The World's Most Dangerous Show with Joko Winterscheidt (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - S1E2 - full transcript
Welcome to sunny California.
Guys, I like California.
The sun. The nature.
The glamour.
But in the California that I like...
there is also this.
Do large companies have to exploit
and destroy
in order to be successful?
Is it simply the nature of industry to act
like a ruthless asshole?
Or can you make money as an entrepreneur
and still do good?
Shell plans to reach net zero by 2050.
Or just stop the climate crisis?
Many things have to change beyond
just giving money.
If so, where are the entrepreneurs
and what is their business model?
Jeff Bezos is to become
the first space tourist.
Elon Musk has organized a trip as well...
In California, I see the dark side
of the oil industry.
Energy giants have announced
more record-breaking profits.
At the same time, some hope comes
from the mecca of capitalism,
which brings me back to my roots.
I grew up here, folks.
And I'll put it this way:
my search ends wet. And stormy.
We are here!
In the end, can the economy save
the climate if politics cannot?
"LIKE A FROG IN BOILING WATER"
CAN TECHNOLOGY SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS?
Before we explore that, we must understand
what the "economy" is.
The economy? Really now?
Stock market up, stock market down,
global corporations, who gets it?
But let's make it easy.
Let's say, Joko Winterscheidt
has a juice shop,
and it's a big company with shares
and all the trimmings,
and Joko is the CEO.
Business is booming.
Since Joko's shop
is listed on the stock exchange,
the shareholders are pleased.
The shareholders are primarily interested
in their dividends.
Cash.
Is the store making a decent profit?
If the numbers are right,
they will invest in Joko's juice shop.
Nobody cares that there is a lot of waste
from the store
or where it ends up afterwards.
This is called externalized costs.
And that's just an important
sounding term for,
"We don't give a shit
about people and nature."
Welcome to Bakersfield, California.
Because the reality
is that the juice is oil,
and there's a lot of oil in Bakersfield.
Literally everywhere.
Right in the city.
Just a two-hour drive from LA,
in the middle of green California,
Kern County produces about 70%
of the state's oil
and more than 90% of its natural gas.
Despite the fact that the extraction
irrevocably destroys the environment,
and also clearly poisons
its own population.
How about talking to those who have
been fighting this for a long time?
Hey. Good, good.
How are you guys?
-Nice to meet you.
-Gustavo, nice to meet you.
Activists, Mercedes Macias,
Rosanna Esparza,
Juan Flores,
Cesar and Gustavo Aguirre
have lived in Kern County for years.
Together, they try to use protests
to urge the state
to stop shirking its responsibilities.
With their mission to protect
the environment and people,
the group puts themselves
in the line of fire.
-I'm a little bit nervous.
-Have you ever spent a night in jail?
Have you?
It happens when we check out
what they're doing.
They chase us away with shotguns
to ensure
-we don't get anything.
-Really?
Lots of what they do is illegal,
especially here...
-There is an oil pump.
-Yes. Right next to the playground.
The only clinic is right next to it too.
How is that legal?
Welcome to California.
This community has been considered one
of the worst air quality in the nation.
Right here.
So you said you were afraid.
I'd be afraid of that,
what we're breathing now.
Imagine living next to it.
These people have lived
here for 10, 15, 20 years.
That's why we also have some
of the biggest cancer rates.
-Breast cancer, lung cancer...
-Childhood asthma.
We have seen cases of 9-year-old boys
with prostate cancer.
-No way.
-It's crazy.
EVERY THIRD PERSON LIVES
WITHIN A MILE OF OIL DRILLING
KERN COUNTY FAILS
IN ALL AIR QUALITY MEASURES
CITY WITH THE HIGHEST
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IN AMERICA
1/5 OF ADULTS DIAGNOSED WITH ASTHMA
(CALIFORNIA HEALTH SURVEY)
I don't know what to say.
No, we don't either.
It's frustrating beyond belief,
but it's the reality that exists for us.
If we look at the contamination
for a particulate dust called PM2.5,
so we're number one for that here.
Half of the contributors to that
are petroleum companies.
When we talked to them about our concerns,
they just pointed out that
it's the mineral right that they have,
that they can do how they please.
I thought it couldn't get any worse
than here in Bakersfield.
However, the group taught me otherwise,
because the oil pumps in the city,
are nothing compared to the plants
outside the city.
That's our beautiful Kern River Oil Field.
What?
-I thought these are palms.
-No.
-These are pumps.
-Oil pumps.
Dude, that's crazy.
Welcome to the Chevron Kern River
Oil Field.
Thank you very much.
The regulatory body that regulates
the oil and gas industry
is funded by how much crude
comes out the ground.
It's a spiral of shit.
That's what we call it.
-Yeah.
-Spiral of shit.
Yes, basically
a systemic spiral of shit, right?
What's California feeling because of all
that carbon that's being put into the air?
It's increased heat.
Increased heat brings less rain.
The less rain brings more drought.
Drought brings more issues
to the families on the frontlines.
-So, it's a big spiral of shit.
-Yes.
I feel there is nothing
that can shock me today anymore.
I am starting to understand the cynicism
of the term "externalized costs."
Companies don't pay when people get sick.
Society bears these costs.
If these costs would be included
in the price of oil,
it would be much, much higher.
We all pay for a few companies
to make profits,
and the crazy model continues to pay off.
That's insane.
If you throw a frog in boiling water,
it jumps out.
But if you put the frog in water
and you slowly turn it up to a boil,
it'll stay because it's not aware
of the change.
Here, in Kern County,
we are frogs born in boiling water.
We don't know that it's not normal to have
an oil jack in your backyard
until someone from Europe comes
and they're like, "What the..."
Is there no thought of moving?
As in, "I'll leave all that behind me."
You can have
a brighter future somewhere else.
No, I'm not gonna leave.
Why don't we clean this stuff up
to make it safe for me to stay?
This place made me sick
and nearly killed me.
I'm not gonna die.
The work that my colleagues here do
is very dangerous work,
but if we don't do it, who's going to?
Do you think that the change
that is needed so hard,
will come, well, from the corporations
within, or themselves?
I can't speak for them.
You think they're worried
about what I think? I don't think so.
I don't think they're worried
about what anyone says.
Are you worried
about what they think?
I can look around
and tell you what they're thinking.
