Press Conference: Rethinking the Modern Consumption Economy

Natural resources are finite, yet we currently waste vast amounts of them. In fact, at current rates of resource use, the UN estimates that we will need to mine 180 billion tons of material every year by 2050, double the amount used today. As consumers, we waste up to $55 billion dollars’ worth of used electronic equipment and over $80 billion worth of plastic packaging and one third of all food produced annually. In the B2B space, heavy equipment ranging from
photocopiers to MRI scanners (and much in between) uses 50% of all materials mined globally. In order to capture the value of these resources and put the globe on a more sustainable pathway, a number of companies, organizations and governments have come together to create innovative partnerships to tackle e-waste, find solutions to plastic pollution and transform business models and
markets.

Speakers:
- Frans van Houten, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Royal Philips, Netherlands
- Peter Lacy, Global Managing Director, Growth, Strategy and Sustainability, Accenture, United Kingdom
- Ellen MacArthur, Founder, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, United Kingdom
- Erik Solheim, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi

Moderator:
- Georg Schmitt, Head of Corporate Affairs, World Economic Forum

http://www.weforum.org/