The European Green Deal commits the EU to carbon neutrality by 2050 and policymakers want industry to ‘pave the way’ with a transition towards net zero emissions for a cleaner, healthier future. Hosting leaders from the worlds of industry, innovation, science, government and investment, Sustainable Industrial Manufacturing (SIM) in Belgium will provide an opportunity for those at the frontier of cleaner manufacturing to present sustainable solutions to business leaders from across five hard-to-abate sectors.

Glass Futures, through collaborative engagements with respective and relevant stakeholders within the glass industry and its supply chain, and its UKRI government funded UK-India Lab-to-Lab Collaborative Project, have captured some of the high-level, broad-based sustainability challenges that the glass industry faces across the entire end-to-end process.

Dr Lucy Smith is a Principal Researcher for the Circular Economy Group at the Materials Processing Institute, where she leads on projects relating to resource efficiency, sustainability, and material recovery from waste. She is a member of the recently formed Transforming Industries Future Leaders Group and represents the Institute at a range of external Working Groups.

After the dust has settled following COP26, this half day conference will consider the main outcomes of the summit, the implications of the key commitments and pledges, discuss what was missing and debate the next steps.