Fjordkraft won the “World Cup Climate Action”

Fjordkraft is one of Norway's largest, and according to customers, most favoured power supplier. In addition to selling utility services to Norwegian households and businesses, Fjordkraft wants to create a market where climate neutrality is not only the ideal but the new standard. Fjordkraft's demand for climate-neutral suppliers went all the way to the top in a UN award, recently in the New York climate week.

The ambitious climate action “Klimanjaro” is a pun on the world's highest free-standing mountain, Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro might be difficult to climb, but with the right preparations, most people who try, succeed in reaching the top. By the same token, Fjordkraft's climate promise is an ambitious, yet totally feasible climate measure. Fjordkraft has been climate-neutral since 2007. “On its own, that is only a modest contribution to the ‘two-degree goal’, and for that reason we are now demanding climate neutrality from all our suppliers”, says Arnstein Flaskerud, Strategic Director at Fjordkraft.

“This is a fantastic recognition. We made a tough decision and stood by it”, says Flaskerud. “We are committed to climate measures having the greatest effect possible. When we face climate change that is accelerating, it requires solutions that do so too”, he says.

“The business world has a responsibility that goes beyond maximising profits. If more companies were to place the same demands on their suppliers, it would really be worthwhile”, says Flaskerud. “At the same time, we are making climate neutrality a competitive advantage. For ourselves. For our suppliers. And for everybody else who has the courage to take a punt and make the same demands.”

“Our goal is to create a market where climate neutrality is not only the ideal, but the new standard. If we succeed, we have really made a worthwhile contribution. Climate change is evident all over the world. In order for us not to lose control, we have to limit the rise in temperature. Despite that, we are seeing global CO2 emissions continuing to rise. It behoves us to find solutions whose effects reflect the challenges we face. And we need to do it now. That is why we are placing this demand on our suppliers.”

“Today, we are demanding that our suppliers be climate neutral. In the long run, we can also demand that our suppliers' suppliers are that too. This is ambitious, but will produce a domino effect far beyond the impact of the climate measures we can make on our own. We want this to be an example for others to follow.”

“Climate neutrality is not about zero emissions, but about reducing one’s own climate impact, combined with the purchase of approved climate quotas. Klimanjaro uses the UN definition of climate-neutral businesses and we use the recognised standards of the World Resources Institute and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to calculate our suppliers’ direct and indirect emissions.”

“Klimanjaro won against competition from more than 560 other projects run by companies, organisations and governments, and was one of four winners in the Climate Neutral Now category. By taking inspiration from an African mountain, we are making the point that this is a global challenge.

So far, 103 of our 138 suppliers have committed themselves to becoming climate neutral. Klimanjaro has thus contributed to reducing or compensating for more than 55,500 metric tonnes of CO2.”

A unique journey
Knowit has partnered with Fjordkraft for about 15 years and has had the opportunity of taking part in a fantastic, exciting journey. This journey shows how communication has been a key to success in an industry characterised by disloyal customers. Today, Fjordkraft is Norway's most well-known and second largest power company in the country.

The challenge was to differentiate itself by having the world’s most generic product
To succeed, it has been important for Fjordkraft to see its business strategies in the context of brand strategy and communication strategy; and to find and describe the red thread from the boardroom to the market. Fjordkraft also uses alternative distribution to reach new customer groups. This has been a central part of its communication and a factor in increasing the company’s visibility.

Fjordkraft has always sought after being “closest to the customer”, and acknowledged early that such a position could only be won by focusing on the entire customer’s life situation and the customer’s everyday life – in the customer’s own context. Superb user experience, simplicity, relevance, insight, competitive price and high quality become the criteria for success.

Digitisation also turns many business models upside-down, and new platform-based ecosystems are developed in line with new customer needs. A good strategy is to change your position from being a leading single product supplier to a more complete supplier of useful and attractive services related to the customer's home, dwelling, family and life situation.

A platform-driven business model is based on a link logic – for example, links between professional companies. In order to grow strong, such business models depend on network effects to achieve a large number of users both on the supply side and the demand side.

It is in such a depiction that Fjordkraft has found the inspiration and the ability to place high demands – both on itself and on others.