They've told me.
They've given me the finger, twice.
I don't need to be told again.
I see it.
What happens to the people
doesn't seem to bother the companies much.
They're just "people."
People unfortunate enough to live
in the vicinity of valuable resources.
You ask yourself,
"Who would they really listen to?"
A major redistribution of capital will
occur soon and sooner than most expect.
Climate risk is an investment risk.
Everyone has to deal with climate change.
Signed, "Larry Fink, CEO BlackRock."
Who the hell is this BlackRock?
It's best to ask someone who knows
about BlackRock, my dear Joko.
ANDREW SORKIN
FINANCE EXPERT BLACKROCK INSIDER
Hey, how are you?
How are you doing?
BlackRock is the largest and most
influential investment firm in the world.
It oversees
something like 10 trillion dollars.
I'll repeat,
10 trillion dollars. With a "T".
And they do that on behalf of individuals,
their retirement plans,
and pension funds around the world.
You heard that right. BlackRock manages
funds of pretty much all of us.
Money that we pay into pension funds
or insurance companies.
You didn't know that, right?
But they have more influence
than any other investor in the world,
because they have the opportunity
to vote the shares
on behalf of all of those individuals
and pension funds.
If they don't like the way
a certain board of directors
is making certain decisions,
they can say, "You're out."
They can vote against those board members
and, effectively, against the strategy
of a company and its CEO.
BlackRock's leader is Larry Fink,
who founded that firm,
and Larry Fink has become
probably the most influential investor
in the world,
mainly, because he controls
that 10 trillion dollars.
Every year, Larry Fink
sends out a letter to the CEOs
of companies across the world
effectively telling them how he wants them
to think about their business.
An investor like BlackRock
not only controls your juice shop,
but over thousands of companies worldwide.
BlackRock could theoretically conjure up
a change of direction
along the entire economy.
Wait a moment.
They can save the world.
I should talk to them?
How about this one?
Dirk Schmitz.
BlackRock's Managing Director
in Germany and is from Schwalmtal.
The backwater I'm from? No way.
SCHWALMTAL
NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA
Is that crazy, folks?
There was the video store
where I got Asterix and Obelix films.
Really.
Film me like this, I think it's great.
-Doesn't matter.
-He can't show it anyway.
-Unless you allow him to.
-He may.
Welcome to Schwalmtal.
Home of Dirk Schmitz from BlackRock
and Joko Winterscheidt.
From Schwalmtal.
-I had no idea you grew up here.
-Yes, I did.
I thought, "I'm a star here."
Oh, well.
Pleasure.
-How are you, Joko?
-First names? Great.
Sure, right?
-As former schoolmates...
-Crazy. You are from here as well?
Sure.
When I was told that you went
to the same school as I did...
That was so absurd.
I prepared a little tour.
We walk down there and up there.
Hello.
-There used to be a pub there.
-Yes.
-Did you play soccer?
-Yes, sure.
-Really?
-Yes, of course.
The fast food stall was here.
The fact that we not only come
from the same village,
but that we also went to the same school,
is simply absurd.
That's new.
Hello.
Are you considering this school?
It's very good.
I was here, he was here.
-You can become someone.
-Yes.
Memories are coming.
I'll give you a hint. I don't wear a tie.
That's me.
-A hint. I wear a tie.
-You wore one?
Another hint. I had hair.
-Him?
-Yes.
You were sporty!
-Look at that back.
-I am standing next to small people.
Enough with the trip down memory lane.
You remember we're here because you want
to ask BlackRock's Germany boss
why they don't just oblige all companies
to be climate-friendly.
BlackRock, yes? The biggest investor
that can make this possible.
-You are financial investor?
-Yes.
BlackRock is on a level
where you could say
that you have an impact.
Do you feel that way?
Of course. The issue is important to me,
but also important at BlackRock.
I am father of three children,
I would like to leave my three children
the world in the same state
as I received it.
I have fiduciary responsibility.
I have to invest my customers'
money wisely,
I can only do that if we invest
in sustainable companies.
You say that and I think, "Makes sense."
And at the same time I think to myself,
"Isn't there a three-digit billion
amount flowing into upcoming coal,
gas, oil projects?"
That's an incredible amount of money.
You have such a huge responsibility
because of this crazy power.
Absolutely, and we take responsibility
by collecting funds
that invest in these new technologies
-and the new...
-You have a three-digit billion amount
that you invest in old things, taking oil,
coal and gas out of the ground.
-First of all, we don't do that.
-You give them the money.
We invest our clients' funds.
That's one thing,
and if we cut off the flow of finance
to all car manufacturers overnight,
and send hundreds of thousands
of employees into unemployment,
I don't think that's good
for society either.
We want to work with these companies.
If we leave the table and walk
out of the room,
it doesn't help matters.
Because the company goes on,
and it won't help the world
and the climate.
We missed so much
that we could have done right,
and I'm really afraid
that we're missing the chance
to be much more active here.
You manage more money
than the US budget spent last year.
The things you could do with that,
this power, you've got here,
you cannot tell me, that you could not
have a much bigger influence than you say.
You are right.
We're the mutual fund company that clients
around the world trust
with the most money.
That's an enormous responsibility
that we have.
However, you have to say,
"It's not our money."
We are not free to decide,
it is the money of our customers.
I'm slowly getting into the dilemma,
that's cool when you say,
"That's not our money."
We can positively impact our customers
by showing them
sustainable financial products,
90% of all the products we launch
are fully sustainable.
We should all have started earlier,
I agree with that point,
but the last few years have made me
relatively optimistic
that we are on the right path.
What is the process
if you check out what is sustainable?
A person visits the company,
and talks to the company's management,
so you can see clearly
what the sustainability
and climate risks are of this company.
A person who visits the company.
In technical jargon, this person is
the Chief Investment Officer
for Sustainable Investing,
something like
a watchdog for sustainability.
At BlackRock, this public good conscience
has been the Canadian Tariq Fancy.
He took care of everything to do
with sustainability and ESG.
ESG is the buzzword par excellence
when it comes to green investing.
It refers to three key factors
by which a company
must be measured in terms
of sustainability and fairness.
Tariq Fancy did this until he stumbled
across more and more things that looked
like greenwashing rather
than sustainable investments
and went public with everything
he found out.
