Strategies for Net-zero Carbon and Circular Economy!
Today’s industrial landscape is addressing the momentum towards sustainability and decarbonisation, particularly within sectors like mining and metals, energy, and automotive. These industries are critical due to their extensive supply chains and significant environmental impacts.
Mining and metals provide essential raw materials used in everything from construction to consumer electronics, but they also contribute heavily to carbon emissions and resource depletion. Energy production, especially from non-renewable sources, is another major source of greenhouse gases. At the same time, the automotive, packaging, energy, and consumer goods sectors are integral to daily life but face challenges in reducing their environmental footprints.
Amid these pressing challenges, Jerome Lucaes stands out for his transformative work in these sectors. As the Founder and CEO of FAST FORWARD ZERO, Jerome applies his extensive experience to guide companies through the complex process of achieving net zero carbon emissions. His focus is on leveraging innovative strategies and technologies to drive sustainability in the mining, metals, energy, and automotive industries.
FAST FORWARD ZERO’s expertise lies in creating practical solutions for these sectors to embrace circular and inclusive operating models, thereby addressing their substantial environmental impacts while capitalizing on new opportunities for sustainable growth.
Let’s delve into Jerome’s transformative journey!
Driving Innovation in Aluminum Sustainability
Before starting his career and during his engineering studies in France, Jerome had the opportunity to work on an internship program with the National Research Center in France in 1990. The internship focused on modeling climate change and the interactions between CO2 concentration and global temperature rise. This early experience, nearly 35 years ago, sparked his lasting interest in the pressures human activities exert on natural systems.
Initially, Jerome did not pursue roles specifically in climate and sustainability. He started his career in water utility management, then joined a start-up in the tech industry, and later joined the aluminum industry 25 years ago. He took on roles in marketing, strategy, and product development. His passion for sustainability prompted him to convince the CEO of Rio Tinto Aluminum to create a position dedicated to understanding the environmental footprint of aluminum products and leveraging market action. This initiative marked the beginning of his professional engagement in sustainability.
Jerome was subsequently involved in roles within business and sustainability. He co-initiated the Aluminum Stewardship Initiative, the first global vertical sustainability standard for the aluminum value chain. As the sole representative of a production company, he gained industry visibility and contributed to launching low-carbon aluminum brands with Rio Tinto and Rusal. These launches included the first two low-carbon aluminum brands in the industry and involved partnerships with major companies like Apple, Toyota, and AB InBev for Budweiser.
His work also included establishing collaborative forums, such as the one with the World Economic Forum, which emerged into the Mission Possible Partnership, defining pathways to net-zero carbon. Jerome’s experience and passion are centered on transforming the industry to ensure long-term sustainability, minimize impacts, and achieve societal acceptance.
Guiding Businesses and Investors Toward Sustainable Transformation and Education
Jerome’s primary role is to assist businesses in transforming their operations into net-zero carbon and circular-compatible models in a way that creates new opportunities and makes the company stronger and future-proof. Leveraging extensive experience in the aluminum sector, he is now extending his focus to material value chains such as steel, manganese, copper, and lithium.
His work encompasses not only producers and transformers of materials but also end users, such as VELUX and Volvo Cars, who need to reduce the carbon footprint of the materials they purchase (Scope 3 emissions). He helps these companies understand their options, make informed decisions about product design, and choose suppliers to achieve their climate goals.
In addition, he supports investors in assessing the impact of their investments to safeguard their assets and ensure that the businesses they invest in are both risk-proof and proactive in addressing sustainability and climate change. He is also involved in developing training platforms and educational modules for board directors, executive education, and students, a role he finds particularly fulfilling.
Holistic Leadership for Long-Term Impact
Jerome’s leadership style is driven by a strong motivation to create a positive impact while understanding the big picture. It focuses on taking action today with a long-term, holistic perspective for enduring benefits. The approach involves grasping the complexity of human diversity, business positions, and varying perspectives from different geographies and market segments. This requires engaging with people on complex issues and finding solutions through collaboration.
Innovating Net-Zero Strategies and Building Strategic Networks
Jerome was exposed to major pioneering topics, including developing the net-zero carbon roadmap, the first announced in the metal and mining sector in January 2021. He has also engaged in high-level strategic decisions with the International Aluminium Institute, the World Economic Forum, and the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework for Climate Change).
Working with brand leaders such as Apple, BMW, Mercedes, AB Inbev, and Nexans, he gained insights into the urgent need for transformation, which helped build both his experience as a doer and a strong network to drive positive impact towards a net-zero carbon industry.
