Guest Article By Rob Hutchins
Editor, Products of Change
Team GB, the LEGO Group, Tesco, and the United Nations have all been confirmed to join the industry’s bravest and boldest pioneers as part of the conversation at this year’s Sustainability in Licensing Conference.
On Nov. 8, the Sustainability in Licensing Conference (SiLC) will make its grand return to the Royal Geographical Society in London where the one-day event will bring to the stage some of the biggest names in brand licensing and consumer products as well as some of the keenest purveyors of industry sustainable innovation and transformation.
SiLC 2023 will once again be an in-person event as well as live-streamed to audiences around the globe. Both in-person tickets and digital only tickets are available to book now.
Spotlighting a new era for licensing, industry giants the LEGO Group, the Walt Disney Company, Bravado, Difuzed, and DK Books will convene for a ‘partner panel conversation’ in which each will share the steps they are taking to navigate the latest wave of environmental legislation to each measure their scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions and reduce their impact. The session will also bring to the foreground some of the biggest questions we, as a collective, now need to be finding answers to.
The landscape, we know, is shifting. Here in Europe and the UK, Extended Producer Responsibility is coming. So too are the effects of the European Green Deal, the obligations of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, refined Greenwashing regulations, and across the Atlantic, the impact of the Green Guides.
As the United Nations draws up its Plastic Treaty to “cut the head off the toxic single use snake” and the EU begins to embed its Nature Restoration Law, we can expect some seismic shifts in the way businesses operate.
The Sustainability in Licensing Conference will be hosting a special session—delivered by James George, POC’s Ambassador for Circularity; and Mike Swain, POC’s Ambassador for Packaging— dedicated to exploring the latest in legislation you cannot afford to miss, as more and more, nations and leaders begin to shift economies to something more circular.
Taxation isn’t the only change coming, either. No, companies will also soon enough be required to measure and track their carbon. The LEGO Group has already put it on record it will begin the process of measuring the carbon of all its activities from as early as 2024, showing some real leadership in the conversation.
Carbon calculation will be crucial, which is why SiLC 23 will be delivering a special talk from the Carbon Literacy Project’s co-founder and director of advocacy, Phil Korbel to understand just why carbon is being calculated and what this all means for business.
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A special session exploring the latest developments in the sports sector will witness POC’s Ambassador for Sports, Simon Gresswell, preside over conversations with Scott Field, marketing director at Team GB and Rishi Jain, director of impact at Liverpool FC as they explore the knock-on effects it will all have on sustainability in sports merchandise and licensing.
The London setting will go on to play host to some truly groundbreaking and era-defining collaborations as Dayrize takes to the stage to showcase the technological solutions it is bringing to the industry before Fabacus and the ethical clothing brand Nobody’s Child talk attendees all through the Digital Product Passport.
Tapping directly into incoming legislative demands from the EU, the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a new transparency tool that—through the unique use of QR codes—contains all the information on the production of a garment a customer would need to make a conscientious and informed decision before purchase. The new tool is making its debut with Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place range at M&S before Nobody’s Child rolls the technology out across its entire range.
In doing so, Fabacus, Nobody’s Child, and M&S are currently leading where others will soon have to follow as European legislation will soon dictate that Digital Product Passports feature on all products across all categories, starting with clothing.
The legislation will change the face of supply chain transparency and traceability and retailers will only begin to demand more from the partners they work with. For this reason, the retail landscape will have a strong presence at SiLC 2023 as Asda, Lush, and Tesco—through its partnership with Hasbro and Wastebuster to bring the Recycle to Read toy recycling campaign to life in-store—each take to the stage to present their latest, before taking part in a special Retail Panel with some very special guests.
“When the Sustainability in Licensing Conference made its in-person debut at the Royal Geographical Society in London last year, it kick-started a new series of conversations around industry sustainable development,” says Helena Mansell-Stopher, founder of Products of Change, the team behind SiLC 23.
“This year, SiLC 23 will be showcasing the solutions and answers to questions we have all been asking. The narrative woven through each session we have lined up for this year’s event not only provides attendees the thinking space for how to progress on their own journeys with sustainability but presents some hugely exciting and defining technologies and solutions as to how we, as an industry, can really start to move things forward – with some truly innovative examples of circularity at play.”
The day’s proceedings will be introduced with a very special keynote talkdelivered by none other than Caroline Petit, the Deputy Director for the United Nations’ Regional Information Centre who will take the chance to speak directly with the licensing industry about the overarching ambition of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the role businesses like ours will have to play in helping us reach them.
“We cannot wait to celebrate a global industry in transition and believe the Sustainability in Licensing Conference 2023 will be one to remember as the moment a new era for more responsible and sustainable licensing was ushered in,” said Helena.
Book your Sustainability in Licensing Conference tickets todayThose wishing to attend this year’s Sustainability in Licensing Conference can book their tickets via the SiLC website today. Ticket options are available for in-person attendance and digital only. The Conference will be live-streamed to audiences around the world.
Book your SiLC 2023 tickets here.
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