Climate change will put 80 million jobs at risk

According to the survey conducted among senior officials of the manufacturing industry worldwide by IFS

IFS, a global company of business solutions in the cloud, launches a new global study on sustainability and circular economy for the manufacturing sector by the hand of the analyst, Omdia. The survey carried out among senior officials of the manufacturing industry worldwide, offers a 360º view of the new demands of the sector in the face of the need to curb the impact of manufacturing on the environment, by reducing emissions and industrial energy consumption.

According to data from the International Labour Organization, 80 million jobs would be at risk if predictions of temperature rise, driven by climate change, materialize and productivity is affected by challenging work environments.

In this sense, environmental issues occupy a prominent place in the global agenda and that is why the manufacturing industry seeks to transition to a more environmentally sustainable approach where to address a variety of challenges that include processes, people and products.

Measures against climate change

The main reasons that drive companies to carry out sustainable initiatives are regulatory compliance as the main reason for 18% of respondents, business risk for 15%; and financial incentives and tax cuts for 15 per cent.

As this latest IFS study points out, the areas that have been prioritized by manufacturers to date include water and waste treatment, for 43% of companies and monitoring carbon emissions in 40% of entities.

“Another of the great concerns for companies in this sector and, therefore, one of their main areas of investment for the short medium term, are sustainable materials and packaging,” explains Juan González, Country Manager of IFS Iberia.

“Regulators are tightening legislation on this issue, and many companies are increasingly looking to commit to both improving the sustainability of their packaging and fundamentally rethinking their packaging systems.”” In this way, the areas that show greater maturity are those that contemplate sustainable materials, including packaging (28%), water and waste treatment processes (22%), and design (22%).

The role of business

Likewise, although manufacturing companies are taking steps towards more efficient systems, the most important barriers to investment in sustainability are, on the one hand, the decentralized management of corporate responsibility among 21% of managers; on the other hand, legacy assets and infrastructures for 18%, finally, the cost of 17%.

On the other hand, the circular economy becomes more important among manufacturers, with 12% of respondents including it as a corporate approach already implemented and 80% in pilot processes. Traditional business models developed and employed to succeed in the linear economy will not be viable in an economy with scarce natural resources and more expensive because of the environmental and social impact.

Thus, the most mature manufacturing companies in the implementation of the circular economy belong to the chemical sector, where 21% have already deployed a strategy, followed by the Food and Beverage sector with 17%.

The Benefits of Taking Action

“EMF and McKinsey estimate that the circular economy could potentially increase Europe’s resource productivity by up to 3% annually, generating a net primary resource benefit of €0.6 trillion and €1.2 trillion annually in non-resource and externality benefits by 2030. In terms of emissions, it can lead to a 48% reduction in_CO2 emissions in 2030 and up to 83% in 2050.”” says Gonzalez.

With all this, according to this report, the most significant benefits that a circular economy model provides to an organization are: according to 78%, support for a sustainable strategy; an increase in customer engagement by 74% and a commitment to improving environmental protection by 74%.

Source: El Periódico de Energía