Climate action means stepped-up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts, including: climate-related hazards in all countries; integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; and improving education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity with respect to climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. It requires mobilizing US$100 billion annually by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries in moving towards a low-carbon economy. Every country in the world is already experiencing the devastating effects of climate change.

As one of Indonesia’s largest companies, Astra is committed to contribute to climate action through implementation of energy efficiency & renewable energy throughout our 238 Affiliated Companies. To manage such diverse business lines, Astra has established a comprehensive Energy Management System (EnMS) known as “Astra Green Energy (AGEn)”.

Adapting from ISO 50000 series and government regulations, AGEn covers robust tools to assess the EnMS implementation, analyze energy performance, and technical guidance. The implementation of AGEn is monitored regularly through corporate assessment.

One of AGEn main products is the “4.0 Mining Operations”. Astra has excelled in implementing real-time monitoring system and big data analysis to achieve energy optimization. Combined with renewable energy (Solar PV) installation and powerful EnMS, Astra has reduced more than 37 million liters of fuel.

Since 2015, AGEn has delivered major contribution such as reducing 4,308 terajoule energy; 0.15 billion USD saving; and reducing 461 thousand tonne CO2-eq.

This session will focus on explaining the importance of participation from all stakeholders to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using renewable resources.

Every second year a new smartphone, a growing demand for electronic devices since pandemic started - the electronic industry is booming, the demand for electronics is higher than ever before. But while we tend to put all our knowledge and energy into building new products we forget to care about the end of their life cycles: the waste they cause.

According to the Global e-waste monitor by UN in 2019 we produced 53.6 M tons of e-waste, less than 20% of it was recycled. The fate of the other 80% is unknown and undocumented. What we know so far, is, that there is a lot of movement of e-waste, mostly from high-income to low-income countries, where the waste is handled by the informal sector under dangerous conditions for the health of the workers.

Yet old devices are real gold mines: smartphones, laptops, refrigerators contain valuable metals and rare earths, their recycling is economically and ecologically worthwhile. According to the UN report the value of raw materials in the amount of 2019 is equal to approx. 57 billion USD. But how can we achieve to make the lost 80% e-waste available for professional recycling?

Purpose of the session stream

The Session stream will focus on the question, what we need to accomplish the shift from discarded e-waste to do more professional recycling and how this can pay off to achieve the SDGs by 2030. The proposed possibility contains two solutions - one that is connected to ethical consumption, the other is connected to transparency of supply chains. The stream can be divided in two streams, each one can be 30 minutes long, including 10 minutes Q&A.

Part 1: Awareness for e-waste: How to incentivize consumers to do more recycling

Part 2: Blockchain as gamechanger

Climate change, complex supply chains and sustainable shopping: Our world is going through a major shift that effects how we manufacture, sell and buy goods. Businesses have to meet a lot of requirements in the environmental, social and governmental sector to proof their sustainable manufacturing and fair labour conditions. One possibility has become to bring transparency to supply chains, supported by blockchain. Purpose of the session stream is to focus on how this can be done in the electronic industry with a positive effect on recycling.

