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This event was published on 27 June 2024

London Seminar 2024

Seminar | 4 Jul 2024 09:30–17:00 London

The seminar is our annual event where we bring the publishing community and our stakeholders together from across book supply chains to discuss the hot issues, be inspired by the latest innovations, and make new connections. The event will be attended by staff from the 28 publishers that participate in the Book Chain Project, as well as representatives from the pulp & paper mills, printers, certification bodies, NGOs and other stakeholders who we engage with.

The Seminar will be a full day of activities, guest speaker presentations and opportunities for networking and catching up. The theme we will be exploring is “Lifting the Cover: The Age of Transparency and Supply Chain Collaboration”, highlighting how regulation and other drivers are pushing for increased transparency, necessitating further and deeper collaboration across supply chains.

Attendance is limited, please register below and we will confirm your place.
Please email us if you have any dietary requirements.

Guest Speakers
4 Jul 2024 10:00–17:00 London

speaker_134
Anna Wickes
Recommerce Lead, Dr. Martens

Anna looks after Recommerce for Dr. Martens, having launched resale for the brand in the UK and most recently the US. With 13 years experience within sustainability, consulting, and strategy, Anna also brings her academic experience within mathematics, economics and finance to the retail sector, aiming to transform the industry to be more circular and sustainable. Currently based in the UK, Anna has worked across the US and Asia-Pacific to build new business models, and her passion in sustainability led to her founding two businesses, including a zero-waste milk alternative company.

speaker_133
Oliver Cupit
Head of Sustainable Business & Finance, Zoological Society of London

Oliver Cupit is ZSL’s Head of Sustainable Business & Finance. He has 12 years experience working on responsible sourcing of forest-risk commodities, including provision of advice to companies on how to meet the EU Timber Regulation, forthcoming EU Deforestation Regulation, FSC certification requirements and various national regulations in Congo Basin and South East Asia. At ZSL, Oliver oversees the SPOTT ESG data project, ZSL’s consultancy service offering to the private sector and Nature-based Solutions portfolio of projects. Oliver has field auditing experience of timber product manufacturers, developing and delivering training courses on responsible sourcing, and has delivered services and training in the Solomon Islands, China, Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as across Europe. He holds an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford and an MSc in Sustainable Tropical Forestry from Copenhagen and Padova Universities.

speaker_132
Robert Williams
Procurement Director, AstraZeneca

Robert Williams is the Procurement Director in AstraZeneca. As the Director of Sustainability in AstraZeneca’s Global Procurement team, he is working with the global supply chain to deliver AZ Sustainability goals. He leads on reducing Scope 3 emissions towards Net Zero, driving Responsible Supply Chain and supporting the Power of Diversity to inspire innovation. His main focus is on developing high performing supply chains to deliver truly sustainable business growth.

Robert is also the Vice Chair of PSCI Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative; lecturer in energy procurement for the Energy Institute; member of Durham University’s Energy & Industry Board (DEI)

speaker_135
Tim Coles
Director & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), rePLANET

Tim has spent his entire career working in biodiversity monitoring or management. He started his career in the forerunner of the Environment Agency as a Fisheries and Conservation Scientist where he developed the largest river biodiversity programme in the UK with fish, breeding birds and higher plants quantified along every river in Lincolnshire. He left this to found what is now the Institute of Environmental Assessment (IEMA) and after that to found and manage Operation Wallacea. Opwall is a sustainable way of funding biodiversity research and international research teams comprising 200+ academics and supported by paying students have produced 650 papers in peer reviewed journals. During the pandemic when expeditions were not possible then Tim developed a method with a large international consultation group for quantifying how a unit of biodiversity gain could be defined. Tim is currently CEO of rePLANET an organization that funds ecosystem restoration and protection using carbon and biodiversity credit funding at 25 sites around the world.

This event is in the past
This event was published on 26 June 2023

London Seminar 2023

Seminar | 5 Jul 2023 09:30–17:30 London

Join us at this year's Seminar, with the theme Transparency: an Open Book. We'll explore the increasing expectations on companies to gather, share and disclose information on their sustainability impacts across the value chain - for example to understand the impacts on nature, ensuring commodities are deforestation free, human rights due diligence, Greenhouse Gas emissions, and options to make our books more circular.

