Tag: Sustainability

Sustainable, autonomous and shared. Here’s the mobility of the future

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New forms of propulsion, the sharing economy, environmental sustainability. These are some of the themes that characterize the road towards the mobility of the future A revolution that involves on one side the technological nature of means of transport and, on the other, the relationship users have with their vehicles. Confirming this is Simone Franzò, researcher at the Politecnico di Milano’s School of Management and Director of the Executive Master in Management at MIP: «One of the main macrotrends that is reshaping mobility is electrification, or rather the passage from traditional internal combustion typically powered by gas or diesel to electric motors. Without forgetting other emerging “fuels”, such as hydrogen, which in a near future could play an important role.  The other big theme is so-called autonomous driving: vehicles able to carry out, completely or in part, the activities of a normal driver, an area that promises to revolutionize the driving experience itself and, more in general, vehicle use».

But changes are also of a social nature: «As in many other areas, the sharing economy is also becoming increasingly popular in mobility – continues Simone Franzò –, supported by very clear data: an owned vehicle is used on average for only 5% of its useful life, while for the remaining 95% it goes unused.  Going beyond the concept of ownership, the sharing economy allows to more fully exploit the asset-vehicle. And this isn’t true only for the automobile, but for other means like bicycles, scooters and kick scooters».

A second example of sharing, applied to electric mobility, can be seen in the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept or, in its broadest sense, vehicle-to-everything (V2X): in this case what is shared isn’t the means of transport, but its energy source. «An electric vehicle can share its fundamental asset, that is a battery, with the power grid, or with consumers such as an apartment or a building. In the first instance, electric autos can help resolve problems with the electric grid by exchanging energy with it in a bi-directional manner, as a function of the needs of the grid itself; in the second, they can be used to provide power to consumers in case of a grid deficit».

In general, the issue of the environmental sustainability of electrical vehicles – which represents one of the main drivers for the spread of electric mobility – is widely debated, and for certain aspects is still under the magnifying glass, as confirms Franzò: «Numerous studies show that the source from which the electricity that fuels batteries comes has a significant impact on vehicle emissions and, thus, on their sustainability. The decarbonization path to produce energy underway at the national level will thus have a positive impact on this».

Now the spread of electric vehicles is still limited in Italy and strictly connected to the rollout of a suitable recharging infrastructure. While in an urban setting, and thus for short trips, alternatives aren’t lacking, it’s for long distances that electric vehicles continue to show their limits: «Today the number of recharging stations in Italy is well below that of the other main European countries. In addition, the fact they are mainly located in urban settings makes the use of electric vehicles for long distances more complex, despite an average autonomy that by now has reached 300-400 kilometres».

Obviously, the challenges change if we are talking about a city or the surrounding area. According to Franzò, «we need to think about mobility in a holistic way to unite cities and suburbs, for example creating interchange points at which those who arrive from the suburb heading to town centres can easily use shared vehicles, perhaps electric ones».

A synergy that is increasingly necessary, especially as cities increasingly focus on the decongestion of traffic and reducing pollution.

 

 

 

 

A stroll in the city of the future  

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Sustainable, connected, shared. In a word, smart. This is the future to which a city like Milan, among the most cutting-edge cities in Europe, is looking. And this is the horizon that all urban centres, big or small, must look towards in coming years. The idea of a smart city, a city that thanks to technologies and innovation becomes more efficient, more ecological and even more democratic, is becoming increasingly tangible.

«When I think of a smart city, I think of a group of communities that co-exist and participate in the life of the city thanks to different forms of sharing», explains Davide Chiaroni, Director Corporate Relations at MIP Politecnico di Milano.  «We’ll witness a paradigm change that will impact all services and, as a result, will also change our mentality a little bit: we’ll get used to greater sharing and participation. Smart cities, in essence, will be the cities of Millennials and digital natives».

These cities will also be able to provide an adequate architectural response to changed work contexts. «Many buildings were designed based on needs that have now changed and that will change even more in the future: the growing digitalization of services, which will give an even greater impetus to smart working, will for example make many large offices obsolete. The smart city, instead, is based on the idea of so-called “circular” buildings, buildings designed considering that the end use can change in a short time. In other words, it will be a flexible city for flexible work», says Chiaroni.

