The Modern India's Podcast

Sustainability Dialogues

Oslo is the first city in the world that has developed a dedicated climate budget which serves as the governance tool for its climate work. Many cities are following Oslo’s climate leadership in action.

Get to know our podcast guest: Heidi Sørensen 

Heidi Sørensen is the Director of the Climate Agency, City of Oslo.

• In her youth, Sørensen was an active environmentalist and was leader of both Natur og Ungdom and Friends of the Earth Norway. She was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Oslo in 2001.
• She became State Secretary to the Minister of the Environment between 2007-2012 and left national politics in 2013.
• Sørensen was a member of the Norwegian Consumer Council from 1997 to 2001, the Norwegian Board of Technology from 1999, the board of the Research Council of Norway from 2000, and the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences from 2013.
• She has also been a member of committees producing Norwegian Official Reports on energy and waste management.

Did you know that The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) climate action cell will share its assessment results with the City of Oslo for a year-long program to develop the climate budget? 

Millions have watched Pose on HBO. 

In India, people don’t watch! Government acts!  

While recognition of genders outside of male and female has only recently been discussed in Western societies, in the Indian society, people of non-binary gender expressions have played important roles for over 2000 years.

India's Supreme Court has ruled that transgender people are created as a third gender in the country.  The decision is seen as a milestone in India. This was the first time in world history that a Supreme Court recognizes transgender people as a separate gender.

Diversity campaigns and Pride flagging notwithstanding: Research indicates that it is difficult to be a trans person in working environments. According to the report "Sexual orientation, gender diversity and living conditions" from 2021, transgender people stand out in terms of mental health, life satisfaction and experiences of discrimination. 

Transgender rights matters!

We have with us Celia Sandhya Daniels interviewed by Chisom Udeze.

Awesome conversation with the President of the Storting of Norway, Masud Gharahkhani.

Mr. Masud Gharahkhani is the country's second highest ranked person, after the king. 

The President is what we would describe as a male ally: A man who will advocate for women even when there are no women in the room. 

We need more men like him, Men who walk the talk. 

He was elected as The President of the Storting in November 2021. 

Women will drive India´s future as India now officially has more females than males.
In Norway, many high profile leaders have joined the Norwegian campaign #arnekampanjen.
The information campaign is inspired by a Dutch LinkedIn campaign called Peter. There are more leaders in the Netherlands named Peter than there are female leaders in total.
Among the 100 highest paid leaders in Norway, there are as many named Arne as there are women in total.
As DEIB is in the core of DMI, we have decided to support #arnekampanjen.

We are happy to share that we have invited Men who support women for International Women’s Day, March 8th conversation as we can not achieve any of the SDGs without gender equality.
We have with us:
1. Sindre Finnes, the husband of Erna Solberg. Erna was the Prime Minister of Norway till October 2021. His wife, Erna Solberg, was elected as Prime Minister in 2013 and re-elected in 2017, thus making her the second female to hold the position in Norway.
From 2016 the Erna co-chaired the UN Secretary General’s Advocacy group for the Sustainable Development goals. Among the goals, she takes a particular interest in access to quality education for all, in particular girls and children.
Norways First Man, Sindre Finnes, is a Norwegian economist and organizational leader in Norsk Industri.

2. Christian Lund is an appeal court judge in Oslo. He is married to one of the most powerful business women in Norway: Kristin Skogen Lund. Kristin was EVP for Nordic activities within Telenor. She has been a member of the board of the Orkla Group. Skogen Lund has served as Director general of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. Fortune cited Skogen Lund among the "Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women in Business». Kristin was featured on the "10 Global women on the rise" list. The  Norwegian business magazine Kapital has two years in a row put her on the top of the list of Norway's most powerful women.

3. Parul Soni, Founder & Global Managing partner of Think Through Consulting. He has worked in over 54 countries with Fortune 500 companies, global alliances, industry associations,  international development organizations and knowledge institutions. Soni has driven many programs including women entrepreneurship across South Asia. Parul is also the founder and secretary general of Association of Business Women in Commerce & Industry (ABWCI).  It is a Virtual Global Chamber of  Commerce for Women.

India is a multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-racial, multi-cultural country. Its secular status is, however, a heated topic for debate today. 

India has a long and mostly honorable tradition of using soft power in its diplomacy. Religion plays a very central and definitive role in Indian society and culture. It can often be seen to influence businesses and the economy.

We have with us Sadhguru interviewed by Erik Solheim.
Sadhguru is a yogi and a mystic.

• A man whose passion spills into everything he encounters. 
• Named one of India’s 50 most influential people.
• Sadhguru’s work has touched the lives of millions worldwide through his transformational programs.
• He has initiated large-scale global initiatives, including the UNCCD accredited Isha Foundation, with 11 million volunteers in 300 centers worldwide.
• In 2017, Sadhguru also launched Rally for Rivers, a campaign to raise awareness about the dire state of India’s rivers, which was supported by 162 million people, making it the largest ever ecological initiative of its kind. 

