đź“… 6 December 2022
Vienna, Austria & Hybrid
The Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI), which has been a UNIDO flagship event since 2016, is jointly organized with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Kiel Centre for Globalization. Yearly, it has been bringing together policymakers, representatives of international organizations, academia, and practitioners from the private sector.
The German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) joined the consortium in 2021, driving a stronger focus in the Forum on sustainability in global supply chains with generous funding from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) through the “Research Network Sustainable Supply Chains”. This year’s 2022 edition is organized under the theme “Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises”, reinforcing collaboration between UNIDO and these three German institutes.
This year’s edition of the Forum brings together key stakeholders from policy and representatives from the private sector, academia, and civil society to discuss sustainability in light of the energy crisis, changes in the global economic landscape, and heterogeneity in global trade regulation which governs sustainability-related issues.
While many firms and countries are benefiting from participation in global supply chains achieving environmental, social, and economic sustainability continues to be a major challenge. This challenge is compounded by multiple (economic) crises that may impede progress toward sustainability goals because responding to these crises and achieving sustainability are seemingly contradictory.
This year’s edition of the Forum brings together key stakeholders from policy and representatives from the private sector, academia, and civil society to discuss sustainability in light of the energy crisis, changes in the global economic landscape, and heterogeneity in global trade regulation which governs sustainability-related issues.
Specifically, the Forum delves into mandatory due diligence legislation and its implications for small- and medium-sized enterprises in supplier countries. Due diligence regulation is typically established in larger consumer markets (such as the European Union) and requires multinational companies in the EU to promote sustainable and responsible corporate behavior along their supply chains, including among firms located abroad. The first session reviews the effects of due diligence legislation on suppliers and discusses support policies. The second session focuses on the role of the changing economic landscape, including economic power shifts and the implications for achieving sustainability in light of heterogeneous frameworks across consumer markets.
The third session discusses responses to the urgent energy transition with a focus on green hydrogen. Green hydrogen can be traded globally, which could make it an important cornerstone in the transition to renewables. This session addresses the implications of this technology for firms and countries in both the Global North and Global South, where renewable energy sources are more abundant.