Flexibility also involves the issue of mobility, which must address the double challenge of environmental sustainability and the extensiveneness of the service: «Milan is focusing a lot on setting up an electric fleet for public transport. And autonomous driving will revolutionize the conception we have of the automobile: no longer a private good but a public and shared service», explains Chiaroni. From this perspective, some experiments have proven to be quite useful for gathering data and better planning traffic flows: «The gates of Area B (Milan’s limited traffic area closed to the most polluting vehicles) will be invaluable for measuring traffic volumes and understanding in what areas to intervene and how to do it».

In short, the smart city revolution is at hand. However, some pieces are still missing, starting with energy: «Cities aren’t yet able to rely solely on clean and renewable energies. There are limits to storage, which must be overcome, but that’s the right direction», explains Chiaroni. It shouldn’t be concealed that the development of a smart city also comes with some problems. «Numerous studies concur that the smart city has positive economic repercussions. But not all actors involved in this process come out ahead». And it’s here that politics comes into play:  «The smart city will change the nature of work.  It’s inevitable to think that older people in society will be hit by this. Politics will play a role in compensating for these gaps, in the face of a balance that is nonetheless positive».

The School of Management of Politecnico di Milano aims to train people for the most suitable professions to manage these processes: «I have in mind a sort of control room that deals with the design of services, that is able to develop a road map, that’s not made up of technicians, but of managers that know which technologies should be exploited. Our school offers future managers dual know-how: management and technological. We’re convinced that one can’t do without the other. Planning isn’t enough: you also need to think of the practical effects», concludes Chiaroni.

Politecnico di Milano School of Management’s Approach to Embedding the SDGs

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Politecnico di Milano School of Management in Italy has made a commitment to further engage in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through responsible education initiatives, research projects and internal as well as external collaborations. They are engaging in the SDGs through their Sustainability SoM project, a team of staff involved in exploring sustainability in teaching, research, service to the Community and the Work Environment. Paola Garrone and Hakan Karaosman from the School of Management shared some more insights into the work that there are doing and what’s next.

What is the Sustainability SoM project and how did it come about?

As a large School that operates at the intersection between engineering, management and economics we are well aware of the many problems that affect society and the environment today and have an impact on future generations. At the same time, we can contribute to sustainable development, by setting up interdisciplinary research projects, innovating our programmes, and cooperating with industry and social stakeholders. However, this does not happen by chance.

We need to monitor and communicate our activities in this domain, to support internal and external linkages, and to let the School members experiment sustainability themselves. In 2015 we set up the Sustainable SoM project, a team of faculty members and postdocs serving these tasks though a portfolio of actions (as you can see from our progress report).

Where did the team start?

We started by doing an ‘as is’ analysis that represented the School’s strengths and weaknesses, as for 2016-’17. We asked questions such as How present were sustainability, responsible management, and ethics concepts in our curricula? And in our research projects and products? How was the School doing with civil society involvement? And with resources consumption and waste management? Subsequently, we launched the Sustainable SoM program with the aim of starting to fill the gaps in the four areas, i.e. Teaching, Research, Service to the Community and the Work Environment. Each of these pillars aim at embedding sustainability into our core activities and challenging our current behaviors.

What is the focus area of the SOM team today?

A first, maybe obvious, impact of this analysis was a greater and more diffuse awareness about unexploited research and teaching opportunities among the School members. New joint research proposals related to sustainability challenges have been launched, and a few courses have started covering sustainability problems, theories and tools. A second notable initiative was the SoM for Non Profits program. After a first year of the program, over 200 students worked on managerial challenges raised by 24 non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Today, we are fully committed to maintain and possibly to expand it. Our work is of a practical nature too and we look at campus operations as well. We now have a food waste policy, and water dispensers around the School. Now we are currently coping with the challenge of curbing the use of single use plastics.

What are some of the other initiatives that the Sustainability SoM team and the School at large are involved in?

