UNIDO 03/05/2019

NEW YORK CITY, 5 March 2019 – The United Nations Industrial Development Organization, together with the Permanent Missions of Austria, Ecuador, Slovenia, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UNDESA, has organized an event, “Making it Circular: The Role of Industries in Circular Cities”. The event took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, and was organized as a part of Circular City Week New York.

The debate concentrated on providing specific industry examples of how a circular economy can be achieved, and what policies, technologies and business models need to be put in place.

Practices for a circular economy in manufacturing highlighted the opportunities to create greater diversification and localization of production and how feedstock supply can support cities in becoming more self-sufficient and resilient to changes in global markets. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation emphasized how digital technology plays a crucial role in sharing local material use and enabling manufacturing to occur locally in cities.

From a policy perspective, it was emphasized by all the distinguished panelists that collaboration between industries and governments are key to break down the silos and support a rethinking of waste and sharing of local utilities. Furthermore, building the capacity of small and medium entreprises will be a key element for unlocking circular business practices and upscale circular local production and manufacturing.

Speakers included H.E. Luis Gallegos Chiriboga, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the UN; H.E. Darja Bavdaž Kuret, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Slovenia to the UN; Lindsay Clinton, Senior Vice President, New York City Economic Development Corporation; Miranda Schnitger, Cities Project Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation; Brian Matuszewski, Global Head of Brand Partnerships, TerraCycle, Loop; and Ditte Lysgaard Vind, Managing Partner, Lendager TCW. The very lively moderation was led by Michael Shank, Communications Director, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance.

This event is part of a series of UN-events focusing on the circular economy and acted as a follow-up event to the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council’s joint Meeting on: “Circular Economy for the SDGs: From Concept to Practice”.

UNIDO has set out to actively engage in this discussion in New York and continues to organize events to inform Member States and the interested public on green industry and circular economy trends and issues.