Where did that get him?
On a basketball court
with Juice Shop Joko.
What's does this mean?
Let's get to it.
As a former employee at BlackRock,
you know what you're talking about.
You've seen what's wrong.
I saw the system from the inside.
Would you say there is something really
wrong in that game of green investment?
It's completely messed up.
The only thing that'll change the behavior
of the participants in the system
are rule changes led by government.
Think about it this way.
In basketball, we're competing to score
as many points as we can.
You want a clean game, it's high
competition. You have one goal: points.
Capitalism is the same.
You have firms competing
to get as many profits as they can.
That's why the basketball analogy
is interesting,
because the key thing with sports
is that they have rules and referees.
The referees in capitalism
are the regulators.
They're not watching the game
as much as they need to.
Imagine you want to have less
three-pointers in a basketball game.
This is a three-point-line.
So you have two options.
You can ask players nicely to shoot
a little bit from behind the line.
Or you just move the line back.
That's like carbon emissions.
You can either rely on players
to do the right thing.
They decide to start investing
in green even when it's expensive.
Or you just have a carbon tax.
Carbon tax moves the line back.
It's a question, do you rely on mandatory
compliance, or voluntary compliance?
Many folks don't want change the rules,
because the rules benefit them.
They say, "The free market
will do everything."
Which means, "Let's leave everything
the way it is."
Ultimately, if you could play dirty
and win, you're gonna do it.
You want to play sportsman-like
and be nice,
but not if you'll lose.
The game comes first, always.
Today the dirty stuff is too cheap.
That's what I saw at a systemic level.
I'm an investor.
I saw that it doesn't make sense.
They make more money
doing the wrong thing.
The best thing you can do for profits
is not to invest in this costly green
stuff that pays off in 20 years.
It's to market yourself as being green
and keep making as much money as you can.
Is that the reason why you'd say
ESG is dangerous?
It's dangerous if you go
and you tell everyone that
being green is profitable on its own,
it's a good idea.
But that's not happening.
Making it more unlikely
that rules change.
It's dangerous
because it wastes people's time.
You're saying, "Play clean,
and you'll score more points."
I want that to be the case.
It's not the case now.
These companies make money
defrauding people,
or harming mental health,
or polluting the environment.
That leads to real changes.
If this one goes in...
-Then we can fix the system.
-All right.
I'll not make it. No!
One last one. Come on.
Oh, my God!
There we go.
The answer is it can work,
you have to fix the rules.
Basketball can be a good game,
but it has to be managed.
In the end, if the regulations
aren't coming from the government,
doesn't the change have to come
from the company themselves?
So far it's been the only way, right?
It's the company deciding
on their own to lead the way.
You do need some leaders
to show the way forward
such that when the rules get changed,
people can look and say,
"That player knows how to win
playing clean.
"They don't have to foul or cheat."
Because when it changes,
they're the role models.
There are international companies that
are profitable without the dirty stuff.
The role models.
Ørsted is said to be one.
They make money from green energy
and prove that sustainability and profits
are not mutually exclusive.
I want to take a look.
It would've been nice if I'd been told
that they are constructing wind farms
in the middle of the North Sea.
Or that I'd have to climb a 20-meter high
ladder over the open sea.
Nor the detail about
the "small training".
"Small" they said.
You never want to be
in a situation like this.
But it got much, much worse.
We are here!
I am afraid of heights.
I don't want to.
I saw it, it's enough.
-Too late.
-Yes.
Why did I say that I want to take a look?
Over here.
Fuck my life.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Wow.
I did it for this.
Oh, my God, that's awesome.
I'm grateful to see this because
it's an awesome machine.
A cool machine that makes clean energy.
And they are in the sea.
You recognized that very well, Joko.
Pretty impressive view, isn't it?
That's awesome!
Ørsted has leased this vision
for themselves.
Just 12 years ago, the company still
had the sonorous name DONG,
and was producing oil and gas
on a very large scale.
In less than a decade,
the group has been radically restructured.
From a company
with one of the highest CO2-emissions
in Europe,
to the most sustainable energy giant ever.
And market leader in offshore wind power.
The vision to remain profitable
in the long term has paid off.
The company's share value has tripled,
while electricity only produces a quarter
of the emissions it used to.
Foresight, baby.
It's crazy that the infrastructure
is just so comparable.
If you now look at this or that oil rig,
then I see no difference.
The few euros you can earn more
with oil and similar have meant
that we don't have more of this.
That we don't have more wind energy.
Becoming more sustainable.
Annoying at first.
Companies get a taste for it,
because sustainable business pays off.
JOKO'S JUICE SHOP
Investors prefer to invest in companies
that do not destroy the climate.
In the long term, companies that produce
garbage and blow CO2 into the air
will be left behind.
Nice stuff.
But is it all just a naive hope?
That's a good question.
I think there is a growing understanding
that as a business leader,
you cannot have a business model
and then expect it to be
the same for decade after decade.
Because back in 2008-09,
the business that we were in,
that business
did not have a place in the future.
Ida Krabek is
Head of Global Sustainability at Ørsted.
Over the past 10 years,
she has overseen the company's
radical transformation
from oil platform to wind farms.
All that remains is the very small task
of pulling the other energy giants along
and convincing them
that this change is paying off.
I think the reason why we changed
is different sort of pressures,
both politically, the whole sort
of climate agenda was really building up.
Another thing is regulatory...
We could see that parts
of our legacy business
were pressured due
to regulatory developments.
And also, we could see that public
resistance towards fossil fuels growing.
I really don't get it in my head.
I look at the fossil fuel and coal mining
companies, and they don't get it.
Why don't they just change?
It could be easy. Obviously it's possible.
I can't speculate
why they are not doing it.
I can say that we were also
in a comfortable place.
We were a world leader in driving
efficient coal-fired power plants.
Why would you give up that for something
that seemed much more risky?
It's not a technological challenge
to move to green energies.
It's a leadership challenge.
It takes good people in management
who think differently...
with the will to do the right thing.
But is that enough to be hopeful?
To be honest, Ørsted and others
are still pure capitalists.
If renewable energies become
less worthwhile again
and the executive floor is staffed
differently, will they pump oil?
The only way to escape
the dilemma is to forget
about the one thing that is the basis
of doing business...
profits.
