‘Waste doesn’t exist’: How can we build sustainable industry?

euronews (in English)

The UN’s Christophe Yvetot discusses the importance of solidarity in achieving the SDGs.

Transcript

00:00The reindustrialization of the North cannot happen without the resources that are in the South.

00:04Even the world waste should be eliminated from the vocabulary.

00:14Welcome to the Big Question, a series from Euronews where we discuss some of the most

00:20important topics on the business agenda. I'm Angela Barnes and today I'm joined by Christophe

00:28from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Christophe,

00:32thank you very much for joining us on the show. It's a pleasure to have you with us.

00:36Thank you very much for having me.

00:37Well, Christophe, so a big part of UNIDO's work is focusing on the UN Sustainable Development

00:43Goal, of course, and Goal 9 is a big part of that, which, for those who don't know,

00:49is build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization,

00:54and foster innovation. And Christophe, a sustainable industrialization, it always

01:00feels like a bit of an oxymoron. How do you envisage the balance?

01:04So in the past, we know that industrialization has also had a very strong footprint on the

01:12environment. At the same time, we are now in an industrial civilization. Everything around us

01:18is industrial. We all benefit from the services and products that are created every day. Now,

01:26the big challenge is to make sure that everything that is produced has the least impact on the

01:33environment. We have seen through what we call the circular economy that we can make sure we

01:39avoid waste, and we can make sure that even the word waste should be eliminated from the

01:47vocabulary because waste doesn't exist. It's only a raw material that you don't use. You haven't

01:54found the way to use a raw material. So we could utilize all the material more efficiently.

01:59We are one of the promoters of circular economy around the world, and we see not only that it

02:05decreases the cost of production, but also you create new jobs because instead of wasting or

02:12throwing away raw material, you use it to create new industries on this basis, and this is really

02:19something that is profitable for everyone. Interesting, because there have been criticisms

02:30that achieving some of the more economic industrial goals will prevent the ability

02:34to achieve emissions or ecological goals. Is each goal given the same importance focus,

02:41do you think, and should they be given the same level? I mean, all those are big challenges,

02:47and for sure you have maybe some SDGs which will be the consequence of others. Let me make a clear

02:58example. In SDG 9, we have an inclusive and sustainable industrialization. It means, for

03:04example, I was posted five years in Senegal, in Africa. So most of the products, fruit or vegetables,

03:13for example, that are produced, a part of them are lost in the way, what we call the post-harvest

03:21losses, and also they are most of the time sold without any local transformation. I mean, if we

03:28would work to add more value on the ground, train the people, have the machinery to transform the

03:35fruit in fruit juice and all those agricultural products, that would create many jobs. Many jobs

03:41mean that you would have a direct impact on goal one, on poverty. Goal two, on hunger. Many times

03:48women are those working in those activities, so it would be goal four on the equality. If you

03:56do utilize the machinery that is more resource efficient, you can also contribute to all the

04:04goals related to the environment. What we recommend is to invest more on industry, because industry can

04:12have a big impact on the other goals. What we have seen also with a new report is that every time

04:19that you have more industry in the GDP or in the wealth of a country, you have quasi automatically

04:27more human development. It means more access to education, more access to health services,

04:34more life expectancy, more equality between men and women. So you have a direct impact on social

04:41goals, on human goals. There's an estimated $4 billion funding gap to achieve all the STGs.

04:54Where can this money come from to make this happen? There's a lot of money, more than we think. And

05:00if well invested, we think that we can really liberate all the society toward this goal. Of

05:07course, the effort made in some parts needs to be made also globally. Otherwise, what we see,

05:15private sector complain sometimes that they have many rules to comply with, and maybe their

05:23competitors don't have that. So it's very important to make sure we have a global playing field.

05:30There's a lot of money that is now invested. You see the IRA, Inflation Reduction Act in the US,

05:36you've seen the big plan, recovery plan of Europe, $750 billion to invest in new technologies,

05:45in climate-friendly technologies. But you see there's a need for more solidarity, because

05:52most of the countries of the world, through the COVID-19 crisis, they've been more indebted.

05:58They are more in suffering than before. And we need a solidarity, because if we fight climate

06:04in Europe, or the US, or China is very good. But if we don't do it in the rest of the world,

06:12we are not going to make progress. Do you think that there is more support in place now for poorer

06:16countries? At the moment, many countries are looking more inwards than outwards. One of the

06:22mega trend that we have seen in the last 30 years is that, for example, the US and Europe,

06:29there's a strong move now to re-industrialize. What we believe is that while this is legitimate,

06:39because people need jobs also here, is that many of those resources are in the global South.

06:46I think countries should think more how to co-industrialize. The re-industrialization of

06:51the North cannot happen without the resources that are in the South. So now, how to build

06:58this partnership, win-win partnership, where those having the resources share them,

07:05but also they keep also a part of the wealth to create jobs, so that people see that okay,

07:13they trade their resources, but they see also improvements in their everyday life,

07:17that people have jobs, people are more prosperous, and this is what they are looking for.

07:22And Christophe, finally, if you had to summarize one key thing that we need to get right that could

07:29unlock big change across Europe and across the globe for sustainable development goals,

07:35what would that be? First, we need to really support industry, because without industry,

07:42you don't have human development and prosperity. Second, we need, of course, this industry fueled

07:49by sustainable energy. Without energy and sustainable energy, we will never reach our

07:55goal in terms of climate. Christophe, thank you very much for your insights. It's been an

07:59absolute pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much for joining us on The Big Question.

08:03Thank you very much. Thank you.

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