COVID-19 has changed the global landscape. Business-as-usual no longer exists and organizations are adapting the way they carry out their work. We have ourselves taken safety measures to ensure the wellbeing of our colleagues, but also to continuously operate and serve our customers.

Since the beginning of the Leanheat journey, as a 5 people Finnish start-up, and up to today as part of the global Danfoss Group, we have brought value to our customers by offering an advanced and intelligent energy optimization solution.

This journey means we can already conduct a significant amount of service, maintenance and analytics remotely across 3000 sites around the world. It is not important if it is from our offices in Helsinki, Finland, Offenbach in Germany, or Tianjing in China. When it comes to serving our customers through digital, geography doesn’t matter.

And this is what COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on, particularly in the energy sector: the range of benefits delivered by digital solutions. Remotely controlled operations, continuous monitoring and access to real time data – these are key elements to ensure continuity of network operations but also to make our energy systems more resilient to future shocks.

As we look to stimulate the economy, it only makes sense to design our interventions in ways that takes advantage of these benefits. Integrating inter alia the digital transformation with the green transition, and putting green policy initiatives at the heart of the stimulus packages, will not only help us advance on the decarbonization pathway but also offer the best economic returns.

The building sector has the potential to act as one of the drivers for the recovery. First, it will lead to an increase in economic activity by retaining and creating employment. In 2019, the building sector represented 7% of total global employment. Second, it will support the achievement of climate and energy targets. Let´s not forget buildings account for nearly 40% of global energy demand and about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, stimulus policies investing in decarbonizing buildings will be key to reconcile economic recovery and climate objectives.

I see this moment of recovery as an opportunity to drive the transition to a new socio-economic model that is climate-neutral, resilient, and sustainable. Ambitious climate action does not need to cost much more than business-as-usual growth.