The seminar is our annual event where we bring the publishing community and our stakeholders together from across book supply chains to discuss the hot issues, be inspired by the latest innovations, and make new connections. The event will be attended by staff from the 28 publishers that participate in the Book Chain Project, as well as representatives from the pulp & paper mills, printers, certification bodies, NGOs and other stakeholders who we engage with.

The Seminar will be a full day of activities, guest speaker presentations and opportunities for networking and catching up, including a guided tour around the Wetland Centre.

Attendance is limited, please register below and we will confirm your place.
Please email us if you have any dietary requirements.

Engaging the value chain sustainability
5 Jul 2023 10:00–10:45 London

speaker_125
Joanna Yarrow
Chief Sustainability Officer, Founding Partner, M&C Saatchi Group, M&C Saatchi LIFE

Joanna is an international expert in sustainable living & a respected voice in sustainable business.

She is Chief Sustainability Officer for the M&C Saatchi Group (the world’s largest independent creative solutions company) & Founding Partner of M&C Saatchi LIFE – a strategic creative consultancy making sustainable living mainstream. She is also NED at sustainable placemaking company Human Nature (designing & places that make sustainable living easy & attractive) & sits on P&G’s global sustainability advisory board.

With over 25 years’ experience in applying sustainability principles to projects ranging from household makeovers to multinational business strategies, Joanna brings confidence, humour, vision & clarity to the challenges of net zero, ESG & healthy, sustainable living.

Biodiversity
5 Jul 2023 10:45–11:30 London

speaker_121
Jake White
Head of Legal (Advocacy & Campaigns), WWF-UK

Jake White trained at a regional commercial law firm and then moved into the City to practise intellectual property. However that didn’t suit hence he joined government where he had 10 very stimulating years in the Government Legal Service advising on a range of areas from outer space, State aid to nuclear energy. Jake left government to join the third sector in 2012 where he worked first with Friends of the Earth and most recently at WWF where he is head of legal advocacy.

He has a particular interest in equality and human rights and has worked with NGOs in the Middle East and for Britain’s equality and human rights regulator (the Equality and Human Rights Commission). He is particularly interested in exploring this intersection in his work including in relation, for example, in relation to the great forests of the world and the peoples that live in them.

Human Rights
5 Jul 2023 11:45–12:30 London

Human Rights

speaker_122
Francesca de Meillac
Advisor, Shift

As an Advisor at Shift, Francesca works with companies and financial institutions to support their implementation of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs).

Francesca was previously Principal Consultant at Environmental Resources Management (ERM), where she led ERM’s UK human rights team, and global technical community on modern slavery and human rights. Francesca advised multinational companies to assess and address human rights risks, build internal capacity and develop and implement fit-for-purpose policies and management systems. She also worked closely with financial institutions including development finance institutions (DFIs), commercial banks, export credit agencies and private equity on assessing and managing human rights risks in accordance with international standards including the UNGPs, IFC Performance Standards and Equator Principles IV.

She has international work experience across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America including on-the-ground experience conducting stakeholder consultation, human rights impact assessments (HRIA), environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) and monitoring. Francesca is also experienced in designing and delivering training and capacity building on social performance, human rights and sustainable finance.

Francesca holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and a MA in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University. She is from Trinidad & Tobago.

speaker_123
Zuzana Mocilenkova
Advisor, Shift

As an Advisor at Shift, Zuzana works with companies and other strategic partners to support their implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

Prior to joining Shift, Zuzana worked as an independent business and human rights consultant, and as Principal Consultant at Labor Solutions, a social enterprise using technology to advance human rights throughout company value chains. In these roles, Zuzana supported businesses across different sectors to use worker voice tools and developed training content on effective grievance mechanisms in line with the UNGPs.

Prior to being a consultant, Zuzana was Head of Ethical Trade and Human Rights at Stella McCartney for over 7 years. In this role, Zuzana led the practical implementation of the UNGPs across the full due diligence spectrum and traveled extensively throughout the company’s sourcing regions in Europe and Asia. Here she gained hands-on experience working with suppliers, workers and local experts to identify root causes of human rights risks and design and deliver capacity building programs. This included carrying out stakeholder engagement, improving purchasing practices and encouraging company participation in collaborative industry programs. Zuzana has particular expertise in small, artisanal and informal fashion supply chains.