But honestly, can us humans even do that?
Of course they could, Joko.
There are other ways that
companies can be structured.
A new legal form in which bizarrely high
profits are simply forbidden.
You can admire the results
of this work in Spain.
What's going on? What's happening?
Where is the weather?
It's here, but it's wrong.
We didn't order this.
There are already some who are doing
pioneering work in this area.
It's meant to be sunny...
I've been told that this is the hottest
area in Europe.
Yes.
Christian Kroll is the founder
of the ecological search engine Ecosia.
So a kind of Google, but green.
According to the company,
this means that 100%
of the profits are used
to support climate projects.
At Ecosia, this means above all:
planting trees.
They do that where it is needed.
For example here in La Muela, Andalusia,
Spain, where this allows
for greater biodiversity
and resilience in the forest.
Over 150 million trees have already
been planted worldwide.
A new one is added about every second.
The idea of Ecosia, or why I founded it,
was because I wanted to heal
such degenerated areas.
And to ensure that forever,
we transformed Ecosia
into a purpose company.
Stop. What is a purpose company?
For them,
the purpose is above everything else.
Planting trees at Ecosia, for example.
And to keep it that way, such a company
is managed by a steward-ownership.
It means the CEO relinquishes ownership
of the company
and it may not be sold.
There is no longer any pressure
from investors.
The vicious circle of capitalism
has been broken.
That's it.
There's a little hurdle
on the way to wonderland.
You would have to give up owning
your juice shop.
What you have built here with Ecosia
could also be a venture
that could make you all very rich.
You say...
"I don't care."
It doesn't suit me.
This idea that
we all have to get really rich.
Something is missing,
and in the last few decades
we have deviated
from seeing people as part of society
and instead we promote
more and more egoism,
which is not good.
A company has to generate profits, but it
has to ensure that everyone benefits
and that the world becomes
a better place in the end.
I'll have the same.
Two ColaCaos.
What is ColaCao?
It's a mix of cola and cocoa.
Okay.
I want to earn enough money
to have a good life.
But with a normal salary,
my needs are actually covered.
There's another implication.
That really interests me personally,
because I wish, for me,
I could free myself from...
I wouldn't describe it as constraints
at all, because I enjoy vacations.
I really enjoy going out
and eating really well.
I take great pleasure in having
beautiful things around me.
While I talk,
I realize how wrong that is,
but it gives me a weird satisfaction.
You don't seem to have that.
Why are you and I different?
What you want to achieve is
that you can say, "I'm satisfied."
You can't achieve that if you think
that you always want more.
If I, Christian, say, "I have enough.
My salary is enough for me."
Then I'm actually even richer than any
billionaire, who only ever wants more.
In business studies, everyone knows
the wealthiest people list.
These are the idols, especially for people
who then found start-ups.
You have to drop that,
especially with climate change.
You need a different metric.
It's not about having
many billions in the bank.
I find that exciting.
To get out of these lists, away from,
"Who has how many billions now?"
And say, "We just need another parameter
to measure against."
That's what I'd think we need.
"Who saved the most CO2?"
Tell me how and I'll be the first
to make it all happen.
Making it possible was perhaps easier
said than done.
Why? For decades it's been a competition
among the richest of the rich.
The World's Billionaires list
is the measure of excess
to rank the really rich.
The higher position, the better.
Who has the most money, wins.
It's always the same people at the top,
it's also one-dimensional.
We wanted to make our own list.
Can you rank people based on their values?
When we stood in front of a whiteboard,
it wasn't as easy as we thought.
It's impossible to put a figure
on how much CO2 individuals
save through their commitment.
We really stood
there like a duck in a thunderstorm.
Like idiots.
Yes.
And then we had an idea.
And when we say "we," we actually mean
those who did all the work,
and that wasn't us, that was the team.
They rounded up experts
from all over the world
who are familiar with climate protection
and demand a different assessment.
A committee made up of personalities
who are known to the public
for their commitment,
but who are also respected.
Personalities like Chad Frischmann,
New York Times author and leader
on effective climate solutions.
Hilda Nakabuye, Fridays For Future
founder, Uganda.
Claudia Kemfert, top economist
on the subject of climate,
or Raj Patel, who develops solutions
for a fairer food system.
We shared a large selection of people
with this jury.
People who crossed our path during
our filming and long research.
Tips from researchers
and people who've worked
on this for a while.
The result was people who are
committed to climate protection
with all their might.
Well-known and lesser-known.
And then the jury voted on them.
Third place: Elizabeth Mpofu connects
ecological smallholders
in her country of Zimbabwe and worldwide.
By passing on local cultivation methods,
she helps women in particular.
Second place.
After six years of legal action,
Marjan Minnesma won a lawsuit
against her own government, which obliges
it to do more for climate protection.
Since then there have been
many more cases like this.
And in first place, Vanessa Nakate.
Like few others,
she has drawn global attention
to the climate crisis consequences
for Africa.
The activist leads international campaigns
against fossil fuel projects
and the destruction of natural habitats,
and demands reparations
for those affected.
Three personalities
who have achieved so much
and are more exciting than billionaires.
You can find all the winners online.
Share it online, send it to those
reading billionaire lists,
because it would be nice if one day
we no longer had billionaire lists
or knew how many billions
more someone has.
I don't fucking care.
But rather a list of the inspiring people
we have on this planet.
Let's not kid ourselves.
Our list has only symbolic value.
It won't change the world on its own,
and we don't pretend it can.
But maybe it can ask questions.
Must we just dismiss what I saw
in Bakersfield as a necessary evil?
But it is not necessary.
It's time that we find a new way.
You really can be green
and still make profits.
And invest the profits
to benefit the planet,
society and ultimately also business.
We need the right framework
conditions for this,
or it won't go fast enough.
At first, I asked myself,
"Can the economy, which is partly
responsible for the decline of our world,
use the same mechanisms
to save the world?"
I'll say, "It won't work
without the economy."
If companies and the people behind them,
want to change something,
then they have the power to do it.
The good news is that the argument
for such a change is getting better.
Thank you.
It works. We can manage this.
Economy, technology,
good ideas are everywhere.
Did I overlook something crucial?
IN THE NEXT EPISODE...
You've found your ecological conscience...
with Amazon.
