At the World Economic Forum in Davos I sought to draw attention to the need for global leadership on a circular economy as part of our programme of work. Each year we throw away plastics, electronics and food valued at US$ 1.15 trillion. This much change! From big business to small innovators, we need to re-imagine a waste economy and create a new generation of consumables that last longer, can be reused, recycled and upcycled. This was my message at Davos.
Partnerships are key to accelerating the pace of transformation of our economies. I was excited to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, to scale up and accelerate the shift towards a circular economy. Such an economy supports sustainable consumption and production systems which are central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Davos also provided a platform a critical UN Environment initiative underway. Along with BNP Paribas, UN Environment is working closely with the government of Andhra Pradesh in turning large parts of the state towards organic farming, and providing the necessary private capital to make this transition to sustainable agriculture.
In bilateral meetings with Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, we also agreed on a memorandum of understanding between our organizations. UN Environment will organize joint events with and at the Munich Security Conference, a very important event on the security calendar, and provide a much needed perspective on the environmental dimensions of security. I look forward to participating at the first event hosted by UN Environment at the conference in 2018.