Zuzana holds a Master of Applied Human Rights from the University of York. In her thesis, she researched participatory approaches to addressing discrimination against the Roma minority population in Slovakia. Zuzana is a Slovak and British national.

Deforestation-free pulp & paper
5 Jul 2023 14:00–14:45 London

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Jade Saunders
Executive Director, World Forest ID

Jade Saunders is the Executive Director of World Forest ID, an international non-profit, with the mission to build a global reference database of forest risk commodities including timber, to aid verification of species and harvest origin of products in global trade.

Jade has over 20 years of experience working on forest governance, trade and environmental crime, most notably as an Associate Fellow of the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House and as Senior Policy Analyst at Forest Trends. She has also served as strategic advisor to ForestMind and policy analyst at the European Forest Institute FLEGT Facility.

At World Forest ID, in addition to developing the organization's overall strategy, Jade's main focus is on overseeing the data science and machine learning workstream. She works closely with governments and industry on mainstreaming scientific testing for supply chain traceability and promoting the practical application of the World Forest ID reference database.

Climate action in the supply chain
5 Jul 2023 14:45–15:30 London

speaker_124
Lydia Elliott
Supply Chains Manager, We Mean Business Coalition

As Supply Chains Manager at the We Mean Business Coalition, Lydia Elliott works across supply chain climate action and net zero strategy. For the SME Climate Hub, a core initiative of the We Mean Business Coalition, Lydia works to enable large companies value chain action and helps to develop the tools that small and medium sized businesses need to take climate action.

Breakout sessions
5 Jul 2023 16:00–17:00 London

Type
Seminar
Date
5 Jul 2023 09:30–17:30 London
This event is in the past
This link was published on 26 January 2021

Indonesian court jails indigenous farmer in conflict with paper giant APP

A farmer from the Sakai indigenous tribe is sentenced to one year in prison with a fine of 200 million rupiah ($13,800) for cutting down 20 acacia and eucalyptus trees planted by PT Arara Abadi (AA), a subsidiary of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), near his home to plant sweet potatoes for his family.
This case is part of a long-standing land conflict between the Sakai indigenous community and AA. Activists have condemned the verdict as the Sakai tribe settled in the land decades before AA obtained its concession.

  • Mongabay
  • Indonesia
  • Asia Pulp & Paper
  • Activists
  • Acacia
  • Sakai indigenous tribe
  • eucalyptus trees
  • PT Arara Abadi
This link was published on 26 January 2021

UK sets out law to curb illegal deforestation and protect rainforests

The UK government has proposed to introduce a new law to prohibit large business operating in the UK from using products that are from illegally deforested land as per local laws. Businesses that fail to carry out due diligence on their supply chains and make that information public would face fines. This proposed legislation will be on consultation for six weeks. Critics say that the proposal is flawed partly because the local laws on forest protections might be absent or have loopholes.

  • Guardian
  • United Kingdom
  • Supply chain
  • Due diligence
  • UK government
  • illegally deforested
  • Forest protections
This link was published on 25 June 2020

FLATPÅCKED FÖRESTS: IKEA’s illegal timber problem and the flawed green label behind it

This report by independent environmental charity Earthsight finds illegal logging in FSC-certified supply chains in Ukraine. Focussed on the Carpathian forests, it found around 100 sites are being felled illegally each spring, when silence periods should protect several endangered animal species including brown bears, wolves and Eurasian lynx. While regulations require Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) before sanitary felling is conducted, no EIAs were found to have been carried out. Evidence sited by Earthsight includes the Ukrainian State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI), local environmental organisations, and research commissioned by WWF Germany.

Earthsight claims this illegal logging has not been picked up in FSC audits because of systematic issues with FSC that go beyond Ukraine: conflicts of interest as auditing bodies are paid by the logging companies they certify; inadequate oversight by Assurance Services International (ASI) which should be holding the auditing bodies to account but is argued to have failed to do so. The report documents a wide array of cases where FSC-certified firms have been accused of illegal logging, clearance of High Conservation Value (HCV) forests, and human rights abuses from all over the world – including in places such as Brazil, China, Congo, Indonesia, Peru, Romania, Russia, Ukraine. Earthsight highlights that FSC has only investigated 13 companies in its 27-year history – 0.02% of the more than 44,000 it has certified.