We want to help the world
become carbon neutral.
Oh, God.
I don't believe it.
Guys, I like California.
The sun. The nature.
The glamour.
But in the California that I like...
there is also this.
Do large companies have to exploit
and destroy
in order to be successful?
Is it simply the nature of industry to act
like a ruthless asshole?
Or can you make money as an entrepreneur
and still do good?
Shell plans to reach net zero by 2050.
Or just stop the climate crisis?
Many things have to change beyond
just giving money.
If so, where are the entrepreneurs
and what is their business model?
Jeff Bezos is to become
the first space tourist.
Elon Musk has organized a trip as well...
In California, I see the dark side
of the oil industry.
Energy giants have announced
more record-breaking profits.
At the same time, some hope comes
from the mecca of capitalism,
which brings me back to my roots.
I grew up here, folks.
And I'll put it this way:
my search ends wet. And stormy.
We are here!
In the end, can the economy save
the climate if politics cannot?
"LIKE A FROG IN BOILING WATER"
CAN TECHNOLOGY SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS?
Before we explore that, we must understand
what the "economy" is.
The economy? Really now?
Stock market up, stock market down,
global corporations, who gets it?
But let's make it easy.
Let's say, Joko Winterscheidt
has a juice shop,
and it's a big company with shares
and all the trimmings,
and Joko is the CEO.
Business is booming.
Since Joko's shop
is listed on the stock exchange,
the shareholders are pleased.
The shareholders are primarily interested
in their dividends.
Cash.
Is the store making a decent profit?
If the numbers are right,
they will invest in Joko's juice shop.
Nobody cares that there is a lot of waste
from the store
or where it ends up afterwards.
This is called externalized costs.
And that's just an important
sounding term for,
"We don't give a shit
about people and nature."
Welcome to Bakersfield, California.
Because the reality
is that the juice is oil,
and there's a lot of oil in Bakersfield.
Literally everywhere.
Right in the city.
Just a two-hour drive from LA,
in the middle of green California,
Kern County produces about 70%
of the state's oil
and more than 90% of its natural gas.
Despite the fact that the extraction
irrevocably destroys the environment,
and also clearly poisons
its own population.
How about talking to those who have
been fighting this for a long time?
Hey. Good, good.
How are you guys?
-Nice to meet you.
-Gustavo, nice to meet you.
Activists, Mercedes Macias,
Rosanna Esparza,
Juan Flores,
Cesar and Gustavo Aguirre
have lived in Kern County for years.
Together, they try to use protests
to urge the state
to stop shirking its responsibilities.
With their mission to protect
the environment and people,
the group puts themselves
in the line of fire.
-I'm a little bit nervous.
-Have you ever spent a night in jail?
Have you?
It happens when we check out
what they're doing.
They chase us away with shotguns
to ensure
-we don't get anything.
-Really?
Lots of what they do is illegal,
especially here...
-There is an oil pump.
-Yes. Right next to the playground.
The only clinic is right next to it too.
How is that legal?
Welcome to California.
This community has been considered one
of the worst air quality in the nation.
Right here.
So you said you were afraid.
I'd be afraid of that,
what we're breathing now.
Imagine living next to it.
These people have lived
here for 10, 15, 20 years.
That's why we also have some
of the biggest cancer rates.
-Breast cancer, lung cancer...
-Childhood asthma.
We have seen cases of 9-year-old boys
with prostate cancer.
-No way.
-It's crazy.
EVERY THIRD PERSON LIVES
WITHIN A MILE OF OIL DRILLING
KERN COUNTY FAILS
IN ALL AIR QUALITY MEASURES
CITY WITH THE HIGHEST
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION IN AMERICA
1/5 OF ADULTS DIAGNOSED WITH ASTHMA
(CALIFORNIA HEALTH SURVEY)
I don't know what to say.
No, we don't either.
It's frustrating beyond belief,
but it's the reality that exists for us.
If we look at the contamination
for a particulate dust called PM2.5,
so we're number one for that here.
Half of the contributors to that
are petroleum companies.
When we talked to them about our concerns,
they just pointed out that
it's the mineral right that they have,
that they can do how they please.
I thought it couldn't get any worse
than here in Bakersfield.
However, the group taught me otherwise,
because the oil pumps in the city,
are nothing compared to the plants
outside the city.
That's our beautiful Kern River Oil Field.
What?
-I thought these are palms.
-No.
-These are pumps.
-Oil pumps.
Dude, that's crazy.
Welcome to the Chevron Kern River
Oil Field.
Thank you very much.
The regulatory body that regulates
the oil and gas industry
is funded by how much crude
comes out the ground.
It's a spiral of shit.
That's what we call it.
-Yeah.
-Spiral of shit.
Yes, basically
a systemic spiral of shit, right?
What's California feeling because of all
that carbon that's being put into the air?
It's increased heat.
Increased heat brings less rain.
The less rain brings more drought.
Drought brings more issues
to the families on the frontlines.
-So, it's a big spiral of shit.
-Yes.
I feel there is nothing
that can shock me today anymore.
I am starting to understand the cynicism
of the term "externalized costs."
Companies don't pay when people get sick.
Society bears these costs.
If these costs would be included
in the price of oil,
it would be much, much higher.
We all pay for a few companies
to make profits,
and the crazy model continues to pay off.
That's insane.
If you throw a frog in boiling water,
it jumps out.
But if you put the frog in water
and you slowly turn it up to a boil,
it'll stay because it's not aware
of the change.
Here, in Kern County,
we are frogs born in boiling water.
We don't know that it's not normal to have
an oil jack in your backyard
until someone from Europe comes
and they're like, "What the..."
Is there no thought of moving?
As in, "I'll leave all that behind me."
You can have
a brighter future somewhere else.
No, I'm not gonna leave.
Why don't we clean this stuff up
to make it safe for me to stay?
This place made me sick
and nearly killed me.
I'm not gonna die.
The work that my colleagues here do
is very dangerous work,
but if we don't do it, who's going to?
Do you think that the change
that is needed so hard,
will come, well, from the corporations
within, or themselves?
I can't speak for them.
You think they're worried
about what I think? I don't think so.
I don't think they're worried
about what anyone says.
Are you worried
about what they think?
I can look around
and tell you what they're thinking.
They've told me.
They've given me the finger, twice.
