Covestro-Tongji Sustainable Development 2016 Forum occurred on December 14th at Covestro’s Production and Research Center in Pudong District of Shanghai China. Experts from a myriad of differing industries and professions, including governmental,   gathered to discuss the pressing need for a new collaborative cross sectoral approach for businesses and governments to confront the problem of climate change. Further, student participants in the Sino-Us Eco Urban Lab’s and Covestro’s Urban Systems competition were brought in to help inspire and generate innovative solutions in a workshop series that facilitated conversation and forward thinking between students and professionals alike.

Executive Vice-President Wujiang from Tongji University initiated the forum by positioning the essential leadership of Tongji University in sustainability education, calling on more collaboration in production, education and research with Covestro, propagating the sustainable concepts among students, applying increasing sustainable methods into practices, and thus a further implementation will be facilitated after these sustainable approaches are pushed forward.

Dr. Nanqing Jiang, began the forum by mentioning the importance that collaboration across industries and governments must play in addressing the global issue of climate change, and how it can be seen as a growing business opportunity to be involved and connected with.  Contending with climate change is an environmental issue that has a real and tangible effect upon businesses and by sharing knowledge across the supply chain (such Government, Planners, Business Leaders, Individuals, and Owners as actors) new solutions along with business opportunities can be uncovered.

Annette Wiedenbach, from Covestro, went onto to explain that although reduction of CO2 is of key importance it is not the only methodology of achieve a better world with less. Carbon Productivity is a way of approaching the problem by examining how to use carbon to reduce overall the carbon footprint, that through smart and intelligent use of carbon to create new materials one can reduce their global carbon footprint by looking at carbon as a resource, and not just as waste.

The final talks of the morning were delivered by Disney Research China and the Sino-Us Eco Urban lab, by Dr. Ben and Perry respectively, about the need for precision, methodology, and monitoring in construction and the role urban regeneration and supply chain management must play in dealing with climate change respectively.

In the afternoon the forum was dominated by the student and expert engagement workshop of examining urban system design thinking of how to apply smart materials in new ways to solve old and new problems alike. An activity that epitomizes the goals and aims of the Covestro-Tongji Sustainable Development Forum as a means of promoting collaborative awareness and thinking towards climate change, while facilitating multi-sectoral dialogue in the hopes of finding innovative solutions for a sustainable and integrated future.

Based on the sustainable development collaboration project between Covestro ,UN-Environment and IESD Tongji, the forum  was aimed for facilitating the multi-disciplinary cooperation in the context of climate change , and building up a platform for students and experts to exploit innovative and frontier ideas for a more sustainable future.