There's No Such Thing as Perfect

Ørsted’s Green Credentials: Behaviour Change In Practice

We are bombarded daily by “perfection”.

From purpose-driven brands publishing their impact reports on LinkedIn.

From FaceBook moms celebrating their childrens’ latest accolades in reading, dancing or athletics.

Or (as I try hard to ignore), 50 and 60-something-year-old women on Instagram with picture-perfect bodies, faces, and yoga poses.

It’s not real.

And when we look at global businesses, we need to be careful not to look at them through the lens of perfection, but that of behaviour change.

Ørsted’s shift from fossil-fuel stalwart to global renewables leader is one of the most quoted energy transitions in the business world. But behind the headlines and sustainability awards is a far more complex, at times messy, story of organisational reinvention.

Here’s the reality.

What makes this story compelling isn’t just the outcome, it’s how the company navigated trade-offs, setbacks, and deep-rooted cultural shifts over more than a decade. This isn’t a tale of overnight success. It’s also not one of perfection.

It’s a study in how strategy, structure, and behaviour evolve, sometimes in fits and starts, to deliver real change.

It’s also important to take stock – real change is always imperfect.

It would be easy to look at Ørsted’s marketing and media activity and accuse them of greenwashing – a company whose foundations lie in fossil fuels, that still burns more wood in Denmark than anyone else, and that continues to hold contracts to sell natural gas. Surely they are not green?

But what we are looking for here is not perfection. It’s truth.

And in behavioural terms, truth sits alongside a core principle: bounded rationality. People - and systems - rarely make perfect decisions. But they can make better ones. This is about understanding the momentum of change, not measuring purity.

Creating lasting behaviour change is hard. If we continue to doom-monger and criticise those that have a significant carbon footprint, then we ignore the realities.

And if we truly want companies in construction, energy, retail, distribution, defense and technology, to become not just sustainable but regenerative – agents for positive change – then we need to accept that in the same way that no amount of facial yoga and red light therapy will make a 50-something woman look like a 20 year old again, an organisation that employs 8,800 people globally, will never be “perfect”.

From Fossils to Futures: Why Ørsted Had to Change

In the mid-2000s, Ørsted (then DONG Energy) generated about 85% of its power and heat from coal and natural gas. That fossil-heavy profile was typical for a utility of its size, and at the time, not especially controversial or newsworthy.

But by 2008, the world had changed. Global pressure to act on climate was rising. Renewable energy costs were falling. Internally, senior leaders recognised that holding onto coal might be riskier in the long term than letting it go.

That shift in mindset mattered. It’s not one that many were prepared to even consider, let alone embrace.

Reframing fossil fuels as a liability rather than a strength isn’t a marketing decision. It is a strategic one, and lays the psychological and structural groundwork for transformation.

Then-CEO Anders Eldrup made the pivot public: the company would flip its energy mix from 85% fossil to 85% renewable over a generation. It was ambitious and many thought, unrealistic. But it served a purpose: creating shared direction.

Ambition Meets Reality: Building a Wind Business

Public commitments are easy. Structural shifts are harder. Internally, Ørsted carved out a new Wind Power division and began redirecting capital towards offshore wind. The company already had early experience in Denmark and the UK, so this wasn’t starting from zero, but it was a bet.

Critically, Eldrup’s team cancelled what would have been the company’s largest coal project: a new plant in Germany. That decision didn’t just avoid a carbon lock-in, it sent a strong internal signal: fossil expansion was off the table.

Behaviourally, these moves created two things: capability (a standalone unit with permission to grow) and opportunity (reallocating investment away from coal and gas).

Financial Headwinds, Strategic Crossroads (2012–2014)

By 2012, Ørsted’s green pivot ran into real turbulence. Gas prices were falling. Wind investments were soaking up capital. Debt was rising. Ratings agencies took notice.

