Wolfgang Grupp is astonished by Luisa Neubauer's demands. © dpa/Sebastian Gollnow/Christophe Gateau (Photomontage BW24)
Climate activist Luisa Neubauer recently called on employees to critically question their companies – and to quit their jobs if they are not climate-conscious enough. Trigema boss Wolfgang Grupp counters.
Burladingen - "What do we do with our lifetime and our energy, where do we go every day for eight hours? That's the big question we all have to ask ourselves in this decade." Climate activist Luisa Neubauer has once again found clear words at the conference of the Online Marketing Rockstars (OMR) in Hamburg. As t3n.de reported, Neubauer accused certain companies of deliberately engaging in "greenwashing" – in particular through appropriate marketing. Her appeal to employees: "If you work in a company or an organization that pretends to be greener than it actually is, don't participate anymore, but quit your job!"
According to Neubauer, those who have a choice should "not leave their manpower and creativity where climate targets have been set but not met". Qualified workers are being sought everywhere these days, so there are plenty of alternatives. Not everyone thinks their demand is so easy to implement. Trigema boss Wolfgang Grupp also expressed his doubts in an interview with Die Welt. "It's easier said than done," he says. "I'll say that employees can't get jobs everywhere and if you have a job, you can't just quit it. I don't understand Ms. Neubauer." Instead of blaming the employees, the climate activist must criticize the entrepreneurs.
Wolfgang Grupp considers Luisa Neubauer's proposal "fatal"
"What the entrepreneurs do wrong, the employees should not have to pay for or correct," says Grupp. Instead, the entrepreneurs must "finally be held accountable and stand up for it". Since he himself ran Trigema under the legal form of e. K. (registered merchant), he himself was responsible with his entire assets for what was going wrong. "Employees are protected. They have to do what I say. You can't demand that they suddenly quit because the entrepreneur is doing something wrong – that would be fatal."
Despite all the criticism of Luisa Neubauer, the Trigema boss also admits that climate protection measures were sometimes taken far too late. "Of course, those responsible in Germany, Europe and the world have reacted far too late to climate change. We can't deny that and now we have to make up for the failures that happened earlier." The only question is in what form. "And of course I don't understand the climate glue, because it can't be that radical!"
Wolfgang Grupp takes a critical view of climate glue - and appeals to reason
He understands protests, Grupp said. However, he does not consider the approach of the climate adhesives to be the right remedy. "We have to treat each other and be reasonable," he appeals. It is right that the rule of law is taking action against "radical" activists. "In a state governed by the rule of law, we can't allow everyone to think they can smash everything they don't like." Nevertheless, he agrees with the activists that the problem of climate change has been tackled too late.
