
Rethinking responsibility
In his book Climate Justice: What Rich Nations Owe the World â and the Future, Cass R Sunstein delivers a timely exploration of the moral and practical obligations that wealthy nations have...
by Julia Binder, Esther Salvi Published August 6, 2025 in Sustainability ⢠8 min read
When Antje Kanngiesser returned to Alpiq as CEO in 2021, she stepped back into an industry in transition. An experienced energy executive, she had served a decade earlier as head of generation development at Alpiq, shaping the companyâs strategic development of power generation and management across Switzerland and Europe.
Kanngiesser followed this with a series of senior leadership positions within the energy sector, witnessing its evolution and the need to decarbonize to meet the challenges of the energy transition. Back at Alpiq, she knew the terrain well, but the familiarity didnât make the task any easier.
Headquartered in Lausanne, Alpiq supplies around 20% of Switzerlandâs electricity production and runs power plants and sales businesses in many European countries, spanning hydropower, thermal, nuclear, and renewable assets. Alpiq sees its chance in becoming a leading flexibility provider that enables the continuing growth of renewable energy and its integration into the energy system.
The transition isnât just technical. Hydropower, long a national staple, is vulnerable to climate change, and concessions end in the coming decades just as nuclear power is likely to phase out. Switzerland faces challenges integrating with the EUâs energy markets due to complex regulatory differences, national sovereignty over energy policy, and infrastructure gaps, which can create periods of relative isolation despite close economic ties. As expectations rise, infrastructure companies like Alpiq are caught between long-term decarbonization goals and short-term constraints, exacerbated by the commodity market, where scale and price usually matter most.
Kanngiesserâs vision is bold but pragmatic. She believes Alpiqâs edge lies not in scale, but in culture, and that the companyâs ability to thrive in the transition depends on aligning internal mindsets and external relationships around a shared purpose.
But how can a midsize utility company rewire both its culture and its ecosystem fast enough to stay ahead of the curve?
When Kanngiesser took the helm at Alpiq, she inherited a legacy defined by massive hydropower infrastructure, nuclear generation, as well as a culture of technical excellence forged over decades. In a sector racing toward decarbonization, that legacy offered both credibility but also constraints.
Inside the company, the pressure was building for change. Alpiqâs engineers and operators prided themselves on the reliability of its legacy asset business. Sustainability, by contrast, still felt like a parallel narrative that was not yet fully integrated into the companyâs identity or operations. The energy transition, while acknowledged, had yet to be translated into a unifying sense of urgency. âPeople were asking, âWhat does this mean for me?ââ Kanngiesser recalls. âWe needed to connect the dots between individual roles and the companyâs climate ambition.â
The external landscape was even more fragmented. Alpiq had to respond to tightening emissions targets and EU energy market regulations. Long permitting cycles, political ambiguity, and volatile prices complicated investment in renewables and hydrogen. Meanwhile, climate change was increasingly threatening Alpiqâs most trusted asset: the glaciers that feed its hydropower plants.
âThereâs no switch you flip to go sustainable,â says Kanngiesser. âOur portfolio was built in a different era. But the urgency is here now, and we have to navigate it with the assets, people, and politics weâve got.â
For Alpiq, the challenge wasnât just about strategy. It was about forcing clarity amid the complexity, aligning internal mindsets with external demands, and finding a way to lead, not despite legacy, but thanks to it.
âThe goal was to make sustainability something tangible, not abstract; actionable, not aspirational.â
For Kanngiesser, leading Alpiqâs sustainability transformation isnât about sweeping reinvention; itâs about reorientation. Rather than trying to erase the companyâs legacy, she is reconfiguring it to meet the demands of a net-zero future.
The key to unlocking this transition? Embedding a clear sense of purpose into the culture and connecting it across every layer of the business.
Kanngiesser began by anchoring Alpiqâs strategy in a new corporate purpose, which is summed up in the tagline âTogether for a better climate and improved security of supply.â With this purpose, Alpiq consciously embraces the tension between climate-friendly behavior and the requirements of security of supply, which is traditionally guaranteed by fossil energy but shall increasingly be assumed by renewable energy and carbon-neutral flexibility. This sums up the backbone of decision-making, shaping priorities from capital allocation to customer relationships. The goal was to make sustainability something tangible, not abstract; actionable, not aspirational.
Internally, she focused on building alignment through trust. In Europe, Alpiq is a smaller player in a sector where giants dominate on scale and price. But for Kanngiesser, thatâs not the point. âWe canât compete on cost,â she says. âBut we can compete on talent and culture.â She sees culture as a competitive asset, one that, if activated well, can become a force multiplier for transformation.
Following the implementation of a new Steering approach, shifting from divisions to Alpiqâs value chain, cross-functional working groups were launched to bridge gaps between business units. New formats encouraged teams to explore how their day-to-day decisions could contribute to decarbonization. Training and development sessions reframed topics like energy storage, hydrogen, and emissions reporting not as compliance issues but as innovation opportunities. Employees began to see themselves not just as operators of legacy infrastructure, but as stewards of the energy transition.
