Leading the way in taking on the challenge

As a daily rider – and a racer with Dutch championship points to his name – as well as being passionate and educated in the societal aspects of climate change, Floris Terlou was the man for the job right from the start. He’s going to be talking us through the vision behind his day job, about what drives him as a climate scientist on two wheels, and about the inspiration he hopes to invoke. 

“It’s so cool REV’IT! has instilled their faith in me in my job as Sustainability Coordinator. However, I’m not doing this on my own. Part of what I’m here for is to create support within the company and get more people involved in taking on this enormous challenge. 

My job isn’t going to be played out behind the scenes – no way. One of the first things I did at REV’IT! was send out a survey. To gain insight this way – insight into the topics that already do have support within the company. To be able to start taking steps more specifically.”

“I also enjoy explaining, teaching people things and getting them excited. Little things, like explaining how the environment and climate are not at all the same things. It’s those small things, little bits of knowledge, that ultimately make a difference.

As part of my job, I do also feel the urgency to explain. I feel people deserve to have that knowledge, even if sometimes it’s not all pleasant information.”

“Take the CE regulation in our industry, for example. Before such a standard existed, and as it was about to become mandatory, people weren’t happy with it at the time. When you’re being told to do something, that's never fun.

But because industry leaders together agreed on the CE guidelines, all parties involved ultimately only learned from it how to... I don't want to say 'solve problems'... tackle challenges. Although you do have the 'problem' that with every challenge you overcome, a new challenge presents itself. Ultimately, the question 'What is sustainable?' is one that we can only answer by truly making a choice. A choice based on best practices."

"Not even that ambitious... 'Quantifying things to know where we stand right now, that's the plan. Only when we know where we’re at, can we see where we want to go. Although we are still outlining a definitive course, we certainly have a general direction: the guidelines of the Paris Climate Agreement. It is much talked about, but as ambitious as those guidelines will be, that is what awaits us.

It is very much in the realm of possibility that our industry – in a European context – will have to achieve serious emission reductions. The EU's goal is to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to the base year 1990, up to complete net-zero by 2050. And that maximum temperature increases of 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial times as they call it, that’s also something we’re going to have to deal with.”

“If it's up to me, we should embrace that truth before it's too late. Even if it's just to inspire other people to join in or even for other brands to be inspired by it – the sustainability variant of Inspire to ride.

But it's true, of course. When you get on your bike knowing you're doing it as responsibly as possible, it's a comforting and affirming feeling similar to when you know your safety is in good hands: nothing beats riding without a care in mind. And although safety is always going to be the top priority, sustainability is never far behind."

Driven by passion for their respective fields, the people that make up REV'IT! work towards our goal of creating a sustainable future for riding. Floris’ is just one of those Sustainability Stories. Soon we’ll share more on how we look to take on these challenges.