Skip to main content

EVENT: GO4SDGs High level Launch - Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production for an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery

On 21st April 2021, join Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production for an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery in Asia and the Pacific

DATE: 21st April 2021

TIME: 14:00-17:30 PM (BKK time)

With only 10 years left before the 2030 deadline, there is an urgent need to step up action. And every nation, every community and every person can and must make a contribution.” UN Secretary General, António Guterres

On 21 April 2021, the Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO4SDGs) initiative is hosting the Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production for an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery in Asia and the Pacific- GO4SDGS High-level launch.

Asia and the Pacific is fast becoming the largest market in the world with the strongest economic growth of all regions, driven by infrastructure development, increasing domestic private consumption and intraregional trade. However, this growth remains largely founded on unsustainable consumption and production patterns that exacerbate inequality and environmental degradation, intensifying existing risks and vulnerabilities in a changing climate. Since early 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic growth has been hit, especially in some sectors such as tourism, transport, and circular supply chains in production.

The region plays a central role in global value chains, but at low rates of resource efficiency, presenting significant opportunities for circular economy practices. The region has regressed on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and urgently needs to reverse material consumption and footprint trends to meet the goal, notwithstanding progress on individual targets. Rising incomes and lifestyle changes and continued resource-intensive growth patterns are expected to further exacerbate resource depletion and ecosystem degradation. Concerted public and private action is needed to increase resource efficiency, fundamentally shift consumption patterns and production processes, improve waste management systems, and transition toward a more circular economy approach.

Global Opportunities for SDGs (GO4SDGs) in Asia and the Pacific Region

The Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO4SDGs) initiative aims to support regional and local efforts to improve resource efficiency for an inclusive and resilient recovery. The initiative aims to help accelerate the region to “build back better” by sharing best practices and science-based knowledge and solutions, and policy tools and provide capacity development opportunities in priority areas.

GO4SDGs aims to connect the dots towards decarbonization, resource efficiency and sustainability, integrating the circularity, climate, and biodiversity agendas. It builds on existing partnerships, tools and pools of expertise around the world to further strengthen regional and local capacities, particularly for those countries transitioning their economies and societies to become more sustainable and inclusive.

GO4SDGS brings together partners working directly with the private sector and civil society to accelerate action on the SDGs, including the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), SEED Initiative, and the World Economic Forum (WEF), It also builds on UNEP’s leading knowledge and platforms such as the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP), the International Resource Panel, One Planet Network and the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE).

GO4SDGs initiative is designed to support: governments to strengthen policy coherence; small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase capacities and access for financing innovation and circularity; and youth to amplify their voices and empower them to embrace sustainable lifestyles.

Objectives of the GO4SDGs Regional Launch

The launch in Asia and the Pacific region aims to:

  • Present the initiative “Global Opportunities for SDGs” (GO4SDGs) including its menu of services, capacity building activities and the regional activities and roadmap.
  • Promote a dialogue about the importance and co-benefits of resource efficiency - including sustainable consumption and circularity- in the region for climate ambition and to achieve an inclusive and resilient economic recovery post-COVID-19.
  • Identify synergies and build cooperation with other relevant regional initiatives and partners, such as ESCAP, SWITCH Asia, PAGE, among others, to have a more coherent delivery and create a bigger impact.

Register

 

Event 1: Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production for an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery

 

Wednesday, 21 April 2021 at 14:00-15:30 (BKK time)

Speakers:

Opening Remarks:

  • Ms. Dechen Tsering, Regional Director, UNEP-ROAP
  • Representative from Germany BMU (TBC)
  • Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary, Sustainable Development, ESCAP

Keynote Speech:

  • Janez Potocnik, Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel (IRP) and Partner at SYSTEMIQ, “Resource Efficiency for an Economic Recovery”
  • Edgar Hertwich, International Chair of Industrial Ecology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Executive Fellow at the Yale School of the Environment, and expert member of the IRP “Presentation of findings of IRP report Resource Efficiency & Climate Change”

Panel Discussion:

  • Representative of Ministry of the Environment of Japan
  • Representative of Pakistan (TBC)

Presentation of GO4SDGs Menu of Services and Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific: Mushtaq Memon, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency, UNEP-ROAP

Moderator: Merlyn Van Voore, Head of the Secretariat of the International Resource Panel, UNEP

 

Event 2: Advancing Innovation and Circularity for SMEs

 

Wednesday, 21 April 2021 at 16:00-17:30 (BKK time)

Organized by UNEP, Switch Asia and SEED.

Speakers:

  • Mirko Zurker, Head of SEED Asia, Co-Lead Policy
  • Adi R. Nugroho, CEO & Co-Founder, Mycotech, Indonesia
  • Guillaume Touati, Country Representative, AVSF Mongolia and Project Manager, SWITCH-Asia Sustainable Textile Production Eco Labelling Project
  • Rhea Mazumdar Singhal, Founder & CEO, Ecoware, India
  • Helen Burdett, Lead, Circular Economy Innovation, World Economic Forum

Moderator: Mushtaq Memon, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency, UNEP-ROAP

 

Register

 

Published on April 14, 2021

Supporting document(s)

Event start date
02:00 pm
21/04/2021
Event end date
05:30 pm
21/04/2021

You might also be Interested in