Manufacture 2030 from 2degrees wants to help companies unlock the sustainable value creation promised by the SDGs through collaboration

2degrees has launched a new collaborative manufacturing platform to help companies make big efficiency gains on their use of resources, water and energy and seize the “very big prize” of working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Manufacture 2030 is a new solution for retailers, brands and their manufacturing suppliers to share best practice, with the aim of halving the resources used to manufacture products and improve efficiency over the next 10 years.

Martin Chilcott, founder and CEO of 2degrees, a UK digital collaboration platform, said at this week’s launch event at London’s Shard: “The business case for creating sustainable value has never been stronger.”

The Business and Sustainable Development Commission reported in January that the business opportunities opened up by the drive to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in just four economic areas will add up to $12tr over the next 15 years.

 

Chilcott said the platform aims to open up the “very big prize” of making manufacturing more sustainable. Improving energy cost reductions from the average 1% per annum to 8% alone would save businesses £100,000 per year. He said the platform has the potential to save non-energy intensive industries $315bn in annual operational costs, and applying circular economy principles to the appliances industry alone could generate a further $300-500bn.

“Sustainable manufacturing is a very, very big prize, but it isn’t happening at scale,” Chilcott said.

The platform hopes to unlock those saving by helping suppliers and operational managers improve the performance of their individual factories by using collaborative tools. It has three features: supplier engagement channels, which will enable supply chain owners to motivate suppliers; collaboration hubs, where operational managers can share best practice and experience; and tools to help managers cut costs, benchmark and report on their efforts.

Chilcott said: “Manufacture 2030 will turn the problem on its head … scale will become the answer. It will make the collective experience of tens of thousands of manufacturers from different industries and supply chains to be easily shared … It will improve trust, communications, and address social and ethical challenges such as modern slavery.”

The platform has been founded along with several partners, including npower business solutions, The Carbon Trust, CDP and WRAP. The platform’s first retail partner is Co-op, while Mars is the first multinational to bring its factories to the collaboration hubs and sign up to the M2030bee tool, a targeted collaboration tool, which goes live in April. William Jackson Food Group is also participating, meaning the platform will be moving to second and third tiers of the food supply chain.

Sarah Wakefield, food sustainability manager at Co-op, said the platform was key to supporting suppliers, and enabling everyone to work in a similar space, sharing best practice and solving the problem of reporting. “Competition acts as a barrier to innovation and change ... If you want change, collaboration is the answer.”

 

manufacturing  SDGs  Mars  Co-op  climate  energy  energy efficiency