Gustaf Skarsgård: "As long as it’s about making more money, we’re fucked"

Gustaf Skarsgård is best known globally for being Sweden’s most famous acting dynasty, but the star of HBO hit Vikings and the film The Emigrants is also genuinely passionate about impact. The Hollywood star has a strong commitment to the climate, notably as a Greenpeace ambassador.

The actor also co-hosts Swedish-language podcast I tolfte timmen. The title literally translates as "In the twelfth hour”, and its purpose is to convey that time is running out to tackle the global climate emergency (although native English speakers would more typically use the phrase “the eleventh hour”).

Alongside Johan Mandaric Reunanen, Chief Sustainability Officer at Swedish carbon-cutting steel manufacturer Stegra, he compares the climate crisis to alcohol addiction. They discuss how it could be addressed using the twelve-step programme first developed and used by the global organisation Alcoholics Anonymous. Both men are former alcoholics themselves, and met during a recovery programme in Sweden.

Impact Loop finds Skarsgård amid the bustle at Stockholm’s Techarena Zero conference, an annual calendar staple for Swedish impact entrepreneurs and VCs that is increasingly attracting a more global crowd. Skarsgård is about to mic up for a panel discussion about breaking our addiction to fossil fuels. So, he isn’t here to find new green companies to invest his fortune in?

“Absolutely not. I’m not growth-focused, so I don’t accumulate much money. I want to influence people to think differently,” he says.

Heading towards catastrophe

Skarsgård and his co-host Mandaric Reunanen draw on their own personal experiences from the twelve-step community, seeing striking similarities between how humans react to the climate crisis, and behavioural addictions like taking drugs and misusing alcohol.

“What struck both me and Johan is that people act in ways they know will lead to inevitable disaster, yet they do nothing about it. They just keep on going as usual.”

He draws parallels between our dependence on fossil fuels and living in an economic system that relies on perpetual growth, a model incompatible with the planet’s finite resources.

“There are extreme similarities with addiction, where you constantly need an increase in your substance to achieve the same effect. We’ve been programmed to feel that we aren’t or don’t have ‘enough’ from the start, so we seek external solutions. We’re trying to consume our way out of our own inner dissonance, and that’s a contributing factor to this entire system.”

Profit-driven transitions 

The podcast’s six episodes, released last year, are based on the twelve-step method’s well-established approach for behavioural change. Skarsgård believes that a similar model could be the key to solving the climate crisis. He argues that while today’s society often focuses on measurable, economic successes, the twelve-step method is the opposite of this.

“It’s not about measuring. It’s about one addict helping another get out of addiction. That’s the whole idea. We need to start acting differently to solve this crisis.”

The change, he believes, needs to be profound:

“Now we’re trying to find new ways to maximise profits in a green way—that’s not going to work. We need to change as a species, both individually and collectively.”

Isn’t it challenging to change without knowing how it will impact ourselves or what the future will look like?

“We talk about that a lot, the courage to commit to a change before knowing where it will lead.”

A hand on a Hotplate

Skarsgård uses a metaphor to describe how humans often want a clear alternative before having the courage to change a broken system.

“It’s like having your hand on a hotplate, and someone says you have to move it. ‘Where should I put it, then?’ you ask.”

Yet, he argues, it’s only when we lift our hand that our creativity will really start and we’ll begin seeking real solutions.

“But as long as we remain in the justification that it’s reasonable to keep our hand on the hotplate, our brightest minds will continue justifying it rather than finding new solutions.”

We need to change as a species

A process of liberation

Another parallel to addiction, says Skarsgård, is how transitioning is often described as a compromise. He means that it’s hard to visualise another way of living when you’re so caught up in doing what you’ve always done. But he says that when you finally break free from addiction, it feels like liberation.

“We’ve been sold on the idea that money and abundance make us happy, but it doesn’t work. We need to talk about the transition as a process of liberation. What are our human needs, what actually makes us feel good?”

He believes it’s finding meaning and being part of a community—values at the core of the twelve-step programme.

“But these values can’t be measured or profited from, so they’re not prioritised in society.”

Can you influence people through your profession as an actor?

“Yes, absolutely, if those opportunities arise. But it’s not always up to me; it depends on the offers I get. However, I would never participate in anything that counters what I believe in, whether geopolitically or climate-wise. Of course, you want to be part of storytelling that moves things in a constructive direction.”

Focusing on the world we want

During his panel discussion at Techarena Zero, the topic of investor demands for profitability in impact companies came up, and Skarsgård expresses scepticism.

“We need to keep building and visualising what’s next. Not hating or shaming but really focusing on the kind of world we want. Many here [at Techarena Zero] can push things in that direction. But as long as it’s the same paradigm, which is about how we can make more money, we’re fucked.”