2022 Forum on Globalization and Industrialization

Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises

December 6, 2022

10:15 – 17:15 (CET)

Hybrid: UNIDO Headquarters and Virtually via Zoom

The Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI), which has been a UNIDO flagship event since 2016, will take place under the theme “Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises” in Vienna and online on December 6, 2022.

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.

FGI 2022 will again bring 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 will delve 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.

There will be three sessions at FGI 2022:

Session 1: Getting serious about sustainable supply chains: Implementing due diligence regulation

Session 2: Geopolitical challenges and sustainable supply chains

Session 3: Green hydrogen: Opportunities and strategies for local value creation and technological learning

Prof. Holger Görg, Ph.D. (Acting President at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy & KCG Managing Director) will give opening remarks and will moderate Session 2 that will discuss challenges posed by current and emerging geopolitical tensions on global supply chains, placing emphasis on the perspective from the Global South. It will highlight the most pressing issues for developing and emerging economies, and explore how national and multilateral policy actors can respond to these issues.

Detailed FGI program and information for registration can be found here.

More about FGI:

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”.

Source: UNIDO