  1.  Polisocial is a University-wide social responsibility and engagement program. Professors and students from all the departments of Politecnico di Milano can take part in Polisocial initiatives, including the School of Management. Some of the School’s research projects mapped by Sustainable SoM have been awarded the Polisocial grants.
  2. The SoM for SDGs Award: Starting from 2017 the School of Management has decided to award students whose final works may have a sizeable impact on Sustainable Development. The second edition took place in October 2018. The jury examined 12 submissions, and awarded 2 Master of Science dissertations and 2 MBA final works with the “SoM for SDGs” prize (1,000€ per winner).
  3. The Observatories: The Observatories are the way through which the School covers a wide range of interdisciplinary topics in multiple industries through practice-oriented research. Coming to the SDGs, each industry has specific yet challenging business priorities that are requiring special care. Examples of practice-oriented projects are those that concern Sustainability in Luxury and Fashion Supply Chains or Food Sustainability. Given the complexity of the subject and industry dynamics, we involve multiple business and social stakeholders in pre-competitive innovation, and organize engagement events whereby research results are shared, and joint discussions are held. Further collaboration may be established with single players.
  4. MOOCs on sustainable development challenges: In 2015 some members of the School started working on youth entrepreneurship in Egypt and other emerging countries, thanks to a grant from Polisocial. We knew that METID, our University center for digital innovation in learning, could help us develop a training program that reached a large audience. Given the great expertise of UNCTAD’s Entrepreneurship Unit in this area, we invited them to cooperate and design with us a joint MOOC – Massive Open Online Course. Across 4 editions, “Entrepreneurs without borders” reached around 2,000 registered participants, and single online lectures are used and re-used here and there in a few courses. Recently our cooperation with UNCTAD produced a second joint MOOC, i.e. “Designing and Implementing Effective Entrepreneurship Policies”. Another nice example is “Share Food, Cut Waste”, which addresses the food waste challenge and is produced with the Italian Food Bank (FBAO).

How do you measure impact?

We generally measure the reach of our initiatives. Nonetheless, we do not systematically report outcomes nor we adopt codified methods to measure the impact (in spite of the fact that some of us do research exactly in this area!). So no doubts this is an area where we have to make progress.

What advice would you have for other schools thinking of putting something similar into place?

Collaboration, communication and commitment are antecedents to sustainability. And each School should pinpoint the unique contributions it can give, given its specialization, context and organization. Having said that, we must jointly stand up for what we stand for. We believe that the efforts made by other Italian schools and us to set up an Italian chapter for PRME can foster the achievement of this goal.

What’s next?

We are committed to prepare our students to accelerate sustainability transformation. To this end, as a School, our next steps involve developing illustrative and enriching projects by which they can develop the necessary skills and capabilities. As a School’s infrastructure, Sustainable SoM will go on monitoring the initiatives put in place by the School’s members, and facilitating internal and external linkages and exchanges.

LIGHT AND SHADOWS FROM THE COP24 IN KATOWICE

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There are only twelve years left for mankind to avert a climate catastrophe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sounded the alarm on climate change at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), which took place in December in Katowice, Poland.

What judgement can be made about this critical international conference? What emerges is a mixed picture, with experts divided between those concerned about the lack of progress and those who focus instead on the importance of the results – albeit limited – that have been achieved so far.

“Climate change is a complicated negotiation process involving many countries. As such it is natural to expect slow progress”, stated Massimo Tavoni, Professor of Climate Change Economics at Politecnico di Milano School of Management. “The main objective of this year COP meeting was to take stock of where we are and come up with implementation guidelines. These objectives were achieved overall, but also showed how little progress has been achieved thus far. In particular, the meeting in Katowice underlined the political fragility of the Paris Climate agreement signed in 2015. The skeptical positions of the governements of the US, and of the just elected Brasilian one, in addition to the countervailing forces of countries in the Gulf, has casted doubts on the capacity of the Paris agreement to make real additional progress on emissions’ reductions. This while the science has been accumulating new worrying signs of the potentially devastating impacts of climate change on human and ecosystems” pointed out Tavoni, recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) grant evaluating how behavioural sciences can be used to promote pro-environmental behaviour.

Although technically the COP24 achieved its objective, which was to approve guidelines on the application of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change reached at the COP21 summit in 2015, a collective commitment to strive toward the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) was not reached. The objective of the Paris Agreement was to keep the increase in global temperatures below 2 °C compared to pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5 °C.

“In order to do that, the objectives of voluntary reduction must be fixed at a national level, but it is also necessary to guarantee coherent, common and transparent methods in order to be able to compare the different objectives and the actions of different countries with the same methodology” observed Giuseppe Onufrio, Director of Greenpeace Italy. “Without this, each country would measure things their own way. The aim of Katowice was therefore to have the technical foundations to carry on, a goal which has been reached despite its challenges. At the same time, though, there was a marked decline in leadership”.

Conference attendees clearly saw this “decline in leadership” from the start of the conference, with a heated discussion on how to acknowledge the IPCC special report issued just two months before the Katowice conference evaluating the different impact on the climate that would be seen with a 1.5 °C increase in temperature and one of 2 °C.