Erik Solheim was Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme between May 2016 and November 2018. Prime minister Narendra Modi recoqnizes Erik as a friend of India and wrote a letter to him last week on the Republic Day of India.

Listen to this insightful conversation and stay tuned for our upcoming episodes.

India now officially has more females than males. There has been a demographic shift. 

According to latest data released by the Indian government from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), there are now 1,020 women for every 1,000 men. Women’s economic empowerment is highly connected to poverty reduction because women tend to invest their earnings into their communities and family’s development. According to World Bank estimates, India’s women in workforce contribute 17% to GDP, which is less than half the global average. 

Norway was the first country in the world to put a 40% gender quota on boards of listed companies and public enterprises. Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation that works to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. The Association of Business Women in Commerce & Industry (ABWCI), on the other hand, is an integrated platform dedicated to the economic empowerment of women in business. 

DMI would like to present to you the panelists for our podcast:

Isabelle Ringnes - Isabelle is the co-founder of Equalitycheck.com

Parul Soni - founder of Association of Business Women in Commerce & Industry (ABWCI)

Kari Helene Partapuoli - General Secretary, Plan Norway 

Rina Sunder - Founder, DMI

The conversation will be moderated by Ritika Dhall and Rina Sunder. Ritika is the Head of Gender Equality at Norad. 

A few of the questions we will touch upon are: 

• What does it mean for India now that it has more females than males? 
• What lessons are there for India to learn from Norway? 
• What roles do health care, education, protection from violence, as well as empowerment and participation play for women in order to leverage their potential in a countrys growth?
• How can employers walk the walk regarding supporting women?

Simply put — women are the key to unlocking the full potential of Indias economy and society. It’s critical that we pave pathways that allow women to soar. 

DMI is happy to collaborate with Norad on this seminar. 

It was fantastic to have Atle Vidar Nagel Johansen, EVP & CEO for Orkla Foods, with us for our upcoming podcast on ESG.(Environmental Social Governance)

Atle has worked 25+ years in various leadership positions in the Orkla Group; - in finance, marketing and general management. He served on the Executive Management #Board of Orkla as EVP since 2012. In January 2021, Atle took on the responsibility as CEO for the merged Foods business area. 

Orkla Foods is the largest business area in Orkla, with operations in 15 countries in Europe and a strong food business in #India. Net sales in 2020 was NOK 18 billion, and Orkla Foods has in total 7,500 employees. Over the last two years, he has held, in parallel, both the positions of CEO for Orkla Care's business area and EVP for Orkla’s Group Operations and #Procurement, responsible for more than 100 factories around the globe, and sourcing for more than NOK 20 billion annually.

Last year Orkla entered into an agreement to acquire 67.8 per cent of the shares in Eastern Condiments Private Limited (“Eastern”). With this move, Orkla will double its sales in India.

In 2013, India became the first country to mandate corporate social responsibility with the Companies Act of 2013. 9 years down the road. How does India view ESG? 

Atle is sharing ORKLAs journey of establishing and growing their business, MTR Foods and  Eastern in India. 

At COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference, countries committed to new, ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions this decade. Delivering on these promises will rely on the development, financing and scale up of green technologies. China and India, the two biggest producers, consumers and importers of coal, sparked the last-minute drama at the COP26 talks by forcing a compromise that led from "phase out" to be changed to "phase down."

What does this mean? And what about Norway and Norways role at COP26? 

We invited: 

- Stig Traavik, Director of Climate & Environment in Norad - the Norwegian Govt Agency for Development Cooperation

-Truls Gulowesen, Managing Director of Naturvernforbundet. 

- Surbhi Singvi, manager for energy at World Business Council For Sustainable Development (WBCSD) for an update on COP26.

We have with us Chief Information Officer of Posten Norge, Arne Erik Berntzen.
ARNE ERIK BERNTZEN is the CIO at Posten Norge. His passion is the interaction between technologies and business development and how compnaies can grow in a sustainable way. He has experience from consulting services and different roles within postal and logistic operations. He is skilled in IT Strategy, IT System Development, IT Operations, IT Cost Management, e-commerce and digital innovation. He works hard to support Posten Norge to succeed with their strategy and to make a difference in the Nordic Market.

We have with us Abhishek Thepade.
Abhishek Thepade comes from India and Joined DNB Asset Management in 2008. He is currently the portfolio manager for Emerging market funds at DNB. He has over 12 years of experience in investing and currently is responsible for investments into Asian markets like India, China, Korea and Taiwan. HE has a MSc in Financial analysis and Fund management from University of Exeter, UK.
He is being interviewed by Rina Sunder.
It will be interesting to see if India will become the largest stock market by 2024.