I don't need to be told again.
I see it.
What happens to the people
doesn't seem to bother the companies much.
They're just "people."
People unfortunate enough to live
in the vicinity of valuable resources.
You ask yourself,
"Who would they really listen to?"
A major redistribution of capital will
occur soon and sooner than most expect.
Climate risk is an investment risk.
Everyone has to deal with climate change.
Signed, "Larry Fink, CEO BlackRock."
Who the hell is this BlackRock?
It's best to ask someone who knows
about BlackRock, my dear Joko.
ANDREW SORKIN
FINANCE EXPERT BLACKROCK INSIDER
Hey, how are you?
How are you doing?
BlackRock is the largest and most
influential investment firm in the world.
It oversees
something like 10 trillion dollars.
I'll repeat,
10 trillion dollars. With a "T".
And they do that on behalf of individuals,
their retirement plans,
and pension funds around the world.
You heard that right. BlackRock manages
funds of pretty much all of us.
Money that we pay into pension funds
or insurance companies.
You didn't know that, right?
But they have more influence
than any other investor in the world,
because they have the opportunity
to vote the shares
on behalf of all of those individuals
and pension funds.
If they don't like the way
a certain board of directors
is making certain decisions,
they can say, "You're out."
They can vote against those board members
and, effectively, against the strategy
of a company and its CEO.
BlackRock's leader is Larry Fink,
who founded that firm,
and Larry Fink has become
probably the most influential investor
in the world,
mainly, because he controls
that 10 trillion dollars.
Every year, Larry Fink
sends out a letter to the CEOs
of companies across the world
effectively telling them how he wants them
to think about their business.
An investor like BlackRock
not only controls your juice shop,
but over thousands of companies worldwide.
BlackRock could theoretically conjure up
a change of direction
along the entire economy.
Wait a moment.
They can save the world.
I should talk to them?
How about this one?
Dirk Schmitz.
BlackRock's Managing Director
in Germany and is from Schwalmtal.
The backwater I'm from? No way.
SCHWALMTAL
NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA
Is that crazy, folks?
There was the video store
where I got Asterix and Obelix films.
Really.
Film me like this, I think it's great.
-Doesn't matter.
-He can't show it anyway.
-Unless you allow him to.
-He may.
Welcome to Schwalmtal.
Home of Dirk Schmitz from BlackRock
and Joko Winterscheidt.
From Schwalmtal.
-I had no idea you grew up here.
-Yes, I did.
I thought, "I'm a star here."
Oh, well.
Pleasure.
-How are you, Joko?
-First names? Great.
Sure, right?
-As former schoolmates...
-Crazy. You are from here as well?
Sure.
When I was told that you went
to the same school as I did...
That was so absurd.
I prepared a little tour.
We walk down there and up there.
Hello.
-There used to be a pub there.
-Yes.
-Did you play soccer?
-Yes, sure.
-Really?
-Yes, of course.
The fast food stall was here.
The fact that we not only come
from the same village,
but that we also went to the same school,
is simply absurd.
That's new.
Hello.
Are you considering this school?
It's very good.
I was here, he was here.
-You can become someone.
-Yes.
Memories are coming.
I'll give you a hint. I don't wear a tie.
That's me.
-A hint. I wear a tie.
-You wore one?
Another hint. I had hair.
-Him?
-Yes.
You were sporty!
-Look at that back.
-I am standing next to small people.
Enough with the trip down memory lane.
You remember we're here because you want
to ask BlackRock's Germany boss
why they don't just oblige all companies
to be climate-friendly.
BlackRock, yes? The biggest investor
that can make this possible.
-You are financial investor?
-Yes.
BlackRock is on a level
where you could say
that you have an impact.
Do you feel that way?
Of course. The issue is important to me,
but also important at BlackRock.
I am father of three children,
I would like to leave my three children
the world in the same state
as I received it.
I have fiduciary responsibility.
I have to invest my customers'
money wisely,
I can only do that if we invest
in sustainable companies.
You say that and I think, "Makes sense."
And at the same time I think to myself,
"Isn't there a three-digit billion
amount flowing into upcoming coal,
gas, oil projects?"
That's an incredible amount of money.
You have such a huge responsibility
because of this crazy power.
Absolutely, and we take responsibility
by collecting funds
that invest in these new technologies
-and the new...
-You have a three-digit billion amount
that you invest in old things, taking oil,
coal and gas out of the ground.
-First of all, we don't do that.
-You give them the money.
We invest our clients' funds.
That's one thing,
and if we cut off the flow of finance
to all car manufacturers overnight,
and send hundreds of thousands
of employees into unemployment,
I don't think that's good
for society either.
We want to work with these companies.
If we leave the table and walk
out of the room,
it doesn't help matters.
Because the company goes on,
and it won't help the world
and the climate.
We missed so much
that we could have done right,
and I'm really afraid
that we're missing the chance
to be much more active here.
You manage more money
than the US budget spent last year.
The things you could do with that,
this power, you've got here,
you cannot tell me, that you could not
have a much bigger influence than you say.
You are right.
We're the mutual fund company that clients
around the world trust
with the most money.
That's an enormous responsibility
that we have.
However, you have to say,
"It's not our money."
We are not free to decide,
it is the money of our customers.
I'm slowly getting into the dilemma,
that's cool when you say,
"That's not our money."
We can positively impact our customers
by showing them
sustainable financial products,
90% of all the products we launch
are fully sustainable.
We should all have started earlier,
I agree with that point,
but the last few years have made me
relatively optimistic
that we are on the right path.
What is the process
if you check out what is sustainable?
A person visits the company,
and talks to the company's management,
so you can see clearly
what the sustainability
and climate risks are of this company.
A person who visits the company.
In technical jargon, this person is
the Chief Investment Officer
for Sustainable Investing,
something like
a watchdog for sustainability.
At BlackRock, this public good conscience
has been the Canadian Tariq Fancy.
He took care of everything to do
with sustainability and ESG.
ESG is the buzzword par excellence
when it comes to green investing.
It refers to three key factors
by which a company
must be measured in terms
of sustainability and fairness.
Tariq Fancy did this until he stumbled
across more and more things that looked
like greenwashing rather
than sustainable investments
and went public with everything
he found out.
Where did that get him?
