Soren Bork Nellegaard

Last year Soren worked in finance at a pharma company in Denmark. Now he’s in London, and leads growth at a cooperative which retrofits houses with heat pumps and efficient insulation. We talked about he got there, his perspectives on climate solutions and the massive opportunities he sees today. Read on!

“It’s time for a lot of young people to work directly on climate solutions. Last year I started thinking, why shouldn’t it be me?”

Soren, thrilled to have you talk to me today about your transition from pharma to solving the hard problem of phasing out fossil fuels from homes. What’s your story?

I'm Danish originally. Until last year I worked for a global leader in pharmaceuticals. It is the biggest company in Denmark and I was the numbers guy, working on finance and everything related to our sales data. 

I worked at the company for five years. They actually work very hard on a sustainable agenda, and put a lot of thought into how they produce products, both environmentally and socially. It’s one of the companies that pioneered the triple bottom line principle. So it's an important company and does a lot to help people, but it's not a company that creates a product or service that improves the environment or the climate directly.

I started thinking that it doesn’t do a lot if all the smart people work in today’s industries. For example, if all the people who were working in financial services in 2008, creating innovative products and services, had put their energy into making something better for the environment or the climate, imagine what kind of products and services these guys and women could have made.

It’s time for a lot of young people to work directly on climate solutions. Last year I started thinking why shouldn’t it be me? I began with research to understand what drives the carbon emissions in Denmark and wanted to understand if we could consume goods and services in a different way. At the end of the year my wife got a job in London. We moved in January and I thought, okay, this is an excellent time to try and switch career, to try my own company.

I know that people don’t want to stop consuming in general, they enjoy eating all sorts of different foods for example, but we need to ensure it doesn’t have today’s environmental impact. I started thinking about single use products and how to eliminate waste from packaging from street food. People really love that they don't have to cook and they can just go down to the street to buy something conveniently and easily. They're probably going to keep on doing that and we need to figure out a way to make it more sustainable. So my first step was to start working on a business that would collect containers from office workers, wash them and return them the next day. Then Corona hit and no one was going to the office anymore!

That’s unfortunate timing! 

Yeah, so I needed to switch. In my research I saw that we have a big issue with heating buildings. The UK mostly uses natural gas, a carbon fuel, for heating. I looked into how to decarbonize the heat supply for homeowners. Heat pumps are a really great solution but that needs retrofitting to happen.

So I asked why isn't there an easy place for a homeowner to go where they can find different deals from different local, smart craftsmen, who are able to do the installations. A one stop shop kind of thing — I thought it could really take off.

As I looked and explored the idea I found a small co-op here in London who actually does that. Right now they are owned by around 100 companies who provide retrofit solutions, insulation work, windows, and two way heat systems. As a consumer, you can go in there and get offers from the different small companies, who are essentially in internal competition. 

Immediately I thought this is great, and someone should figure out how to grow it to be even more successful. I contacted them and I just got a job there. I was just hired yesterday to be their business development manager! So instead of having my own company, I’m joining this co-op. It’s 10 to 15 people and I’m going to help them scale.

“We want to create an incubator for  small craftsmen who can work throughout their local area. There are good businesses to run here. In London and Southern England there isn’t enough supply, there are simply not enough craftsmen, technicians and fitters.”

Congratulations both on the job, and on making the move out of the traditional corporate world. I think it's really exciting that you've found other people working on the same problem. For a lot of people looking at climate and entrepreneurship it feels like a lonely journey, but there are so many people already working on the problems. It is incredibly valuable to connect with others.

Yes. When I came here to London, I just tried to find any event and meetup that was about sustainability. I tried to meet up with as many people as possible and hopefully find someone or something interesting.

Now that you're taking on this role with the co op to grow it, what kind of impact do you see yourself having?

I really hope to accelerate the retrofit market. The retrofit market in the UK was going pretty well and then it stopped because it was driven by public funding. What I really want to do, and I hope I’ll succeed, is to get private home owners starting to invest. Most houses are privately owned here so getting them to start retrofitting is important, and that means building the ecosystem around retrofits. 

