The world is currently facing the urgent challenge of climate change, and it's the younger generations who will experience the most significant impacts of this crisis.
According to the World Economic Forum, the manufacturing industry represents nearly 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions and consumes 54% of the world’s energy sources. While many companies have begun their journeys toward net-zero emissions, there is still a significant way to go to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C, as called for in the Paris Agreement.
The United Nations describes net zero as “cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests.”
The goal? Emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
A shared responsibility toward sustainable and circular manufacturing is fundamental to safeguarding our planet and the well-being of present and future generations. The U.S. Center for Advanced Manufacturing, an initiative of the World Economic Forum in partnership with Michigan-based Automation Alley, is calling on U.S. manufacturers to make investing in circularity and sustainability in their supply chain a high priority.
Putting Principles into Practice
Recent supply chain disruptions such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that the manufacturing industry needs to think differently and provide corporations with an opportunity to change the status quo toward sustainability and circularity. But what does this look like in practice?
Simply following set EPA regulations that are intended to protect the environment and public health will not be enough to reverse this trend. As important as these regulatory requirements are, they say, it’s also important for manufacturers to look beyond the scope of regulatory compliance to the many ways they can demonstrate leadership by reducing environmental burdens and increasing environmental benefits throughout their business operations.
Read the article in full as published in Industry Week here.
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