Industry’s interaction with the environment is shifting dramatically. Effective energy policies and access to affordable clean energy are top priorities for global manufacturing, and better technology should mean greater efficiency. Yet legal frameworks vary dramatically across the globe. Tied into this is the lack of a global set of manufacturing standards, which could help set the course for global sustainable benchmarks, but in reality can be difficult to achieve given varying degrees of national industrial and economic development, resources, climate and technological capabilities.
How can the manufacturing sector develop sustainably? How can governments and industry work towards environmental targets while maintaining global competitiveness? How is the private sector working to mitigate environmental impact? How would the global adoption of manufacturing standards support or hinder these efforts? How can global markets collaborate to develop and improve standards, and formulate a cohesive, measurable and effective system in the high-tech future of manufacturing and sustainable, inclusive industrialisation? And finally, what would a global regime of standards look like, and how would it work?
Moderator: Simon Baptist, Global Chief Economist, EIU, The Economist
Panellists:
Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission (via video recording)
H.E. Abdulla Al Maeeni, Director General, Emirates Standardization and Metrology Authority (ESMA)
Jean Bennington Sweeney, Chief Sustainability Officer, 3M
Kevin McKinley, Acting Secretary General, International Standards Organization (ISO)
Alistair Nolan, Senior Policy Analyst, OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation