AN INTERVIEW WITH BUSINESS CHIEF, MS IRENE MOLODTSOV, THE UK CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SIA PARTNERS WHERE SHE DISCUSSES THE POSITIVES OF THE CORONA VIRUS

According to a leading global management consultancy firm, the environmental benefits of the coronavirus lockdown will not all be lost when the world returns to work.

In an interview Irene Molodtsov, the UK chief executive of Sia Partners, said her data showed there had been a 58 per cent reduction in carbon emissions across Europe since EU nations went into lockdown to combat the health crisis, and she believes that “silver lining” will not all be lost as the way the world works will change when the global economy is restarted.

Ms Molodtsov is of the opinion that humans emotionally tend to change the duration of how they feel the pain. So, the longer this goes on – us being in lockdown – the impact of potential changes is going to be bigger. No one expected to be in lockdown for this long and now we are seeing the fish in Venice and the stars in London, and some of it will change our behaviour.

According to her, that feeds into the new ways of working, that feed into less carbon emissions. That leads into us using transport less. There is that circle that will, no doubt, be happening and has already started happening.

Having already gathered data on a dramatic reduction in energy usage across the European Union, Sia Partners has now launched research into how the UK has cut its carbon emissions since the nation went into lockdown over a month ago.

While that research is only nearing completion, Ms Molodtsov pointed to her group’s work with energy grid firms, which has already shown a 15 per cent reduction in UK energy usage. This, she believes, will rise to around 20 per cent as a dramatic reduction in business usage will outweigh the increase in domestic use as people stay home

She said: “We’ve got numbers for all of the EU in the lockdown and on average carbon emissions across the EU have been reduced by 58 per cent. That’s a silver lining and, some of that, we won’t be able to walk back.”

Ms Molodtsov added the business world will change in three key ways as it emerges from the current strict lockdown conditions. She believes the rise in flexible working will lead to what she calls an “office teardown” with commercial property companies being one sector that will struggle in the “new normal”.

The next change will, according to Ms Molodtsov, be a more proactive approach form business when it comes to cost reduction “rather than the current reactive approach” and that this will help save jobs in the long term, rather than add to the dole queue.

The third change,” she adds, “is operating model change. There will be some winners and there will be some losers. Some of the businesses will not be able to pivot for growth and pivot for change and others will. The one that I think is going to have trouble is commercial office space.

However, she pointed to sectors such as those cafès and restaurant that have adapted to home deliveries that “will be able to do a lot better.

When it comes to how different nations have dealt with the crisis, Ms Molodtsov believes the UK was slow to react but, once it did, has helped protect the economy.

On the other hand she believes that the government has stepped in wonderfully. In her opinion she thinks the chancellor has done an excellent job and that businesses have got tremendous relief.

The above interview has left me puzzled and I begin to question myself, if a great country such has Nigeria could lay claim to any positives it has enjoyed from the outbreak of the corona virus?