Summit Will Feature WDI/Erb Work
In late 2011, WDI and U-M’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise partnered on a research project commissioned by KPMG International to study the most important sustainability trends. On Feb. 14-16, KPMG, a leading global service provider in the area of climate change and sustainability, will host a summit in New York City that will include presentation of the findings from that study.
WDI acted as project manager on the contract. Erb carried out an assessment of the most important sustainability trends, and the implications of these trends for key sectors of the global economy.
In addition to the sustainability trends, the final report from the WDI/Erb study also provided an analysis of promising policy, business, and public-private partnership solutions to sustainability issues. The project was completed in December.
A team consisting of Erb faculty members, graduate students and research managers identified key sustainability challenges and the high impact trends for the next 20 years, as well as what those mean for businesses and policymakers. The research team also translated what these identified trends mean for the energy, transportation, financial services, industrial/chemical, consumer goods/retail, pharma/health, infrastructure, and mining/natural resources sectors.
Additionally, the researchers identified what businesses need from policymakers so they can innovate, shift to more green thinking, and implement sustainable business models. This part of the study offered a different perspective from previous policy studies as it viewed the policy question through the lens of megatrends – and any related implications – highlighted in the WDI/Erb study.
The KPMG summit, “Business Perspective on Sustainable Growth: Preparing for Rio+20,” will discuss how to drive sustainable business growth in a resource-constrained world. It is organized in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Global Compact and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open the summit. Other speakers will include corporate CEOs, government policy makers, and leaders of international organizations.
The summit is a precursor to the UN Rio+20 Conference in June, where the sustainability issue will be discussed on a global scale.
