PUNCH LIST
Person of Interest Andrew Calzetti
Helsinki-based marine and energy technology group Wärtsilä is calling for rapid changes in their industry. Interview by Jessica Smith Wärtsilä’s global initiative, announced in September 2018 as “An Oceanic Awakening,” is designed to jump-start a more sustainable future in the marine shipping industry. Andrew Calzetti, marketing director of Wärtsilä’s marine division, calls this initiative a wakeup call. When he first transitioned into the marine industry, he says he realized it was slow in adopt-
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ing technology. “I needed to do something to reenergize what felt a bit like apathy internally and in the industry,” he says. “This was the birth of trying to create excitement for a smart marine vision both internally and externally.” Calzetti is greatly inspired by Richard Branson’s quote: “The ocean is so important to me, to all of us—and I will keep telling anyone that will listen (and those that won’t) that we need to protect it.” Those words encouraged him when he began working on the project that grew out of what Wärtsilä considers to be its mission—to enable sustainable societies with smart technology. At the time, Calzetti questioned what was actually being done in the industry to facilitate this goal. He compares the marine industry to the automotive industry, which has made significant developments in efficiency that address environmental issues in the last few decades. “We have this technology, why aren’t we doing something about it?” he says. “One in three vessels have Wärtsilä’s technology onboard. We are a significant, major player in the industry. Why would we just sit idle?” Calzetti recently shared some of his insight on this movement and the future of our oceans. What is “An Oceanic Awakening” and SEA20? An Oceanic Awakening is a wake-up call. It’s about being bold enough to admit change needs to come and show how collaboration on a broader scale can make a real difference. It’s about generating public awareness and speaking out, not just reaching out to our ecosystem, but to the general public. SEA20 is a platform for dialogue and a bold global initiative to connect 20 of the most ecologically ambitious cities by 2020 in a forum that will drive real societal change. We set out this goal and enabled this platform, which we know at some point will take on a life of its own and be run independently by the cities themselves, to make a real difference, and help cities
rethink their roles in marine and energy ecosystems. The SEA20 is run by the Nordic West Office. What is the goal of this initiative, and how far along are you? The goal is to radically transform the marine and energy industry into one supremely efficient, ecologically sound, and digitally connected ecosystem. We are already in active dialogue with cities like Helsinki, Hamburg, Rotterdam, and across the globe from Washington to Singapore. We have a list of at least 30 cities that we are considering at present. I think we are well on our way to achieving our vision of having 20 by 2020. Have you pushback?
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The challenge we’re facing is the same question we were asked in the very beginning when we first launched this, which is why Wärtsilä? This is why we don’t approach the cities themselves; we approach the media, port authorities who are interested, and organizations to open the doors and generate a way for us to speak to the cities. Whenever an invitation has been sent to cities the response has been very positive. We haven’t had any negative responses so far. Why hasn’t this dialogue already happened? I’m not sure. I’d like to know why. I’m not a politician, so I won’t say it’s politics that prevented it from happening, but I know that process is a barrier. I feel that dialogue between individual parties is the challenge we must overcome and probably an inhibitor to generating tangible results. Especially when you consider that the marine industry is extremely complex, with many stakeholders, involving so many countries. If you think about it, 90% of global trade is transported by sea. The ecosystem is huge, and I don’t think all of the players have committed to change. I think the gbdmagazine.com