Bioresources, are widely available in many locations from agricultural and forestry areas to urban and aquatic environments. These materials have a tremendous potential to contribute to the sustainable production of energy. Furthermore, their role as carbon-sinks, especially when used as feedstock for the production of chemicals and materials is still not totally untapped. In fact, their sustainable use is a nondismissible tool to achieve the desired carbon-neutrality in the short-term, and also for the future carbonnegative society. This section stream aims to bring together the most innovative developments that demonstrate these bioresources applications.
Section 1 will showcase the innovations on the production and use of bioenergy in different geographical and socio-economic contexts. Section 2 will highlight the industrial use of biomass for the production of marketable products besides biofuels. In Section 1, Bioenergy production and utilization in the urban context will be presented by professor Michael Bongards from the faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at Cologne University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln, DE). Many different methodologies for Bioenergy production and utilization in order to increase plant efficiency and sustainable long-term energy production will be addressed. Moreover, Mr. Markku Huhtinen in the department of Environmental Engineering at Savonia University (Savonia UAS, FI) will present Improved Solid Biofuels for Africa. He has made significant advancements in research for applying biochars for water management (e.g. stormwater treatment, mine water treatment, industrial water treatment). The efficiency of charcoal production and utilization of bio side streams and develop extracts’ production for energy, agricultural and water treatment in Africa will be introduced. In Section 2, Mr. Fabio Maria Montagnino, who is the head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The Cyprus Institute (CYI, CY), will present An overview of Bioresources as materials for energy applications. Cellulose nanomaterials for energy application (ex. solar cells, triboelectric nanogenerators, lithium-ion batteries), biomass derived carbons for hydrogen storage, insulation materials, carbon captures, solar fuels, solar still desalination, and 3D printed structures will be addressed. Next presenter is Professor Bozidar Santek from the department of Biochemical Engineering in the University of Zagreb (UNIZG-PBF, HR). He will present Balancing of Bioresources and Energy Production by addressing bioresource value chain, biorefinery concept and its processes, smart systems and smart energy planning, and the biobased economy. Furthermore, Dr. Luis C. Duarte from the Portuguese National Laboratory for Energy and Geology (LNEG, PT) will present Biomass fractionation: The search for an industrial process standard, where the most recent advances on the pre-treatment processes required to effectively upgrade lignocellulosic materials in the biorefinery framework will be discussed in relation to their current TRL and economic constrains. Lastly, Potential Applications of Lignin will be presented by professor Marlene Kienberger from the institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology at Graz University of Technology (TU GRAZ-CEET, AT). Finding sustainable alternatives for different materials and energy sources is important. Plant biomass, especially wood, is the most important renewable material. Therefore, she will introduce the utilization of todays and potential tomorrows application of lignin, which makes up 18-30% of vascular plants.

4. Results are based on three intervention weeks and three practitioners with a harmonized experimental design.

The social and economic lockdowns accompanying the COVID19 pandemic have brought about the sustainability agenda decidedly conflicting effects. On the one hand, global reduction in traffic and industrial emissions have for instance slowed down air pollution, surface water contamination, energy demands, consumer-heavy lifestyles and given wildlife a reprieve. Yet, on the other hand, the pandemic severely exacerbated a diverse set of phenomena adversely affecting global efforts for greater sustainability- from peaking levels of plastic pollution related to the use of disposable personal protective equipment PPE and single-use items waste management and tilting the job market to aggravating development dynamics reflected in the placement of the economic entities and individuals along the global value chains and deepening educational gaps and technological divides.

The unfurling processes mentioned above only serve to reiterate and reinforce the urgency to address the progressively more dire issues of sustainable development in our diverse stakeholder capacities as public institutions, private entities, community networks or single human individuals. What’s more, with humanity entering the Decade of Change, and, essentially, the current generation being the last generation that can actually make a difference for the better and manage the comprehensive and informed implementation of sustainable practices in all spheres of life, it is more than imperative we make use of youth energy for change and technological advances that have proved to have a steeper innovation curve than ever.

The session on “Technological Innovation for Sustainable Development'' engages with the impact of innovative technologies, namely AI, IoT, IoB and Blockchain on Sustainable Development. The three pillars of exploration “Environment – Society - Economy'' allow for multi- and cross-disciplinary research papers in relation to environmental protection and climate change, renewable energy and waste management, healthcare optimisation, financial/banking services accessibility, education for the future of work, increased legitimacy of political decision-making, ecosystem-conscious agriculture, protection of heritage sites and indigenous cultural traditions, transparency in the development sector, the promulgation of human rights along the global supply chains, socially responsible business productivity and profitability maximization, etc. The session would reflect four of the “Innovative technologies-SDGs” dynamics. First, innovative technologies as enablers in achieving the SDGs and their potential positive impact. Second, innovative technologies as inhibitors of the realisation of certain sustainable development targets and the potential ways in which the negative impact can be understood and curtailed. Third, innovative technologies as an industry in and of itself need to be measured against the SDGs. Four, the need for industry-tailored and regionally-specific regulations for innovative technologies that would serve to further boost the 2030 Agenda in the “new normal” of the post Covid19 world.