa Laval or even our competitors’ products, but this does not mean that we, the host or Alfa Laval are endorsing any of the company’s guests or the specific ideas that we discuss.