'What an incredibly special evening'. 'With this story, 'the 1.5 degree of COP26' is within reach'. These and more positive statements followed the Dutch Film premiere of the much-discussed documentary 'Beyond Zero' on Thursday night, Nov. 11. The story about UN Climate Action Award winner Interface was shared in a room with over 700 people at Theater Gooiland in Hilversum. A large group of CEOs, government leaders and young people were present at the invitation of pioneer Maurits Groen and the program 100 Months to Change NL in cooperation with the 20th National Sustainability Congress. Thanks to a data tool, the call from the Glasgow climate summit (COP26) for leaders to contribute more to the sustainable goals is directly fulfilled. 'What a hopeful evening! This experience immediately gives concrete tools to anyone who wants to contribute more to the sustainable goals in their work'. In the coming times, large-scale professionals are going to experience the Beyond Zero Experience.

The program included a premiere screening of the film Beyond Zero and the introduction of the Dutch branch of the global program 100 Months to Change. Dutch examples of transformation pioneers were also on stage, such as Kipster, Niebla and Dutch Climate Systems. The evening was accompanied by pioneer Maurits Groen and Harm Edens, host of the National Climate Quiz and BNR Duurzaam, among others. The evening concluded with a Call for Action to be completed on the spot by attendees in a real-time data tool. This will show how leaders and other attendees will go the extra mile to achieve the sustainable goals. Attendees included KPMG, ABN AMRO, Dutch Flower Group, Compass Group Nederland, PLUS, Coca-Cola, EY, Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, Enexis, Achmea, Patagonia, Waterbedrijf Groningen, Evides, DuurzaamDoor and tomp officials from several ministries.

Impression of the evening

Award-winning documentary film

"Beyond Zero" is an inspiring and award-winning documentary film about American multinational company Interface. It offers an unprecedented 'fly on the wall; insight into the unlikely and visionary, courageous decision of founder and CEO Ray Anderson of the successful (but at the time still polluting) publicly traded flooring manufacturer Interface to completely transform his company into one without negative impact. The film very realistically follows the adventure that he and people around him took on, which has since led to a "beyond zero emission" company. Beyond Zero has won multiple awards, including "Best Story" at the Boston Film Festival and "Best Documentary Feature" at the Denver Film Festival. This film was produced independently of the Interface company.

Concrete tools

Maurits Groen initiated the premiere of the film 'An Inconvenient Truth' in 2006 in the presence of Al Gore and, at the time, encouraged many leaders to act more sustainably in their organizations. 'There is a huge task ahead. This film Beyond Zero must go out into the world now; it gives leaders and professionals inspiration and concrete tools on how to deal with the urgent climate issue. There are now 98 months left to meet the 2030 sustainable goals,' Green said. 'This film is better than Gore's because it gives very concrete tools for everyone.'

Co-initiator of 100MTC Charlotte Extercatte states, 'There is a lot of focus on what you can do at home to contribute to the fight against climate change. We sometimes forget that impact of what you decide at work is often many times greater. This applies to CEOs but also to marketers, purchasers and civil servants. Really everyone can go the extra mile and contribute to the 2030 sustainable goals. If everyone does so with the lessons from the film, then the goals are achievable. A better climate starts -as far as we are concerned- at work! This gives concrete hands and feet to the big 'we're just going zero' statements we hear a lot around Glasgow. We aim to reach 1 million professionals and future professionals with this platform as soon as possible. From the premiere came incredible requests for collaboration. That is an incredibly great result! This has all been made possible thanks to the fantastic kickstarters (and also initiators of 100 Months to Change in the Netherlands): Wietse Walinga, Yvette Watson, Sascha Weil, Charlotte Extercatte and Folkert van der Molen.

Beyond Zero Experiences

In the coming weeks there will be several Beyond Zero Experiences for large groups of professionals, including at ABN AMRO, Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Justice and Security and Schuco. Immediately after the premiere, new requests poured in. The ambition goes beyond business and government: 'We are still looking for partners to make the Beyond Zero Experience available for education as well,' Extercatte said, 'this is a cool class for teachers to teach.'