Enter Henrik Poulsen as CEO. He didn’t backpedal. Instead, he streamlined the organisation, sold off non-core assets, and introduced the now-famous “farm-down” model: Ørsted would build and then part-sell wind farms to institutional investors.

This model did two things: it freed up cash to reinvest in growth and gave investors a way to buy into renewables without taking on development risk.

The farm-down wasn’t a behavioural idea per se, but it did remove friction. And that’s often what drives change. When it’s easier to do the right thing, more people do it.

Growth, Exit, and Global Expansion

Between 2013 and 2020, Ørsted scaled fast:

• It became the world’s leading offshore wind developer.

• Entered markets in the UK, Taiwan, the US, Germany, and the Netherlands.

• Sold off its oil and gas exploration business.

• Converted Danish coal plants to biomass.

• Renamed the company Ørsted in 2017.

By 2024, it had closed its last coal-fired power plant.

But this wasn’t a straight line. Biomass conversions raised – and still raise - environmental concerns. The final coal exit was delayed during the 2022 energy crisis. And parts of the business continue handling legacy gas contracts.

That’s what makes the story useful: it’s not perfect. But it is real.

What Changed Internally?

Transformation wasn’t just external. Internally, Ørsted had to rebuild its culture and capabilities.

Engineers who’d spent careers working on fossil assets retrained for wind. Business units restructured. Investment committees shifted focus. People began to believe that renewables were the future, not a side bet.

In behavioural terms:

• Capability was built (technical expertise, governance).

• Opportunity was created (clear mandates, new capital structures).

• Motivation followed (once renewables delivered results, belief grew).

The COM-B model says that these three elements are the fundamental requirements for long-term behaviour change at scale: change what people can do, make it easier to do it, and give them reasons to care.

What This Means for Leaders Today

If you’re trying to shift an organisation:

• Don’t rely on vision alone. Create tangible structures that make change possible.

• Don’t expect instant cultural buy-in. Align incentives, reduce friction, and let belief follow evidence.

• Accept that transformation is uneven. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s progress that holds.

Ørsted’s journey isn’t just about green energy. And it’s very much not over. It was, and remains, about creating the conditions for new behaviours to take hold, and making them the new normal.

It will be interesting to see how Ørsted’s journey continues over the next decade. Will they reduce reliance on biomass? How will they tackle burgeoning issues such as the recycling and regeneration of wind farms, as equipment fails and facilities reach end of life?

Critically, what can others learn from Ørsted’s journey? There are many other fossil fuel companies that are sticking doggedly to their roots in oil and gas. Can Ørsted’s journey be used by others as a force for good? How can we lean into this imperfection?

There’s a useful precedent outside energy: Tony’s Chocolonely didn’t just improve its own supply chain. It launched the “Tony’s Open Chain” initiative, sharing its model for traceable, slave-free cocoa with competitors. In doing so, it reduced friction for others to act and created a coalition that magnified its impact.

That’s the key here: Ørsted’s value isn’t just in its own success, it’s in how it shows what’s possible for others.

And if we avoid telling stories like Ørsted’s. If we hold back for fear of being accused of greenwashing then we risk something worse: green hushing. When imperfect progress is hidden rather than shared, we lose the chance to learn, replicate and build momentum.

Behaviour change doesn’t scale in silence.

Telling this story, with all its imperfections, is what gives it momentum.

Sources

Ørsted Asia-Pacific. “Ørsted will be the first energy company in the world to complete a green transformation...” (2025).

Ørsted US. “Our Green Energy Transformation – From fossil fuels to renewables in one decade.”

Ørsted Corporate. “Powering the World with Green Energy.”

OffshoreWind.biz . “Ørsted Achieves 2025 Decarbonisation Target...” (2025).

Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). “Case Study: Ørsted.”

State of Green. “Ørsted becomes first energy company in the world to complete green transformation.” (2025).

Columbia Climate School. “Lessons Learned From an Energy Company’s Green Transformation.” (2019)