Enlarge image
"For me it's a matter close to my heart":
Real estate entrepreneur
Sebastian Schels
donated 250,000 euros to the Greens
manager magazin: Mr. Schels, you donated 250,000 euros to the Greens. The party is not the first address for many entrepreneurs - why the Greens of all people?
Sebastian Schels:
I am of course an entrepreneur, but first and foremost I am a person and a family man.
As such, I am concerned about the destruction of the planet, climate change and the destruction of the environment.
I think that recent events, the flood disasters, the periods of drought, the burning forests have shown even the last of the last few years what dimensions the whole thing can and will take on.
That concerns me personally as a person and that's why I decided to donate.
The hope is that the Greens can initiate an ecological turnaround with their policies.
For me it is an affair of the heart.
So the donation is purely a private matter?
That was a private donation, yes. It wasn't a corporate donation. But as an entrepreneur, I also support the financial contribution. If you consider what, for example, the most recent flood disasters have cost billions. These are unpaid bills that someone has to pay at some point. It is like an unmanageable mortgage we leave to our children. From an entrepreneur's perspective, climate protection is therefore the more profitable and cheaper option for me. You have to look at things in the long term and work from the back to the front. Because we run the risk of sacrificing hard-earned achievements such as freedom, prosperity, health and security on the altar of short-term thinking.If in the future millions of people lose their living space due to climate change and set out to find a new one, then it will primarily be inhumane, but also extremely expensive from a social point of view
-
at some point maybe even priceless.
That means that if we destroy living space, it will end up costing a lot of money.
And as an entrepreneur, I say: let's save this money, let's develop new growth models!
The topic is full of opportunities!
And do you see deficits in the other parties besides the Greens in their fight against climate change?
I am most likely to trust the Greens to be so crazy as to implement the knowledge gained from 40 years of climate research.
I don't want to talk badly about other parties.
However, I see the Greens most consistently when it comes to environmental and climate protection.
My formula is relatively simple: In the long term, environmentally conscious and sustainable policies ensure freedom and prosperity.
What concrete measures do you hope the Greens will take if the party has more influence after the election?
As an economist and as a businessman, I am of the opinion that we should stop socializing costs and shifting them to future generations.
I would therefore think it would be good if CO2 emissions were consistently given a price tag.
The destruction of the environment in general should also be given a price tag.
I am also convinced that the issue of climate protection as the task of the century that it is, should flow into all ministries and all disciplines.
A mechanism that ensures that all projects comply with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change would be a good solution.
I also hope that politicians better understand the positive contribution the real estate industry can make to climate protection.
Energy efficiency and environmental awareness have been important issues in the real estate industry for years. Do you expect further measures for your business in the future, possibly restrictions that could cost profit?
Basically, I see more opportunities than risks for our industry in the upcoming building turnaround. And as a businessman and family entrepreneur, I know that long-term thinking pays off in the long run, even if it can cost profit in the short term. The consequences of neglecting climate protection will hit us much faster and more severely than many suspect. Science has already recognized this: in the past it was mistaken about the speed and intensity of climate change, the real consequences were generally underestimated. That means: our house is on fire. Getting a cost estimate from the fire brigade now and wasting too much time is not particularly smart. In other words: If we want to seriously calculate,whether the survival of Homo Sapiens is affordable? It would now be more important to finally get into action. Because every day, every hour, every minute the costs will only continue to rise. And the tragic thing is, it will not only cost money but also human lives. If we neglect nature in favor of prosperity, we run the risk of losing both in the end.
What contribution do you make with your company Ratisbona - you are active in the construction of real estate for the food retail trade - already in matters of climate and environmental protection?
We have been focusing heavily on this topic for over a year. The Fridays For Future movement brought me to a major rethink. But we had it on the agenda before. For example, we set up the world's first passive house discounter in Hanover. We also dedicated ourselves to the area of photovoltaic systems at an early stage. However, tenants and investors have unfortunately decided against equipping supermarkets with PV systems - mostly due to the tax framework. That is why we have structurally aligned the properties so that they can be retrofitted with appropriate systems at any time. To date we have invested around 1.2 to 1.5 million euros in total.We are also pushing the topic of timber construction very strongly and have already set up ten Netto stores in timber or timber hybrid construction. In addition, with the university in Weihenstephan, we have developed a sustainable outdoor facility for supermarkets, an area that often receives little attention. We have also been dealing with energetic solutions and concepts for years.
As an entrepreneur, are you satisfied with what you are doing in this regard, or do you feel there needs to be more?
An entrepreneur is never satisfied, otherwise he would not be an entrepreneur.
And since the issue of climate protection is, as I said, an affair of the heart for me, there is never an optimal state.
There is always more.
I am also in constant conversation with my 150 employees in order to convince them of the matter.
The more of my employees who are deeply convinced of the issue, the sooner the vision of a successful construction and energy transition will become reality.
And I also have the feeling that a rethink is already taking place.
What about business partners, customers or investors with whom you work - do you first have to convince them of the sense of sustainability?
It is very different.
We already do a lot of persuading and push a lot.
But we notice that as a relatively small, owner-managed company, we can take on a pioneering role and lead the way, and that gives me a lot of pleasure.
What do you do privately to protect the climate?
I'm currently changing the heating in our home and trying to do without fossil fuels. In Regensburg, even in wind and weather, I now only move by bike. A positive side effect is that I feel healthier and fitter. I would call myself a flexitarian. Every now and then I feel like eating meat, but try to avoid consuming it too much. Of course, none of this is perfect, it is contradictory and imperfect. This also applies to Ratisbona. Here, too, we are still a long way from perfection. Sustainability is simply too big and complex for that. However, it is important that you take the topic seriously and take the time to really deal with it.