Global Solutions Summit 2021

Credits: Rolf Schulten

The Summit (27-28 May 2021) supported the T20 and G20 under the Italian G20 Presidency by bringing together top researchers, policymakers, business leaders and civil society representatives in a renowned global problem-solving process. The hybrid event focused heavily on a Great Realignment in the post-COVID world, in the spirit of recoupling economic progress with social prosperity and environmental sustainability. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany), Mario Draghi (Prime Minister of Italy), António Guterres (Secretary-General, United Nations) and Angel Gurria (Secretary-General, OECD) were among the high-level guests. About 6000 people attended online or in-person the event.

Two panel discussions specifically focused on the Circular Economy that included T20 task force members and participants from the CESD and Sounding Board sessions among other high level representatives.


Panel 1: Breaking up the linear economy in Emerging Countries: Circular Economy Vision Setting Panel


The panel discussed the challenges and solutions for the transition towards circular emerging economies such as: How to close knowledge and policy gaps, How to encourage investments in circular approaches, How can international co-operation leverage global trade and value chain dynamics to advance policy action for the circular economy. The speakers included: Izabella Teixeira (UNEP International Resource Panel), Shardul Agrawala (Environment and Economy Integration Division, OECD), Linda Arthur (ADBI), Medrilzam (Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning), Helga Vanthournout (Wealth of Flows Consulting).


Panel 2: Localising the circular economy imperative in a post COVID-19 era: place, trade and multilateralism


This panel addressed how building on the immense potential for social and environmental technology innovation in urban areas, circularity can induce profound systemic changes and contribute to increasing supply chain resilience. A territorial approach to the circular economy transition could be complemented by a multilateral imperative for effective policies, performance monitoring, and regulatory frameworks to implement change beyond goodwill and self-assessments, as the interconnectivity of trade flows and geographies across the globe calls for combined local and global responses. The speakers included: Alexander Bonde (DBU), Mohamed Khashashneh (Ministry of Environment Jordan), Shuva Raha (CEEW), Shereen Shaheen (The Coca Cola Company)

 

Here you can watch the recording of the sessions:

(photo credit: Rolf Schulten, video: Global Solutions Initiative)