This co-op is really unique, there is no one else doing what they are doing, it's building up a new market that doesn't really exist yet but needs to.  If you look at how much carbon the UK needs to reduce in order to reach the Paris agreement and how much renovation is actually needed, how much retrofit is needed, it's immense. Who is going to do that? There aren’t even enough people who are working in the sector. 

Then you need to start working with schools, local authorities get way more people interested in getting the skills and you need to start up companies. So our plan is to try and make some sort of an incubator as well. So normally, you know, incubators are for startups who want to grow massively. We want to create an incubator for  small craftsmen who can work throughout their local area. There are good businesses to run here. In London and Southern England there isn’t enough supply, there are simply not enough craftsmen, technicians and fitters.

I love that you bring that up. One of the things we talk about often is that there are so many jobs to be created to become zero carbon, this is a great example.

Yes. The companies don’t need to be huge, but we need to give people the right skills to do the work and to run their own businesses. There are all kinds of people who could do this, and do apprenticeships and so on. 

What's been difficult for you about making this switch in your career. What are some of the things that you found hard?

It's very different when you're suddenly on your own and you really need to to chase after a network. For me, I was in a new city and only knew a handful of people. A lot of it is getting out of your comfort zone. I didn't attend meetups in Copenhagen and suddenly I’m meeting random people in London. I had to go to lots of networking events where everyone is interested in climate and then ask a lot of people “what are you doing?” It's like first day of school. That's been a big change. 

You also meet so much skepticism and there is a continuum of climate awareness in the people you meet. It's so big. If I ask myself where I was 10 years ago, what was on top of my mind there? I didn't think about climate. I was probably too young. Now people who are 19 are very engaged in the agenda. In general, when I meet, someone younger than 35 they think it's a good idea what I'm doing. If they’re older, then they are less likely to see how anyone would want something like reusable lunch boxes. 

It’s a generalisation of course but there is a generational divide. It’s not like there is a lost generation of everyone over 35 but it will take more time for them to come on board. It's hard to see what environmental solutions there will not be a market for in the future though because young people care about this and are gaining purchase power.

“When we started to put a bit more focus on it, we saw we didn't have to fly that much”

What advice would you give to someone who wants to move into the climate space? 

Just make the change! Many people are employed in companies that aren’t doing anything. 

Otherwise get really engaged in the company that you are already in. If you’re in a company, that produces something that people want and are going to want in the future, then think about how you can make what you're doing right now in a better way. Put a lot of thought into that and get involved with people in the company who want to do the same, push the agenda and push solutions, you might be able to do a lot of things differently. 

In Denmark our state owned company transitioned fully out of oil. It was a state owned company who produced oil and gas and they are a hundred percent renewable energy now. That’s one hell of a transition for a company to go through. A lot of companies are probably going to have to go through something similar to exist and make money in the future. So helping with that as an employee, getting involved in the agenda and asking questions to management, that’s important work.

That's very good advice. We all have a circle of influence and some of the most powerful actions we can take is where we are uniquely positioned to use that influence.

You need to get other people on board as well. The last position I had in the pharma company was in Sweden and they actually have pretty decent trains in Sweden. So when we started to put a bit more focus on it, we saw we didn't have to fly that much. Sweden is a very big country, but that's probably also why they invested in good trains. It is almost as fast to take the train compared to flying. Just putting the focus on that cut air travel in our company a lot. Those trains were running before but it was not until we started talking about it, that we actually made the change.

That’s such a great example of moving the needle at work — our voices really are powerful. Anything else that you'd like to add or talk about, about your, your journey or transition?

I really encourage people to do something professionally for the climate because that's the biggest impact they can have if they spend 40 hours a week working on some products and services. Try to ensure that what you're doing is actually benefiting the climate or the SDGs, put your life’s work towards it. There are so many problems to solve to create a sustainable world. 

And then of course make your voice loud. Vote. Be engaged in the political agenda because that’s also where you can really make change.