At the same time, Kanngiesser knew Alpiq couldnât drive change alone. A small company in a complex, regulated industry needs partnerships to thrive. Under her leadership, Alpiq began actively engaging with competitors, policymakers, authorities, and system operators to push for collaboration on the systemic question of renewable integration via flexibility. This also means developing solutions such as green hydrogen and batteries to enhance supply security, especially during winter, alongside promoting alpine PV, hydropower, and cross-border energy trading, while also addressing climate challenges like water scarcity and flooding.
These alliances arenât about branding; they are about building coalitions that can shift the system. Whether promoting hydrogen development in Switzerland, France, Spain, and Finland or advocating for a more nuanced view of Swiss energy assets in Brussels, Alpiq started showing up differently: not just as an energy provider, but as a strategic partner in shaping the low-carbon future.
This dual track â internal alignment and external collaboration â has allowed Alpiq to move forward without overpromising. The company isnât pretending the road to net zero will be smooth. But itâs making space for difficult trade-offs, balancing realism with ambition.
âEspecially with infrastructure, you canât have overnight transitions,â Kanngiesser reflects, âBut you can have direction. You can commit. And you can bring people with you.â
Alpiqâs story shows how a mid-sized company can lead big change, not by scaling faster than others, but by aligning culture and partnerships around a shared purpose. Here are five lessons to take forward:
Lasting change doesnât start with metrics, it starts with people. Empower teams with purpose and align behaviors with long-term ambition.
A strong vision only matters if itâs felt across the organization. Connect sustainability to individual responsibility and make it part of daily work.
In complex industries, credible progress means acknowledging trade-offs. Avoid greenwashing by being transparent about constraints and compromises.
You donât need to be the biggest player to lead. Collaborating across the ecosystem can unlock innovation, amplify influence, and accelerate systemic change.
Engage regulators and peers early. Influence policy not by pushing back, but by offering practical insight grounded in experience.
The next chapter is about integration.
Alpiqâs transformation is gaining momentum, but for Kanngiesser, the real test lies ahead: sustaining energy through complexity and turning a deeply rooted culture into a lasting source of competitive advantage.
The next chapter is about integration. Sustainability is no longer a separate track; it must become the default language across operations, strategy, and leadership. To accelerate this shift, Alpiq is embedding climate targets into performance systems, scaling cross-functional programs, and investing in a new generation of talent ready to lead through ambiguity.
Externally, Alpiq is leaning further into its role as a bridge-builder. Through collaborations addressing the systemic question of renewable integration, augmenting no-to-low-carbon security of supply, and addressing climate change, the company is pushing for innovation that works not only in theory but in the messy, real-world context of aging infrastructure, price volatility, and political complexity. These collaborations arenât a side project; theyâre a core strategy for shaping a future energy market that rewards agility and alignment over sheer size.
Kanngiesser is also focused on voice. By stepping up engagement with policymakers, NGOs, universities, and peers, Alpiq is working to reframe the energy debate, championing pragmatic pathways to net zero that reflect the realities companies face on the ground. Itâs not about slogans. Itâs about system change.
For Alpiq, the road ahead remains complex, marked by trade-offs, ambiguity, and accelerating change. But with a culture aligned around purpose, and partnerships designed for scale, the company is building exactly what the current moment calls for: a system ready to adapt, evolve, and lead.
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CEO, Alpiq Group
Antje Kanngiesser is CEO of the Alpiq Group. A lawyer with a doctorate, an EMBA from IMD, and a degree in finance from INSEAD, she is a proven expert in the energy industry. For more than 20 years, she has held various management positions along the entire value chain in industry and consulting, committed to an innovative and sustainable energy supply. Kanngiesser focuses on the strategic realignment and consistent transformation of business models and companies. In March 2025, Kanngiesser was named Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 at the SEF.WomenAward.
Professor of Sustainable innovation and Business Transformation at IMD
Julia Binder, Professor of Sustainable Innovation and Business Transformation, is a renowned thought leader recognized on the 2022 Thinkers50 Radar list for her work at the intersection of sustainability and innovation. As Director of IMD’s Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business, Binder is dedicated to leveraging IMD’s diverse expertise on sustainability topics to guide business leaders in discovering innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. At IMD, Binder serves as Program Director for Creating Value in the Circular Economy and teaches in key open programs including the Advanced Management Program (AMP), Transition to Business Leadership (TBL), TransformTech (TT), and Leading Sustainable Business Transformation (LSBT). She is involved in the schoolâs EMBA and MBA programs, and contributes to IMDâs custom programs, crafting transformative learning journeys for clients globally.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at IMD
Esther Salvi is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at IMD, specializing in qualitative and quantitative research on sustainable development. She earned her PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from the Technical University of Munich with highest distinction in 2023. Her work won multiple recognitions and features in leading journals such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Journal of Business Venturing Insights.
She has taught at both graduate and undergraduate levels and worked as Group Leader at leading European universities, collaborating with international companies, researchers, and students. She has also served as Doctoral Research Coordinator at the TUM SEED Center, and as Sustainability Manager for the UN PRME initiative at the TUM School of Management.
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