First Glimpses of G7 Resource Efficiency Solutions at WRF 2015

St. Gallen, 8 July 2015 One of the highlights of World Resources Forum 2015 (11 – 14 October 2015) will be a plenary discussion of members of the UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP) with government representatives of the G7 and other nations about resource-efficiency.In the G7 Summit Declaration, held in Germany in June this year the G7 Leaders identified resource-efficiency as vital element of sustainable development. They particularly noted the importance of innovative public-private partnerships in delivering intelligent resource governance to developing countries. The G7 asked UNEP’s International Resource Panel to prepare a synthesis report highlighting the most promising potentials and solutions for resource efficiency, and invited the OECD to develop policy guidance supplementing the synthesis report. In a high-level panel session in Davos, on October 14, moderated by Member of the European Parliament Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, scientists and government representatives will give their personal and informal views on this matter, whereby the audience will get the opportunity to ask questions and give statements as well. Janos Potočnik, former EC Commissioner for the Environment and new chair of the IRP, as well as IRP Member and UCL Professor Paul Ekins are among the already confirmed speakers. More details and names can be seen in the latest program update, published today, with updates to follow in the coming weeks.

Public-private partnerships will surely also be discussed during the “Circular Economy Business Day” on October 13, where investment opportunities and business cases for circular economy will be presented by a range of private sector speakers and entrepreneurs, including Interface’s Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, Gunther Pauli (The Blue Economy), Shiva Dustdar (European Investment Bank), Walter Stahel (Product-Life Institute), Claude Fussler (former WBCSD and Holcim), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Nordic Council of Ministers, Femke Groothuis (Ex’tax) and others.

The WRF will as usual start off with the energising Workshop Parade and will look back at the previous events in Arequipa, Peru, and Sydney, Australia. On the afternoon of the first day (October 12) a plenary session on the new Sustainable Lifestyles and Education program of the United Nations’s 10-year Framework of programmes on SCP will be followed by masterclasses on topics such as decoupling, logical framework for NGO’s and sustainability design.

Apart from the plenary sessions over 30 workshops and scientific sessions will be held, on topics such as circular economy and decoupling, technological innovation, business and finance, governance and resource efficiency, targets, indicators, benchmarks for resource use, and lifestyles and education. New this year is the WRF Cinema, where documentaries and short films related to sustainable resource use will be played, and responsible Maya popcorn will be eaten. Upon the request of many participants of our WRF 2013 event this year’s edition of the World Resources Forum will promote vegetarian meals, and we also expect to as in the past compensate CO2 emissions of all participants. Swiss airlines is like last time WRF official carrier, which provides the participants that have to fly with attractive fares.

Back to back events include

International Resource Panel UNEP and Joint Meetings (Oct 11 – 15, 2015), UNEP Workshop on Resource Governance and Poverty (Oct 16, 2015), 4th Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) Global Conference and 3rd Members Assembly of the RECPnet, supported by UNEP and UNIDO (Oct 12 – 16, 2015), ISO Kick-off Meeting and Workshop Session #1 of the International Workshop Agreement (IWA) on “Guidance Principles for Addressing Sustainability Criteria in Secondary Resources Management – Focus on Metals” (Oct 14 –16, 2015), and the ESM Industry Summit (Oct 13 – 14, 2015)

This and more can be found in today’s version of the WRF 2015 Program (download here PDF). The WRF Secretariat welcomes participants to come and share their expertise with different stakeholders, and get feedback on their business strategies, research projects, policy outlines and personal foci in daily life with regard to natural resources issues. Early bird registration deadline for WRF 2015 is August 1, 2015.

Write for information to info@wrforum.org or directly to Maria Lucia Hijar at marialucia.hijar@wrforum.org.