How can resource efficiency support business recovery from COVID-19?
“In Europe, the Green Recovery. How can we as a European Union combine the COVID-19 recovery with something in line with the Green Deal for sustainable production and consumption? I think this could help build up supply chains that are future orientated and more resilient. This can also support the suppliers that are the end of the supply chain.” -Michael Funcke-Bartz, Senior Advisor of Climate Change and Environmental Policy at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
“There’s going to be a post-COVID world that looks at the supply chain differently: How do we partner? How do we become a bit more agile? What are we going to do to be part of the supporting networks and frameworks that will help that continue? And this isn’t just an intervention that disappears after a bit of time…” –Claire Lund, Head of Environmental Sustainability at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
What support services do SMEs along the supply chain need to implement resource efficiency measures? Do these services exist? How can they be accessed?
“It is necessary to approach companies with a more holistic approach, where one really looks at the constraints that are blocking these companies from being more profitable and productive and helps them raise the money they need for later investment and also in resource efficiency issues.” -Michael Funcke-Bartz, Senior Advisor of Climate Change and Environmental Policy at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
“We have advisory services that help companies identify and implement measures that contribute to resource efficiency for cost savings and in many cases also for climate protection. Here in Guatemala, for example, RECPnet launched a web tool to help SMEs self-assess their environmental performance… It would also be helpful to have funding opportunities where smaller investments can be supported.” -Luis Muñoz, Regional Executive for the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Chapter of the Network for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECPnet)
“To achieve resource efficiency [WBCSD] has put together a guide that’s available on our webpage, where anyone can read our best practices on how to formulate some strategies, and particularly on how to work together with your suppliers and your customers." -Mariana Heinrich, Director of Energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
How can industry and policy maker collaboration ensure that post-COVID-19 resource efficiency measures are adapted to supply chain needs?
“Policymakers have the opportunity to use the carrot and stick, or both, within this crisis. How do you provide benefits and opportunities for companies to deal better with this? And how do you at the same time set clear boundaries and regulations that will improve the future? I think both are needed right now” -Mariana Heinrich, Director of Energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
“Governments: try to define some kinds of incentives and focus on supply chains. Try to facilitate technical information, try to give technical and practical information to SMEs to introduce resource efficiency in their plans, or maybe make a small investment to maintain their operations the best way possible.” –Luis Muñoz, Regional Executive for the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Chapter of the Network for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECPnet)
“It has to be a collaborative effort. The government has to come up with better policy and better frameworks. The private sector has to be willing to bite the bullet and move away from profitability off profiteering. Small and medium enterprises have to take on the onus... It has to be a collective effort. One sector doing it is not going to achieve it.” -Vikas Goswami, Head Of Consulting at Boundless Environment Resource Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
How can multinationals support their supply chains to become more resource efficient as they build back better?
“Education and training… Partnerships. Being agile with who you’re working with and how some of the resource efficiency can start to enter different parts of the supply chain.” –Claire Lund, Head of Environmental Sustainability at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
“Large companies could define a list of some strategic practices, for example around water consumption, to motivate suppliers to introduce these into their operations.” -Luis Muñoz, Regional Executive for the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Chapter of the Network for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECPnet)
“Companies of any size, either big multinationals or big, small and medium sized enterprises, really need to look at what is the best practice today in sourcing materials, energy, water, and how to use waste. That means they need to look and define their energy- or resource-related financial and environmental objectives and then set out a clear roadmap of how to achieve that. That includes defining your role as a company within your value chain; seeing what opportunities you have to influence your customers and your suppliers.” -Mariana Heinrich, Director of Energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
“In cases where SMEs are fragile in financial terms ... they prefer business as usual, as this is the secure way to go. If we want these suppliers to be more responsible when it comes to environmental and social standards, their international customers should provide them with more planning security... This was true before COVID-19 and will be even more relevant in the post-COVID-19 future.” -Michael Funcke-Bartz, Senior Advisor of Climate Change and Environmental Policy at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Recording
Speakers
Michael Funcke-Bartz, Senior Advisor of Climate Change and Environmental Policy at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Vikas Goswami, Head Of Consulting at Boundless Environment Resource Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Mariana Heinrich, Director of Energy at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Claire Lund, Head of Environmental Sustainability at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Luis Muñoz, Regional Executive for the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Chapter of the Network for Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECPnet)
Moderated by: Stephan Sicars, Director of the Department of Environment at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
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This webinar has been commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit / German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).