The United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, all of which are oil producers, decided not to “welcome” the results presented by the climatologists. Therefore, at the end of the COP24, participants simply “took note” of the IPCC special report. There is a big difference between “using the little word ‘welcome’ or ‘taking note’, which means taking note without necessarily taking action” pointed out Onufrio.

Yet alongside the achievement of the technical objectives of the Katowice conference, which allow negotiations on climate commitments to continue, there were also other positive aspects of the COP24. Climate issues involving agriculture, soil and forests became a central part of policy discussions. And, for the first time, a real debate began about the future of coal. The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Science and the Polish Academy of Science presented a document recommending a transition away from reliance on coal in Poland by 2030.
That could also have some positive consequences in terms of employment, as Giuseppe Onufrio explained: “The sectors that will cease to exist, like those of the fossil fuels industry, have a high capital intensity and a low labour intensity, with the exception of mines, which will lose jobs anyway, in part due to automation which is affecting this industry too. Instead, in renewable sources of energy, there is much higher need for workers for every unit of energy produced”.

 

 

Local Hub Inauguration – Promoting Food Donations and Reducing Food Waste

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In 2015, Milano was behind a new Food Policy to pioneer a more sustainable food system throughout the city, introducing a multidisciplinary and participative approach where city authorities act as drivers and enablers.
A top priority in the food policy is to reduce food waste, and the best way to get there was to bring on board local players – the city’s research centres, institutions, private sector, foundations and social actors.

To turn this priority into concrete actions, in 2016, Comune di Milano, Assolombarda and Politecnico di Milano agreed a memorandum of understanding, entitled “ZeroSprechi”, set up to reduce food waste and implement a new method for collecting food which would then be donated to those in need. The design and trial of such a model to gather and redistribute excess food was built around local groups and networks.

Comune di Milano identified an unused public area in the Municipio 9 zone, allocating it to the project as a hub for stocking and distributing food collected by TSOs, charities and non-profit organisations.
Politecnico di Milano conducted a feasibility study on the network and now will monitor the operations at the hub and the impact of the project over a 12-month period, building a logistics model that can be scaled up and replicated in other city quarters.
Assolombarda ran an intense awareness programme, identifying and involving several companies who have joined the project, and it supplied the “ZeroSprechi” logo designed and donated by the Armando Testa Group, to reward exemplary companies and highlight the serious problem of managing food excess.
Banco Alimentare della Lombardia, winner of the competition to run the hub, will be responsible for day-to-day operations on the basis of the Politecnico-designed model, collecting food excess and distributing this food to partner charitable organisations in the local area.
Programma QuBì – a formula to fight child poverty – which had previously started a similar hub in Via degli Umiliati, joined the initiative, funding the outfitting and management of the hub in Via Borsieri and bringing its own local network into the scheme.
This is an innovative project involving the combined work of all actors concerned, from the companies engaged in donating and enabling the recovery of excess food, to non-profit organisations acting as contact points with the needy and the public authorities backing these ethical initiatives.

“I am pleased that this hub is now open, because so many of our city’s plays worked together to get it off the ground”, declared Anna Scavuzzo, Milan’s Deputy Mayor responsible for the Food Policy programme. “This is the first example of a local network established to collect and redistribute food before excess becomes waste. Collaboration with Municipio 9 means that we were able to give the city an unused public space and, at the same time, highlight our commitment to reduce food waste, a top priority in Milan’s Food Policy. This project runs alongside a 20% reduction in the variable quota of the TARI tax on waste for companies that donate food, the drive to collect and redistribute food excess from school canteens, and wider actions currently under study together with AMSA (waste management services). The Via Borsieri hub is another step forward in our quest for a more sustainable, inclusive and equal Milan”.
Giuseppe Lardieri, President of Municipio 9 echoed her feelings by saying: “I am happy that Municipio 9 is hosting this project. At its heart is the debate on the right of access to food and the distribution of food that is not used. With the new poverty in our smart cities, these are topics that should push us all to do better. Without forgetting that reducing food waste means reducing waste in general and encouraging us to eat more perishable foods like fruit and vegetables, which are also healthier. I am sure that all actors in the Municipio 9 zone – industries, supermarkets, restaurants and food services, third sector, institutions – will play their part to ensure the success of this initiative”.

