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" I would love for more U.S. companies in the CCU, hydrogen or biomethane field to connect with European companies. I am very open to talking about joint projects in these sectors."
~Dr. Stefanie Kesting , Division Director and Speaker of the Board of Energy Solutions at NEUMAN & ESSER (NEA) GROUP; Managing Director of Arcanum Energy Systems GmbH & Co. KG and of NEA GREEN GmbH & Co. KG, both part of NEA GROUP
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As a recognized energy economist, Dr. Stefanie Kesting manages companies for hydrogen and biomethane solutions. Related to CCU, Stefanie has been the Founding President and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of CO2 Value Europe since 2017, and she is still a Board Member until today. Her previous roles include Group Innovation Director of Uniper SE, Manager at E.ON Connecting Energies and Global Director for Sustainable Solutions at DNV KEMA, as well as positions at E.ON SE, E.ON Ruhrgas AG and the Energy Institutes of Cologne and Bremen University in Germany.
How do you do all the things that you do? Do you sleep? Are you phenomenally well organized?
Haha – I hear this question very often, but it is not magic. Quite the opposite has been always true for me: enough sleep is key for having a high energy level. Also, good organization and planning helps, as does delegation and fostering effective teamwork. These strategies enable me to focus on the tasks for which I am primarily responsible and that I want to bring to successes. I also only commit to additional or voluntary positions that somehow fit my schedule, and ideally are even synergistic with my main jobs.
Last but not least, I learned – mainly during my time in the Netherlands – that breaks from time to time are as important as reaching goals. This recharges your batteries and ensures that you keep reaching goals, with fun and satisfaction, and in a sustainable way for yourself as well.
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What is the very simplified explanation of what you do?
I am responsible for the structuring and implementation of new, green business lines into an almost 200 years old international, family-owned machine construction business. In my day-to- day life, I therefore very practically lead and drive a business transition from a fossil world toward CO2-free energy solutions.
Today, I am responsible for the scale-up of biomethane and hydrogen solutions, both technologies and energy carriers that are well-suited to replace fossil oil and gas. This includes a lot of teamwork on different levels: in parallel, the economic business cases must be developed, while still the products are being standardized on a technical level, to make them ready for scale-up in our production. In addition, our existing international sales teams need a lot of support and training: to sell new products and services globally, everything starts with an excellent understanding of the new products in our own offices. This sometimes goes very fast and easily, and sometimes, however, it takes a lot of convincing and finding compromises, for example when the market in a certain country is still not very well developed, or the office is already overloaded with a lot of other tasks.
As a nice synergetic balance to these daily challenges, I am also active in additional green technology fields, including first and foremost, the utilization of CO2 in manufacturing chemicals, building materials or alternative fuels. As a Supervisory Board member, I also support other companies that want to scale up their clean energy solutions.
My responsibilities and projects take me pretty much all over the world, so I meanwhile spend a lot of time traveling again, although this also produces some CO2 unfortunately.
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You have been described as “the perfect change agent; always interested to question the status quo.” What do you think accounts for your ability to see things differently than others?
Building and scaling up new businesses necessarily starts with new thinking. Developing a clear vision is very important to convincing shareholders and employees and creating joint goals. Changing a company’s existing portfolio towards more green technologies, by definition, always involves organizational changes and persuasion at all levels to convince people that things can work in a different way than in the past.
The key challenge is that long-standing, mature businesses are usually more profitable than emerging new business lines. The goal must be to make new products similarly profitable as quickly as possible over the course of only a few years.
At the same time, a certain trust and belief is required that exactly this will happen! After many years leading such transitions, I must say that this belief and focused leadership makes the difference if a company succeeds in a business portfolio transition at the end.
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If I look back, almost all positions in my career had a strong element of implementing and managing new businesses into profitable growth. I am a big fan of using existing processes and resources as much as possible, but certain structures need to be conceived of and set up in a way that is different from traditional models.
What is the best advice that you ever received?
In my professional and private life, I have received much very good and helpful advice. I will pick one which hits the topic of this article best:
Successful transition starts at the top!
People tend to stick to established structures. Also, I think after many decades of economic growth, people might not be so much aware anymore that new ways have always been the engine for progress and growth. In the Western world, we sometimes forget that wealth and progress do not come automatically: we need to take care that we keep on track of global trends and developments and adapt where necessary.
Implementing changes, scaling new businesses, and managing growth in new markets requires a coherent and strong message from the top of the organization. Barriers from outside and inside the company can only be addressed effectively, if there is full support from a company’s upper management. I think we need to give this support to those in our organizations that operationally implement the change, plus ask the same from owners, shareholders or any other decision Board on top of the operative organization.
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What should I have asked you?
“How do the activities of today’s high profile climate activists relate to your work? Do they support the same goals as you?”
Indeed, Greta Thunberg and other leading climate activists have initiated a big, impressive and worldwide movement that has materially changed everyone’s awareness of climate issues. As a result of their work, young leaders today are NOT asked the same skeptical questions anymore, that my generation of leaders faced 15-20 years ago, when working on clean tech energy solutions. A lot has changed, and the economy today is starting more and more to favor those companies who are truly prepared for a green future.
But, in my view, now it is time for all skilled persons to do less shouting and protesting and instead focus on the work of building true climate solutions on an industrial scale. So, I invite everyone to roll up their sleeves to work on cleaner solutions, whether as technicians, engineers, business or marketing people, sales or production employees, researchers or any sort of practical workers. There is so much to do – if everyone helps in a constructive and productive way, you will see that the world really can be changed!
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What is a fun fact about yourself?
When I was a teenager, I earned my money (amongst other jobs) by playing piano. So, when I read about bad economic developments in Europe, I tend to think: “No problem, in case of real urgency, I could always go back to playing piano in any piano bar playing for money again!”
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Honestly, my musical ability has always given me at least a subjective feeling of inner independence which I really appreciate in life. I also keep playing music (including other instruments) as a primary source of energy for myself. Especially with others, playing in a band or an orchestra, makes me truly happy. Anyone in the CCU world interested to play music together, just contact me and we’ll find a way!
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Do you have any parting thoughts for the readers?
First, I would love for more U.S. companies in the CCU, hydrogen or biomethane field to connect with European companies. I am very open to talking about joint projects in these sectors. Sorry for being a bit black and white now, but the U.S. has the better history in scaling up innovative technologies, while European companies have good engineering and technical solutions but are too often stuck in regulatory chaos and lack of capital. Let’s team up more again, as the Greentech markets are global markets, not regional or national anymore.
Second, politicians need to understand that there is not a single silver bullet technology that can turn around climate change. We should all help support everyone working on greener solutions instead of engaging in unproductive and endless discussions about why their approach is the one and only best way to save the world.
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CO2-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference 2024
April 17-18, 2024
The upcoming 12th edition of this hybrid conference will showcase again the newest and most important developments in the fast growing field of CO2 capture and utilization.
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