Give Greenpeace a Chance: Marketplace – The Capital Column:

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Marketplace – The Capital Column
Give Greenpeace a chance

by Horst von Buttlar
2/18/2022, 2:41 p.m

First of all, I’m not a big fan of Greenpeace. I’m in the minority with that, I know. The concern of the 50-year-old environmental organization is good, but too many actions are borderline. For example, when the paraglider landed in Munich’s Allianz Arena and injured people. Or when the activists dumped 3,500 liters of paint around the Victory Column in Berlin, a huge mess. I prefer to donate to SOS Children’s Villages. My heart did not beat faster because of this, as it did for many commentators when Jennifer Morgan, co-head of Greenpeace, was appointed Germany’s special climate envoy. Nor did I sharpen my pencil in defense.

My first reflex was also: an activist? But my second thought soon: probably a competent woman, it’s worth a try. The comparisons with armaments lobbyists in procurement are limping. Yes, a coup, this personality! That brought me to the third thought: more of this! Jennifer Morgan could be the beginning, a paradigm shift in how we will fill important positions in the future. Wherever it is legally possible and makes political sense, we should seek out the best minds from around the world. Sure, Morgan now has to learn to drill through the thick of boards and take on different perspectives. But the experiment is exciting.

A breath of fresh air can’t hurt

Other areas have been showing us how it’s done for a long time: there are people from all over the world on the executive boards of many companies. Start-ups in particular are looking for talent, and people from dozens of nations often work there. In sport it’s commonplace, so commonplace in fact that global casting and naturalization can keep up with the pace of a five-minute tureen – and it’s producing strange blossoms. Take a look at the Chinese national ice hockey team these days, in which eleven Canadians and three Americans play alone. But we’re not that far.

There are first approaches: Our top financial regulator Bafin, after failures and scandals, is now managed by the British Mark Branson. The British, on the other hand, had a capable Canadian in Mark Carney at the head of their central bank. In this respect: Give Greenpeace a chance. Only if someone was once an investment banker, we shouldn’t scream scandal right away – and cheer at environmental activists.

It’s not like we’re breaking up a highly competitive system, the level is manageable. So far, with many offices, someone from a party has had to be provided for. The competition runs between the state group of Hesse and Saarland, between Realos or Leftists, and please don’t forget the Ossi. Above all, someone who has done a good job in the election campaign must be rewarded. Of course, many of them do a good job afterwards. But a creative disruptive factor in the arithmetic of the game and a rejuvenation can’t hurt. Above all, the new generation of politicians who set the tone, because they often only come from the party cadres: people like Kevin Kühnert, Omid Nouripour and Konstantin Kuhle.

The Greenpeace personnel has startled

It’s all in the mix. You also need people who know the business and have the machinery under control – like the famous “perpetual State Secretary” Werner Gatzer in the Ministry of Finance. If you push it too far, it gets messy. As you can see in the Habeck household, where there is already a certain overstrain at state secretary level.

On site

traffic light government

You are no longer responsible for climate policy. What exactly will you do as Environment Minister, Ms. Lemke?

12/23/2021

It’s good for us that this personality has startled us a little. Don’t we often complain about a lack of skilled workers, especially since politicians on talk shows? They think of nurses, engineers and craftsmen. Why not start at the top workbench? It is worth a try.

Published in stern 8/2022