“Politecnico di Milano is proud to bring its contribution to the project, elaborating a model for collecting food that can be replicated in other parts of the city and in other places altogether”, declared Marco Melacini, Professor of Logistics and Scientific Director of the Food Sustainability Observatory of Politecnico di Milano. “The project does not terminate with the opening of this hub in Via Borsieri and there will be regular meetings to check whether it is proving effective in the excess food collected and efficient in gathering and distributing this food. The work group will provide periodical updates on the progress of the project”.

“We are proud that the first food excess recovery project engaging supply chain companies and third sector operators within the city of Milan is in now place, two years from signing the memorandum of understanding”, said Alessandro Perego, Director of the Management Engineering Department at Politecnico di Milano. “The need to act on waste is particularly sensitive both from a social standpoint and environmentally, and we believe that Milan, with everyone concerned acting together, is taking a decisive step towards a more sustainable future in matters relating to food”.

“Today we have reached a significant target in our fight against waste, setting in motion an effective process to gather and redistribute food excess, based on a replicable model that makes Milan the standard-bearer for this campaign”, stated Alessandro Scarabelli, General Director of Assolombarda Confindustria Milano, Monza & Brianza, Lodi. “This result is the outcome of strong collaboration between associations, bodies, companies, universities and non-profit organisations, all pooling their contributions in a joint, concerted undertaking and, by using a fast track system, maximising the delivery and consumption of excess food. In addition, with the “ZeroSprechi” logo, we want to highlight the companies taking an active role in the project that, by joining the initiative, are promoting good practice and a culture of reducing food waste”.

“Banco Alimentare della Lombardia intends to get closer to its partner charitable organisations in the districts of Milan’s Municipio 8 and Municipio 9 zones, and fight food poverty together. We are, with for-profit companies, institutions, trade associations and grant-giving foundations, a winning team, and can address need with real solutions”, said Marco Magnelli, Director of Banco Alimentare della Lombardia.

“The problem of child food poverty in Milan must be faced and resolved through an intervention model that requires all the forces involved to work together closely. The inauguration of the Via Borsieri hub is a giant step in this direction. Programma QuBì has already helped Banco Alimentare della Lombardia to open the first two city collection points and now, through our synergy with other interested parties, we will be able to maximise food collection, reduce waste and strengthen our capacity to reach families in food poverty. The fight against food poverty is a cornerstone action in the multi-year Programma QuBì promoted by Fondazione Cariplo Foundation – with the support of Fondazione Vismara Foundation, Intesa Sanpaolo, Fondazione Enrica & Romeo Invernizzi and Fondazione Fiera Milano – in collaboration with Comune di Milano and third sector organisations operating in the local area. This 25-million-euro challenge will commit Milan in its entirety, calling on companies, institutions and private citizens to produce a common formula that can provide concrete answers to disadvantaged families and create exit paths from need”, concluded Giuseppe Guzzetti, President of Fondazione Cariplo

A SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL FUTURE? LET’S SHAPE IT!

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On November 20th, Fondazione Prada hosted the “Shaping a Sustainable Digital Future” Conference today as a part of a series of multi-stakeholder engagement events organized by Prada Group aiming to increase the awareness on significant societal, ecological and socio-economic changes.

“Digitalisation makes an extraordinary contribution to sustainable development – we need to take a moment to think about what that really means. That is why we are here today”.

Following an inspirational and illustrative welcome address delivered by Carlo Mazzi, Prada Chairman, the professors of Politecnico di Milano School of Management and Yale School of Management alongside business leaders and representatives of institutions as well as international organizations further elaborated how digitalization could contribute to the sustainable development, and how technology-related risks could be transformed into opportunities.

Furthermore, the event hosted Professor Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman Emeritus MIT Media Lab, 
who delivered a keynote speech.

In the end, a fresh perspective on the issues was provided by the students from both Yale School of Management and Politecnico di Milano School of Management. The students also had an unique opportunity to deliver their novel contribution on stage whereby they showed how digital transformation could be used as an instrument for sustainability.

Technology: more opportunities or risks?

The 1st roundtable, opened by the speech held by Vittorio Grilli, Chairman of the Corporate & Investment Bank, EMEA at JP Morgan, explored a wide range of aspects at the interaction between human and technology while two themes standing out.

