News
World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) goes online
The Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland organized the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF) online on the topic of enabling a global transition to a circular economy through international trade.
New and innovative service-based solutions are at the forefront of the circular economy transition. For the circular economy transition to emerge at scale, trade and trade policy will be in a key role in facilitating the global spread of new circular economy businesses and solutions, also providing new jobs and livelihoods.
“It is vital for circular economy policy and trade policy to encourage one another. Despite of the fact that aspiring toward circular economy will cause decline of export and import on some of the primary or secondary materials within some of the spheres – such process will accelerate new opportunities for service trade” – Mr Solomon Pavliashvili, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia stated.
In the course of the session, Deputy Minister Pavliashvili stressed out importance of international cooperation in elaborating the respective model, which will result into less harm on natural resources, ensure sustainability of ecosystems and comply with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Sitra and IISD – supported by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs – have undertaken a pilot study on how services solutions supporting circular economy are traded across borders and how their trade and international spread could be facilitated?
An online session enjoyed participation and attendance of Malena Sell, Senior Specialist, Circular Economy, Sitra; Anna-Kaisa Huttunen, Senior Vice President, Lindström; Saara Tamminen, Leading Specialist, Climate and Nature Solutions, Sitra; Alice Tipping, Trade Expert, International Institute for Sustainable Development; Joost Dekluijver, Chief Executive Officer, Closing the Loop; Shunta Yamaguchi, Policy Analyst, Trade and Environment, OECD; Leon de Graaf, Adviser, BusinessEurope; Madelaine Tuininga, Head of Unit, Trade and Sustainable Development, DG Trade, European Commission; and Marianne Kettunen, Principal Policy Analyst and Head of Programme Global Challenges and SDGs, Institute for European Environmental Policy.