Summit to Highlight New Approaches to Sustainability

The summit will give case studies of companies who have successfully and legitimately met the ethical & environmental challenges. Leading experts and organisations at the cutting edge of sustainability initiatives will present papers in a high-level forum.

27/04/09 The first-ever conference dedicated to eco-labelling and sustainability has been unveiled by Organic Monitor. The inaugural Sustainable Foods Summit (www.sustainablefoodssummit.com) will be held in Amsterdam, June 25-27. It aims to bring together some of the most influential and key organisations involved in sustainability in the European food industry.

A key feature of the summit is that it will focus on industry best-practices. A growing number of food companies are making sustainability claims, however how true are these claims and are they substantiated? The summit will give case studies of companies who have successfully and legitimately met the ethical & environmental challenges. Leading experts and organisations at the cutting edge of sustainability initiatives will present papers in a high-level forum.

The premier summit will open with a dedicated session on Sustainable Pathways & Eco-labelling. The session will focus on the common pathways to sustainability via ecolabels, covering organic standards, fairtrade concepts, food miles & traceability, carbon labelling and local foods. The major organisations involved in eco-labelling – including Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), Institute for Marketecology (IMO), Rainforest Alliance, Carbon Trust and UTZ Certified - will present papers and participate in a panel discussion that looks at the future direction of eco-labels ‘Sustainable pathways: convergence or divergence’.

Investing in Sustainability is the focus of the second session. With sustainability intricately linked to environment and social issues, this session looks at how companies can maximise their sustainable investments. What initiatives have been successful, and how can they be measured? Some of the topics to be covered include ethical financing, investment sources, sustainable investment in developing countries, poverty eradication and government & policy initiatives.

Case studies will be given from investors as well as investment recipients. One of the key speakers in this session will look at how investment can encourage sustainability in a war torn region. Nasser Abufarha of Canaan Fair Trade will highlight how investment in organic & fair trade projects has improved the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank. Other speakers in the second session are from the ethical bank Triodos Bank and AgroFair, one of the largest fairtrade companies in the world.

The second day of the Sustainable Foods Summit begins with an opening address titled ‘Sustainability from Farm to Fork’. The morning address sets the scene for the preceding papers that focus on Sustainable Supply Chains. With food safety and ethical sourcing becoming high on the agenda, this session looks at how companies can develop sustainable and safe supply chains for food products & ingredients. Topics to be covered include ethical sourcing & partnerships, traceability & provenance, sourcing from endangered areas, distribution pitfalls and ethical consumerism. The panel discussion will look at the possibility of gaining a competitive advantage from sustainable supply chains. Key speakers in the third session include executives from Alpro, Earthoil, Boston Consulting Group and TetraPak.

The fourth session of the two-day programme focuses on the major Marketing & Industry Issues food companies face when taking the sustainability route. Case studies will be given of companies who have successfully and legitimately met the ethical & environmental challenges. Presentations will cover topics like marketing on sustainable values, building a sustainable business, ethical retailing and building consumer confidence. Deutsch See will share its experiences with sustainable seafood, whilst Starbucks will show how it has integrated sustainability into its corporate strategy. The summit will close with a post-conference workshop aimed to help companies build sustainable supply chains. The interactive workshop looks at the major challenges companies face when developing sustainable supply chains, offering practical solutions.

www.sustainablefoodssummit.com

Further Information

Ms. Jasmine Narang

Email: jasmine@organicmonitor.com

More information is available from www.sustainablefoodssummit.com