On a basketball court
with Juice Shop Joko.
What's does this mean?
Let's get to it.
As a former employee at BlackRock,
you know what you're talking about.
You've seen what's wrong.
I saw the system from the inside.
Would you say there is something really
wrong in that game of green investment?
It's completely messed up.
The only thing that'll change the behavior
of the participants in the system
are rule changes led by government.
Think about it this way.
In basketball, we're competing to score
as many points as we can.
You want a clean game, it's high
competition. You have one goal: points.
Capitalism is the same.
You have firms competing
to get as many profits as they can.
That's why the basketball analogy
is interesting,
because the key thing with sports
is that they have rules and referees.
The referees in capitalism
are the regulators.
They're not watching the game
as much as they need to.
Imagine you want to have less
three-pointers in a basketball game.
This is a three-point-line.
So you have two options.
You can ask players nicely to shoot
a little bit from behind the line.
Or you just move the line back.
That's like carbon emissions.
You can either rely on players
to do the right thing.
They decide to start investing
in green even when it's expensive.
Or you just have a carbon tax.
Carbon tax moves the line back.
It's a question, do you rely on mandatory
compliance, or voluntary compliance?
Many folks don't want change the rules,
because the rules benefit them.
They say, "The free market
will do everything."
Which means, "Let's leave everything
the way it is."
Ultimately, if you could play dirty
and win, you're gonna do it.
You want to play sportsman-like
and be nice,
but not if you'll lose.
The game comes first, always.
Today the dirty stuff is too cheap.
That's what I saw at a systemic level.
I'm an investor.
I saw that it doesn't make sense.
They make more money
doing the wrong thing.
The best thing you can do for profits
is not to invest in this costly green
stuff that pays off in 20 years.
It's to market yourself as being green
and keep making as much money as you can.
Is that the reason why you'd say
ESG is dangerous?
It's dangerous if you go
and you tell everyone that
being green is profitable on its own,
it's a good idea.
But that's not happening.
Making it more unlikely
that rules change.
It's dangerous
because it wastes people's time.
You're saying, "Play clean,
and you'll score more points."
I want that to be the case.
It's not the case now.
These companies make money
defrauding people,
or harming mental health,
or polluting the environment.
That leads to real changes.
If this one goes in...
-Then we can fix the system.
-All right.
I'll not make it. No!
One last one. Come on.
Oh, my God!
There we go.
The answer is it can work,
you have to fix the rules.
Basketball can be a good game,
but it has to be managed.
In the end, if the regulations
aren't coming from the government,
doesn't the change have to come
from the company themselves?
So far it's been the only way, right?
It's the company deciding
on their own to lead the way.
You do need some leaders
to show the way forward
such that when the rules get changed,
people can look and say,
"That player knows how to win
playing clean.
"They don't have to foul or cheat."
Because when it changes,
they're the role models.
There are international companies that
are profitable without the dirty stuff.
The role models.
Ørsted is said to be one.
They make money from green energy
and prove that sustainability and profits
are not mutually exclusive.
I want to take a look.
It would've been nice if I'd been told
that they are constructing wind farms
in the middle of the North Sea.
Or that I'd have to climb a 20-meter high
ladder over the open sea.
Nor the detail about
the "small training".
"Small" they said.
You never want to be
in a situation like this.
But it got much, much worse.
We are here!
I am afraid of heights.
I don't want to.
I saw it, it's enough.
-Too late.
-Yes.
Why did I say that I want to take a look?
Over here.
Fuck my life.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Wow.
I did it for this.
Oh, my God, that's awesome.
I'm grateful to see this because
it's an awesome machine.
A cool machine that makes clean energy.
And they are in the sea.
You recognized that very well, Joko.
Pretty impressive view, isn't it?
That's awesome!
Ørsted has leased this vision
for themselves.
Just 12 years ago, the company still
had the sonorous name DONG,
and was producing oil and gas
on a very large scale.
In less than a decade,
the group has been radically restructured.
From a company
with one of the highest CO2-emissions
in Europe,
to the most sustainable energy giant ever.
And market leader in offshore wind power.
The vision to remain profitable
in the long term has paid off.
The company's share value has tripled,
while electricity only produces a quarter
of the emissions it used to.
Foresight, baby.
It's crazy that the infrastructure
is just so comparable.
If you now look at this or that oil rig,
then I see no difference.
The few euros you can earn more
with oil and similar have meant
that we don't have more of this.
That we don't have more wind energy.
Becoming more sustainable.
Annoying at first.
Companies get a taste for it,
because sustainable business pays off.
JOKO'S JUICE SHOP
Investors prefer to invest in companies
that do not destroy the climate.
In the long term, companies that produce
garbage and blow CO2 into the air
will be left behind.
Nice stuff.
But is it all just a naive hope?
That's a good question.
I think there is a growing understanding
that as a business leader,
you cannot have a business model
and then expect it to be
the same for decade after decade.
Because back in 2008-09,
the business that we were in,
that business
did not have a place in the future.
Ida Krabek is
Head of Global Sustainability at Ørsted.
Over the past 10 years,
she has overseen the company's
radical transformation
from oil platform to wind farms.
All that remains is the very small task
of pulling the other energy giants along
and convincing them
that this change is paying off.
I think the reason why we changed
is different sort of pressures,
both politically, the whole sort
of climate agenda was really building up.
Another thing is regulatory...
We could see that parts
of our legacy business
were pressured due
to regulatory developments.
And also, we could see that public
resistance towards fossil fuels growing.
I really don't get it in my head.
I look at the fossil fuel and coal mining
companies, and they don't get it.
Why don't they just change?
It could be easy. Obviously it's possible.
I can't speculate
why they are not doing it.
I can say that we were also
in a comfortable place.
We were a world leader in driving
efficient coal-fired power plants.
Why would you give up that for something
that seemed much more risky?
It's not a technological challenge
to move to green energies.
It's a leadership challenge.
It takes good people in management
who think differently...
with the will to do the right thing.
But is that enough to be hopeful?
To be honest, Ørsted and others
are still pure capitalists.
If renewable energies become
less worthwhile again
and the executive floor is staffed
differently, will they pump oil?
The only way to escape
the dilemma is to forget
about the one thing that is the basis
of doing business...
profits.
But honestly, can us humans even do that?