A Comprehensive Approach
Jerome shares, “Defining a clear common goal, understanding the complexity of things, as well as the diversity of the positions and motivations, That’s clearly, for me, the main success driver for collaborative initiatives.” Jerome emphasizes the importance of listening aptitude in problem-solving. He notes that addressing issues requires a global perspective and a detailed analysis to craft effective solutions.
Creativity plays a key role in this process, along with the ability to remain open to the influence and perspectives of others. Jerome acknowledged that while achieving a collective outcome may not always meet everyone’s expectations perfectly, it is always preferable to having no outcome at all.
Impact of Building a Low-Carbon Brand
“The creation of ALLOW was a remarkable experience,” says Jerome. Jerome described his experience of building a brand from scratch as remarkable. He had the unique opportunity to create a new market segment centered around low-carbon aluminum, emphasizing the importance of understanding and valuing the carbon footprint of materials. His efforts in developing this brand paid off, reaching $3 billion in sales within just four years.
Jerome faced numerous challenges, including internal alignment, market introduction, and advocating for the product’s value to both the industry and customers. He considers this endeavor one of the most fulfilling experiences of his life.
Navigating Change through Connectivity and Agility
Jerome outlines his strategies for driving innovation and sustainability in carbon reduction within his organization and the industry. He emphasizes the importance of staying well-connected and agile to navigate the continually advancing landscape of technology, innovation, regulations, and business transformations.
Jerome highlights that being attuned to these dynamic factors is crucial for effectively implementing strategies for carbon reduction. His strategy focuses on maintaining exceptional connectivity and agility to effectively navigate a changing environment. This is crucial in technology, innovation, regulations, and business transformations, where swift adaptation and informed decision-making are essential.
By staying well-connected and flexible, organizations can quickly respond to emerging trends and challenges, ensuring they remain competitive and resilient amid constant shifts and growing demands.
Global Alignment for Carbon Neutrality and Sustainable Futures
Jerome’s vision for the future of sustainability and carbon neutrality involves a global coalition of countries, businesses, and the financial sector coming together to tackle critical and urgent threats to humanity.
This unified approach includes implementing globally coordinated carbon prices (in the form of taxes or decarbonization incentives) to establish a fair and consistent framework across all sectors. Such coordinated carbon prices would incentivize citizens, governments, and businesses to shift away from fossil fuels, promoting a collective transition toward more sustainable energy sources and mitigating climate change impacts.
Striking a Balance
Maintaining a good work-life balance has consistently been Jerome’s top priority. Despite his deep commitment to his work, he has consistently recognized his limitations and made decisions that prioritize his personal and family lives. He described himself as a workaholic on a day-to-day basis but noted that he has always managed to set boundaries to protect his family time.
Moreover, there is a belief in a profound and orderly hierarchy in the world for those who hold faith. This perspective reinforces the importance of maintaining a balanced approach, where personal values and spiritual beliefs contribute to shaping one’s priorities and decisions.
Enhancing Impact through Strategic Partnerships and Projects
Jerome’s future aspiration is to maintain a strong focus on projects that drive positive impacts across various industries. He dedicates his efforts to assisting businesses in transforming their operations to achieve meaningful and sustainable outcomes. In addition to this, he works on expanding and strengthening a robust network of partners, including individual experts and partner companies such as Blunomy.
By cultivating this extensive network, Jerome aims to enhance his ability to provide comprehensive and systemic support to his clients. This collaborative approach enables him to address complex challenges and implement profound solutions that drive substantial progress in business efficiency. His goal is to leverage these partnerships to create a synergistic impact, ensuring that his clients benefit from a wealth of expertise and resources, ultimately cultivating significant and lasting improvements in their operations.
Guidance on Purpose, Complexity, and Optimism
Jerome offered several pieces of advice for aspiring leaders aiming to make a significant impact on sustainability and climate change:
- Understand the Global Picture: Leaders should grasp the complexity of global issues but not be deterred by them. They should focus on acting within their areas of influence and share their passions and challenges with others.
- Quote by Einstein: Jerome referred to a quote attributed to Einstein: “The world is a dangerous place to live, not only because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it,” urging individuals to take action.
- Business Insight: He noted, “In business, the distance from 0 to 1 is more difficult than from 1 to 100,” emphasizing that initial efforts are often the most challenging.
- Authenticity: Jerome also advised to “be who you are and say what you feel and what you want,” encouraging authenticity and clear expression of one’s values and goals.
