The Forum on Globalization and Industrialization (FGI), a UNIDO flagship event since 2016, is jointly organized with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Kiel Centre for Globalization. The German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) joined the consortium in 2021, driving a stronger focus in the Forum on sustainability in global supply chains with generous funding from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) through the “Research Network Sustainable Supply Chains”.

This year’s edition was organized under the theme “Sustainable Supply Chains in Times of Multiple Crises” and brought together key stakeholders from policy and representatives from the private sector, academia and civil society to discuss sustainability in light of the energy crisis, changes in the global economic landscape and heterogeneity in global trade regulations. The Forum delved into three topics: The first was mandatory due diligence legislation and its implications for small- and medium-sized enterprises in supplier countries. The second topic was the urgent energy transition to renewables with a focus on green hydrogen and its implications for firms and countries in both the Global North and Global South. The third topic was the role of the changing economic landscape, including economic power shifts and the implications for achieving sustainability in light of heterogeneous frameworks across consumer markets.