THE BUSINESS CHIEF INTERVIEW
CREDIT: BAYER
In our world, trying to make us more efficient and more sustainable, AI has to be a force for good
Jeff Dodds CEO Formula E
tomorrow than they are today by doing some of the things we’ ve done, we will share that with everyone,” Jeff says. He also says he is careful not to position Formula E as a judge of other organisations’ records.“ A lot of people say to me,‘ You must be very critical of Formula One because they produce massive amounts of carbon’,” Jeff reveals.“ Quite the opposite.
I tip my hat to them. They’ re a 75-yearold business that is making changes. They have a different starting point to us.” The question of systemic change in sustainability reaches beyond sport. Boards and senior leadership teams, Jeff argues, must make environmental commitments a core organisational objective rather than a secondary consideration. The economic pressures and political disruptions of recent years have pushed sustainability down many corporate priority lists, and he is frank about this.“ Fundamentally, nothing’ s really changed other than they’ ve reprioritised based on what’ s happening around them,” Jeff explains.“ If you want true system change, not operational level change, at the very top of those organisations it has to be part of the core set of objectives of the business.” Formula E is not waiting for that shift to happen elsewhere. Jeff is attempting to demonstrate, one race at a time, that performance and sustainability are not opposing forces.“ Our role is to show people that driving electric vehicles doesn’ t mean a compromise on performance, is perfectly manageable within range and has the fringe benefit of being zero tailpipe emissions,” Jeff says.“ It’ s an‘ and’ not an‘ or’ – but in this world, people love an‘ or’.” businesschief. com
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