00:00Nicolai Kosterwalder, thank you so much for joining us.
00:02Of course, you've had a very successful television and film career.
00:06You don't need an introduction.
00:07But there's another side of you, which is the many years that you've dedicated to humanitarian causes and also climate.
00:13And the obvious question, certainly to me, is why?
00:18Well, because I think it's important, because it's something that's always...
00:22I've had an interest in this. I think it affects all of us.
00:25And that's why when I was asked by the UNDP if I wanted to be a goodwill ambassador in 2016,
00:30I instantly said yes, because I believe in the UN.
00:34I believe in the international coming together.
00:38But the thing is, I wasn't quite sure about the DP.
00:41And the United Nations Development Program is the biggest aid agency in the world.
00:45And I didn't know enough about them. So I had to also educate myself.
00:49I'm happy you mentioned you said yes immediately.
00:51You've been doing this work for now almost 10 years.
00:53But you said, I believe in the work that the UN does.
00:57Why? And there's a political reality behind this.
00:59I don't want to get too quick into the politics, but you know for a year now,
01:02the Trump administration has been very vocal saying,
01:04we consider that this is basically now a woke club.
01:08The Secretary General is not doing a new job.
01:09I don't understand how you can call it a woke club.
01:11It was built in the ruins of the Second World War.
01:14And the whole idea behind it, look at the charter of the UN.
01:17It's about, let's come together. Let's not fight.
01:20Let's talk it out. Let's use diplomacy.
01:23And of course, is the UN perfect? No.
01:26Does it need reform? Absolutely.
01:28Is it a good idea to have a Security Council with five members that are just stuck there and can
01:33always veto?
01:34No, it's a terrible idea.
01:36But the alternative where we just go out and all try to fight for ourselves,
01:41we've done that before, before the UN.
01:44It's not a good idea.
01:45And I think we have to insist on communication.
01:47So you feel very strongly about this.
01:49That's what I'm picking up from you.
01:51You don't believe in the UN?
01:54But the question may be bad.
01:55No, no, no.
01:56I can ask you a question.
01:57Because just before we start, you asked me something, which I thought was really interesting.
02:00I think that could be it.
02:01Because you said at the Berlinale, there was artists being asked these questions.
02:05And some of them struggled to answer.
02:06And you were like, how can they not answer this?
02:10But you do this for a living.
02:12And you don't want to answer this.
02:13You don't believe in the UN?
02:14In a way, I have to stay impartial.
02:16But I can say there is a big debate about the UN.
02:19There's a Board of Peace now that has come up.
02:20It seems the world is split as to what is the functionality.
02:23But in your experience...
02:24Do you think there's a...
02:26That he's been...
02:27What do you call that thing when people make fun on the Internet?
02:31When they're trolling?
02:31Do you think the choice of words to call it the Board of Peace, do you think that's trolling?
02:37If you just hear it out loud, Board of Peace.
02:40We're done with peace.
02:41We just want to get rich quick.
02:44Is that it?
02:45So is a world now where you look at it, it is about money now?
02:49Well, I guess if you're cynical, you say it's always been about money somehow, right?
02:53The power grab.
02:54But that's also why we say let's get together.
02:57We have to find a way where it's not just the strongest and the biggest that control the world,
03:02where we actually all have a seat at the table.
03:05And that's why the UN is important.
03:06And in your experience, would you go...
03:08It's been a force for good in specific cases that you've seen yourself.
03:12That you can go back and say, I saw a difference specifically with my own eyes in multiple occasions.
03:18Yes, of course.
03:19If you look at recent history, like the Paris Agreement, the Paris Agreement,
03:22the whole world coming together to say, listen, we have to deal with climate change.
03:25We have to do something about this.
03:27Now, yes, the U.S. have left and have rejoined and then they left again.
03:31But the whole world is moving in this direction and standing up.
03:35And I think that is very positive.
03:36In 2019, there was a big green wave.
03:39Every politician was jumping on this cause.
03:41It was good electorally.
03:42But now it sort of has disappeared.
03:44Nobody talks about a green planet.
03:46It's a green industry.
03:46Why do you think that is?
03:47I can ask you that without you being...
03:48There's been huge social pushback, of course, connected to what people perceive as a sort of a very expensive energy.
03:54The world has changed because of the war in Ukraine.
03:57But I just think if you speak to young people today, I think a lot of young people are very
04:01concerned about...
04:01It's a huge topic for themselves.
04:02But for some reason, it stopped being discussed in news outlets more or less.
04:08So the media also lost interest.
04:10Well, I think there is a lot of financial incentives involved with this.
04:15I think when the U.S. go out as aggressive as they have and say, listen, you cannot use the
04:20word climate change anymore in any official documents in the U.S.
04:23If you have these SDGs in your companies, we will not do business with you.
04:28Yeah, that is going to have huge effects on also the media companies.
04:32And we've seen that in the U.S., but also in Europe.
04:34And then now it's a final question, of course.
04:36You travel the world.
04:37And when you look at Europe, how do you see Europe evolving?
04:40And it was a very difficult question, but I've got to ask you.
04:42Listen, it's funny this thing because we're talking about...
04:47I think that discussion is very important.
04:49I think that it's a beautiful thing.
04:51Europe is so many countries.
04:54It's not like we can't just go like they do in the U.S. where one guy says, well, this
04:58is how we're going to do it.
04:59Now we're going to do this.
05:00No, we have to talk it out.
05:01We have to discuss.
05:02Then we find a way.
05:04But I think that that is a quality.
05:06That is the insisting on democracy, insisting on discussion.
05:10And I think that if you look at the numbers of people living in the EU, in Europe, if you
05:16look at the economics, we are incredibly powerful.
05:22We have to discuss in the future.
05:22So always.
05:23He trusts the week.
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