Forthcoming Vinyl Sustainability Forum attracts industry top brass
VinylPlus, the sustainable development programme of the European PVC industry, has announced its speaker line-up for the forthcoming Vinyl Sustainability Forum 2016, which includes a number of high profile speakers from a broad range of stakeholders, including those from the UN and the European Commission.
The 2016 forum, entitled ‘Smart Vinyl for our Cities’ will take place on April 28th in Vienna, Austria. It will examine the versatile role of PVC in meeting the future needs of those living and working in the world’s cities, home to an increasing majority of the global population and where the challenge to provide essential services will be the greatest. (Read more here)
The event will feature keynote speeches, presentations and discussions from representatives spanning a broad spectrum of stakeholders, from academia, government bodies, the UN, the European Commission, specifiers and all sectors of the PVC industry.
Key topics include ‘The Big Global Challenge - Sustainable Cities in the 21st Century’ and among the top-level speakers will be Martina Otto, Head of the Cities and Lifestyles Unit for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) who will outline the main elements of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-2030 and what these might mean for cities in the future.
Joining her will be Marie Yeroyanni, Senior Expert Innovating Cities with nature and culture at EU Commission DG Research and Innovation, on the EU cities and regional policy aims in 2015-2030. Yeroyanni will examine how the EU plans to achieve the SDGs in the urban context. Plus, Dr Matthias Hensel, Chairman of the BDI initiative, will be looking at Cities and Energy Efficient Buildings.
Presentations in the ‘Setting the Standards for Sustainable Cities’ session will involve Lena Johansson, Senior Adviser at The Natural Step (TNS), on key trends for shaping conurbations and Rob Bogaarts, Sustainability Director at Woonbedrijf, highlighting developments in the city of Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Other leading commentators include Karl Martin Schellerer, Managing Director of Vinnolit GmbH, whose keynote speech on global vinyl markets will be followed by Brigitte Dero, VinylPlus General Manager, outlining current achievements through the Voluntary Commitment to sustainable development and future goals for PVC sustainability.
Four experts will be discussing PVC’s contribution to delivering sustainable cities through water supply and management, windows and flooring. They are respectively Durk Krol, Director of the Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP); Steve Tan, former Executive Director of PVC4Pipes; Thomas Vondrak, Technical Director of Internorm and Anette Timmer, Director of Sustainability (EMEA) at Tarkett.
Innovative design and the role of vinyl in future cities will be explored by Stefania Lombardi and Roberto Cannobbio from Canobbio Textile Architecture srl, Italy, while Sara Banzatti and Irene Sartor from the Domus Academy, a design and architecture school in Italy, will showcase sustainable designs for water conservation.
VinylPlus is the renewed ten-year Voluntary Commitment of the European PVC industry. The programme establishes a long-term framework for the sustainable development of the PVC industry by tackling a number of critical challenges in the EU-28, Norway and Switzerland.
Commenting on the programme, Brigitte Dero said: “Our annual Forum is a much-anticipated event where participants can showcase innovation and share the many emerging opportunities for Vinyl in our cities. We look forward to welcoming you.”
More information on the 2016 Forum can be found at http://vinylplus.eu/community/vinyl-sustainability-forum/vsf16