The first pertains to the effects of digitalization on the job market. Anil Menon, President of Cisco Smart+Connected Communities, pointed out the double nature of the issue:

“Up to 40% jobs are threatened by technology. The job proposition is now where the analytical skills come in to interpret the data. There are also opportunities to reskill people”

The second one uncovered the relationship between technology and humans articulated by the author Andrew Keen and Jon Iwata from the Yale School of Management. To illustrate,

 “We always broke the future and then we recreated it – we have to demonstrate our agency if we are going to shape technology rather than allow technology to shape us”. – Andrew Keen

“Artificial Intelligence objectivity is a myth. These models are created by someone’s point of view but someone’s point of view is somebody else’s bias. We demand transparency of AI systems – but the day will come when people will need to know who trained and determines that system” – Jon Iwata

Beyond Digital

Central moment of the conference was the keynote speech held by Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman Emeritus, MIT Media Lab. He inspired the audience by covering the fascinating interplay of capitalism, entrepreneurship, democracy, education, culture, ‘groupthink’ and ways of thinking about technology.

“Capitalism is not democracy”

While during the first roundtable, participants questioned about risks and opportunities, Negroponte highlighted the importance of human factor in achieving significant implications to improve various sectors, including education and healthcare.

‘Scientists behind AI were not interested in machine learning, they were interested in children learning. How do children learn?’

The way humans elaborate and build upon technology to create creative yet digital solutions was one of the main takeaways of this speech.

Is Technology Killing the Human Touch?

Pursuing the path traced by the previous speakers, the second roundtable approached the theme of the Conference from a different perspective. What’s the role of technologies in the preservation of cultural identities of both individuals and communities?

Yale School of Management and Politecnico di Milano School of Management not only illustrated how technological innovations are threatening cultural know-how but they also proposed how to use AI to preserve, protect and deploy cultural heritage capital for sustainable development.

“Culture plays a key role in the sustainable development. AI can help us in this very complex society to understand how to deploy culture” – explains Viviane Yazdani, spokesperson of the student group for the project ‘Being’.

This project led to an enriching discussion among the speakers of the second roundtable that reflected the role of private and public sector in the creation of a sustainable society and on the importance of creating a community.
Andrea Illy, Chairman of illycaffè S.p.A said:

“We are transitioning from a systemically unsustainable society to an age where we have to shift the paradigm. Private companies have a big role in this. Culture is a huge asset to society and private companies have to help preserve it”

In the end, Elena Zambon, President of Zambon SpA remembered:

“You cannot predict, but you can invent the future. Innovation is nothing if it isn’t shared”.

Takeaways

After having discussed about the major changes in our societies and having analysed both technology-related risks and opportunities, the scenario taking shape was positive and promising. There is no need to be scared about technology, just be aware of its multiple nature.

At the end, Mr Mazzi, Prada Chairman, underlined that digitalisation is an opportunity for which integration across all different generations, industries and various stakeholder groups is pivotal.

 

“A LINE IN THE SAND” – GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO ELIMINATE PLASTIC POLLUTION AT THE SOURCE

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A Global Commitment to eradicate plastic waste and pollution at the source has been signed by 250 organisations including many of the world’s largest packaging producers, brands, retailers and recyclers, as well as governments and NGOs.

The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with UN Environment, and will be officially unveiled at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali today (Monday, Oct 29).

Signatories include companies representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally. They include well-known consumer businesses such as Danone; H&M group; L’Oréal; Mars, Incorporated; PepsiCo; The Coca-Cola Company; and Unilever; major packaging producers such as Amcor, plastics producers including Novamont, and resource management specialist Veolia.

The Global Commitment and its vision for a circular economy for plastic are supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and have been endorsed by the World Economic Forum, The Consumer Goods Forum (a CEO-led organisation representing some 400 retailers and manufacturers from 70 countries), and 40 universities, institutions and academics. More than fifteen financial institutions with in excess of $2.5 trillion in assets under management have also endorsed the Global Commitment and over $200 million has been pledged by five venture capital funds to create a circular economy for plastic.

The Global Commitment aims to create ‘a new normal’ for plastic packaging. Targets will be reviewed every 18 months, and become increasingly ambitious over the coming years. Businesses that sign the commitment will publish annual data on their progress to help drive momentum and ensure transparency.

Targets include:

  • Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and move from single-use to reuse packaging models
  • Innovate to ensure 100% of plastic packaging can be easily and safely reused, recycled, or composted by 2025
  • Circulate the plastic produced, by significantly increasing the amounts of plastics reused or recycled and made into new packaging or products

Eliminating unnecessary and problematic plastics is an essential part of the Global Commitment vision, and will make it easier to keep remaining plastics in the economy and out of the environment.