Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises

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. The Forum brings together policymakers, representatives of international organizations, academia and practitioners from the private sector annually. It has provided a platform since 2016 for exploring and discovering new avenues for collaboration, highlights areas stakeholders have already joined forces in, and identifies actionable policies on issues related to industrialization, global trade and investment. It has also facilitated cooperation between UNIDO and its partners on frontier research and bridges the gap between practitioners and decision makers through evidence-based policymaking.

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, taking place on 6 December, is organized under the theme “Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises”, reinforcing collaboration between UNIDO and these three German institutes.

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 towards 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 behaviour 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.

Attendance Join this event either on-site in Vienna or online via Zoom. Please use the buttons to register. Please note that the registration deadline for the on-site event in Vienna is 20 November.