Moscow, 16 October 2018—The Moscow Urban Forum and UN-Habitat organized an Urban October session on The Circular City – The City as an Ecosystem for Green Businesses as part of the 2018 Open Innovation Forum. Launched in 2012 the Open Innovation Forum is the premier international platform in Russia for entrepreneurs, corporations, scientists, and government officials to discuss emerging global technical challenges from the technological, managerial, and humanitarian perspectives.
The circular economy is one in which resources are used as efficiently as possible and pollution is reduced to a minimum. This new paradigm is increasingly being adopted by cities to create opportunities in sectors ranging from information technology to energy, transport, waste management, and construction. The New Climate Economy Report indicates that in the next 10-15 years governments will invest USD 90 trillion in sustainable infrastructure. The transition to a low-carbon development model creates new opportunities for both startups and large technology corporations.
Mr. Nicolas Buchoud of the consultancy firm Renaissance Urbaine presented the Circular Economy concept and highlighted global trends in this area. He drew attention to the theme of 2018 World Habitat Day Municipal Solid Waste Management and called on federal, regional and municipal authorities in Russia as well as private sector companies to support implementation of SDG 11.6 “by 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality, municipal and other waste management”. He urged them to adopt the New Urban Agenda as an effective tool for this purpose.
Deputy Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Mr. Andrei Chibis presented national and regional plans for solid waste management in Russia. “Many of the challenges that countries are facing, we have already overcome. But solid waste management is still one of the most critical challenges for our country and our cities,” he stressed. A programme to be launched in 2019 will improve waste recycling while ensuring maximum extraction of secondary resources by creating an effective and sustainable infrastructure for garbage separation, collection and disposal.
Minister for Environmental Management and Protection of the Moscow Government Mr. Anton Kulbachevsky emphasized that the Moscow Government seeks the views business and civil society in developing green policies and is open to integrating proposals aimed at achieving sustainable development. An MoU between Moscow Urban Forum and UN-Habitat signed in July 2018 opens the way for further collaboration in improving urban policy making and management in Moscow and other Russian Cities using tools developed by UN-Habitat such as the City Prosperity Index. Follow-up discussions are expected to take place when a delegation of the Moscow Urban Forum visits UN-Habitats headquarters in November.
Further information on session is available on this link: https://openinnovations.ru/en/program/session/139
Video recording of the session is available on this link: https://broadcast.comdi.com/watch/r7w3764r