In response, FSC states it is fully aware of the issues in Ukraine, and insists that whenever illicit acts are identified or reported they are investigated. IKEA says it has started its own investigations, commissioned audits from a 3rd-party independent audit company, asked questions to ASI, and pledges that if any illegal wood is indicated in its product it will take immediate action.

Earthsight’s report focuses on IKEA because, as the biggest buyer of wood in the world, it has the most influence to drive positive change. However, the issues found by Earthsight apply to the publishing industry as much as they do to IKEA. Therefore, the Book Chain Project will further look into Earthsight’s findings and update you as soon as we decide what further action to take.

  • Earthsight
  • Ukraine
  • Europe
  • FSC
  • Illegal logging
  • Corruption
  • Human Rights Issues
This link was published on 5 March 2020

Statement: International community urges Cambodian government to take action to address issues of human & labor rights violations

After a yearlong official investigation, the European Union still found serious and systematic violations of human rights including severe limitations to political rights and freedom of speech as well as serious barriers to labour rights and workers exercising their associational rights. The EU has now decided to partially and temporarily suspend preferential tariffs the Government of Cambodia enjoyed. This decision comes at the end of years of concerns raised by the international community. Fair Wear, Clean Clothes Campaign, CNV Internationaal, Ethical Trading Initiative, INRetail, Modint and Mondiaal FNV have released a joint statement responding to the EU’s decision and urging the Cambodian government to take urgent action.

  • Fair Wear
  • Cambodia
  • Europe
  • Ethical Trading Initiative
  • Cambodian government
  • Clean Clothes Campaign
  • CNV Internationaal
  • INRetail
  • Modint
  • Mondiaal FNV
  • Human & Labour rights
This link was published on 24 December 2019

Delhi factory fire: More than 40 dead in India blaze

A large fire has swept through a bag factory in the Indian capital Delhi, killing 43 workers. A local fire chief claims that the building did not have a proper fire licence and was operating illegally as a factory. The owner of the factory has been arrested. An electrical short circuit may have caused the fire.

  • BBC
  • India
  • Delhi
  • Factory fire
  • Fire licence
  • Electrical short circuit
This link was published on 4 September 2019

Women Stand Up to Fight the Suzano Paper Mill in Maranhão, Brazil

The Suzano Pulp and Paper mill in Imperatriz, Maranhão state, Brazil, was inaugurated in 2014 and has an annual production capacity of 1.65 million tons of pulp and 60,000 tons of toilet paper. But a local activist interviewed by the World Rainforest Movement argues that the mill has had negative impacts on the local community.

  • WRM
  • Brazil
  • The Suzano Pulp and Paper mill
  • Imperatriz
  • Maranhão state
  • Toilet paper
  • local activist
  • World Rainforest Movement
  • local community
This link was published on 4 September 2019

As a Timber Plantation Flourishes, Village Dissent Takes Root

Around 150 Yong’an residents are suing the local government and its partner forest management company, Guangxi Lee & Man Forestry Technology Ltd, for violating a clause in contract law where a business must not damage public interests. Villagers claim the eucalyptus, a thirsty plantation species, is draining the local water supply from three mountain springs, leaving very little for farming and domestic use in the village. This is the first case of this kind in China.

  • Sixth Tone
  • China
  • Eucalyptus
  • Timber Plantation Flourishes
  • 150 Yong’an residents
  • Local goverment
  • forest management company
  • Guangxi Lee & Man Forestry Technology Ltd
  • public interests
  • thirsty plantation species
  • ning the local water supply from three mountain springs
This link was published on 4 September 2019

China issues draft guidelines for hazardous chemical inspections

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) has completed its consultation on two mandatory guidelines for local authorities that explain how to investigate safety risks at chemical industry parks and hazardous chemical facilities. The guidelines for facilities not only include best practice, it also contains safety checklists. The guidelines for chemical industry parks set out the criteria for authorities to grade them. The next round of activities will focus on reviewing facilities with certain safety issues.

  • Chemical Watch
  • China
  • China’s Ministry of Emergency Management
  • local authorities
  • safety risks
  • chemical industry parks
  • hazardous chemical
  • Safety checklists
  • Chemical Industry
  • Safety Issues