Of course they could, Joko.
There are other ways that
companies can be structured.
A new legal form in which bizarrely high
profits are simply forbidden.
You can admire the results
of this work in Spain.
What's going on? What's happening?
Where is the weather?
It's here, but it's wrong.
We didn't order this.
There are already some who are doing
pioneering work in this area.
It's meant to be sunny...
I've been told that this is the hottest
area in Europe.
Yes.
Christian Kroll is the founder
of the ecological search engine Ecosia.
So a kind of Google, but green.
According to the company,
this means that 100%
of the profits are used
to support climate projects.
At Ecosia, this means above all:
planting trees.
They do that where it is needed.
For example here in La Muela, Andalusia,
Spain, where this allows
for greater biodiversity
and resilience in the forest.
Over 150 million trees have already
been planted worldwide.
A new one is added about every second.
The idea of Ecosia, or why I founded it,
was because I wanted to heal
such degenerated areas.
And to ensure that forever,
we transformed Ecosia
into a purpose company.
Stop. What is a purpose company?
For them,
the purpose is above everything else.
Planting trees at Ecosia, for example.
And to keep it that way, such a company
is managed by a steward-ownership.
It means the CEO relinquishes ownership
of the company
and it may not be sold.
There is no longer any pressure
from investors.
The vicious circle of capitalism
has been broken.
That's it.
There's a little hurdle
on the way to wonderland.
You would have to give up owning
your juice shop.
What you have built here with Ecosia
could also be a venture
that could make you all very rich.
You say...
"I don't care."
It doesn't suit me.
This idea that
we all have to get really rich.
Something is missing,
and in the last few decades
we have deviated
from seeing people as part of society
and instead we promote
more and more egoism,
which is not good.
A company has to generate profits, but it
has to ensure that everyone benefits
and that the world becomes
a better place in the end.
I'll have the same.
Two ColaCaos.
What is ColaCao?
It's a mix of cola and cocoa.
Okay.
I want to earn enough money
to have a good life.
But with a normal salary,
my needs are actually covered.
There's another implication.
That really interests me personally,
because I wish, for me,
I could free myself from...
I wouldn't describe it as constraints
at all, because I enjoy vacations.
I really enjoy going out
and eating really well.
I take great pleasure in having
beautiful things around me.
While I talk,
I realize how wrong that is,
but it gives me a weird satisfaction.
You don't seem to have that.
Why are you and I different?
What you want to achieve is
that you can say, "I'm satisfied."
You can't achieve that if you think
that you always want more.
If I, Christian, say, "I have enough.
My salary is enough for me."
Then I'm actually even richer than any
billionaire, who only ever wants more.
In business studies, everyone knows
the wealthiest people list.
These are the idols, especially for people
who then found start-ups.
You have to drop that,
especially with climate change.
You need a different metric.
It's not about having
many billions in the bank.
I find that exciting.
To get out of these lists, away from,
"Who has how many billions now?"
And say, "We just need another parameter
to measure against."
That's what I'd think we need.
"Who saved the most CO2?"
Tell me how and I'll be the first
to make it all happen.
Making it possible was perhaps easier
said than done.
Why? For decades it's been a competition
among the richest of the rich.
The World's Billionaires list
is the measure of excess
to rank the really rich.
The higher position, the better.
Who has the most money, wins.
It's always the same people at the top,
it's also one-dimensional.
We wanted to make our own list.
Can you rank people based on their values?
When we stood in front of a whiteboard,
it wasn't as easy as we thought.
It's impossible to put a figure
on how much CO2 individuals
save through their commitment.
We really stood
there like a duck in a thunderstorm.
Like idiots.
Yes.
And then we had an idea.
And when we say "we," we actually mean
those who did all the work,
and that wasn't us, that was the team.
They rounded up experts
from all over the world
who are familiar with climate protection
and demand a different assessment.
A committee made up of personalities
who are known to the public
for their commitment,
but who are also respected.
Personalities like Chad Frischmann,
New York Times author and leader
on effective climate solutions.
Hilda Nakabuye, Fridays For Future
founder, Uganda.
Claudia Kemfert, top economist
on the subject of climate,
or Raj Patel, who develops solutions
for a fairer food system.
We shared a large selection of people
with this jury.
People who crossed our path during
our filming and long research.
Tips from researchers
and people who've worked
on this for a while.
The result was people who are
committed to climate protection
with all their might.
Well-known and lesser-known.
And then the jury voted on them.
Third place: Elizabeth Mpofu connects
ecological smallholders
in her country of Zimbabwe and worldwide.
By passing on local cultivation methods,
she helps women in particular.
Second place.
After six years of legal action,
Marjan Minnesma won a lawsuit
against her own government, which obliges
it to do more for climate protection.
Since then there have been
many more cases like this.
And in first place, Vanessa Nakate.
Like few others,
she has drawn global attention
to the climate crisis consequences
for Africa.
The activist leads international campaigns
against fossil fuel projects
and the destruction of natural habitats,
and demands reparations
for those affected.
Three personalities
who have achieved so much
and are more exciting than billionaires.
You can find all the winners online.
Share it online, send it to those
reading billionaire lists,
because it would be nice if one day
we no longer had billionaire lists
or knew how many billions
more someone has.
I don't fucking care.
But rather a list of the inspiring people
we have on this planet.
Let's not kid ourselves.
Our list has only symbolic value.
It won't change the world on its own,
and we don't pretend it can.
But maybe it can ask questions.
Must we just dismiss what I saw
in Bakersfield as a necessary evil?
But it is not necessary.
It's time that we find a new way.
You really can be green
and still make profits.
And invest the profits
to benefit the planet,
society and ultimately also business.
We need the right framework
conditions for this,
or it won't go fast enough.
At first, I asked myself,
"Can the economy, which is partly
responsible for the decline of our world,
use the same mechanisms
to save the world?"
I'll say, "It won't work
without the economy."
If companies and the people behind them,
want to change something,
then they have the power to do it.
The good news is that the argument
for such a change is getting better.
Thank you.
It works. We can manage this.
Economy, technology,
good ideas are everywhere.
Did I overlook something crucial?
IN THE NEXT EPISODE...
You've found your ecological conscience...
with Amazon.
We want to help the world
become carbon neutral.
Oh, God.
I don't believe it.