The Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development is set to take place in Singapore this year on the 25^th and 26^th of November. Themed “Transformation, Growth and the Green Economy”, the forum will bring together business leaders, NGOs and policy-makers from around Southeast Asia to discuss commitments and policy recommendations to increase sustainability across various sectors. A company taking responsible business seriously is clothing company Levi Strauss, which recently launched a line of clothing committed to durability and responsible manufacturing. Read more

RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS FORUM TO ADDRESS GLOBAL CHALLENGE ON SUSTAINABILITY AND CHART NEW DIRECTIONS FOR GOVERNMENTS AND BUSINESSES

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Singapore, 4 November 2013 – The Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development (RBF) returns to Singapore for the second year with the theme “Transformation, Growth and the Green Economy”. The forum, which will be held at Marina Bay Sands, will feature thought leaders, senior government and business leaders speaking on the latest trends in sustainable development from policy and industry perspectives.

Singapore’s Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Vivian Balakrishnan, is the guest-of-honour and opening keynote speaker.

By 2050, the global population will hit 9 billion people and the increased demand for water, food and energy will exceed our current capacity to provide. This will be the defining challenge of the 21st century, but also its greatest economic opportunity. To face this global challenge, it is clear that governments and businesses must embark on a different approach and transform their operations to embrace the green economy.

RBF will bring together about 500 senior leaders comprising government officials, global experts, policymakers and business leaders to engage in high-level discussions, and to emphasise action oriented policy and business commitments across six sectors – agriculture & forestry, palm oil, consumer goods, financial services, building & urban infrastructure and energy. The recommendations will then be presented to decision and policy-makers at a series of regional meetings in 2013 and 2014.

Some of the confirmed speakers include:

• Choi Shing Kwok, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Environment & Water Resources, Singapore

• Dorothy Maxwell, Director, TEEB for Business Coalition

• Usha Rao Monari, Director, Sustainable Business, International Finance Corporation

• Ernst Ligteringin, Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative

• Jessica Fries, Executive Chairman, HRH The Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability Project and Board member of the International Integrated Reporting Council

• Johann Clere, Global Environmental Strategy Officer, Veolia Water

• Lynelle Cameron, Senior Director for Sustainability, Autodesk

• Paul Gilding, Environmentalist, Consultant, and Author

• Peter Holmgren, Director-General, Centre for International Forestry Research

• Kara Hurst, CEO, The Sustainability Consortium

• Philippe Joubert, Senior Advisor, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

• PJ Simmons, Chairman, Corporate Eco Forum

• Ron Popper, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, ABB

• Tan Tian Chong, Group Director, Technology Development, Building & Construction Authority, Singapore

• Toh Wee Khiang, Director, Environment & Technology, National Environment Agency, Singapore

• Limin Hee, Acting Director, Centre for Liveable Cities

A full list of confirmed speakers and the forum agenda can be found at:

www.responsiblebusiness.com/forum

Responsible Business Forum Young Leaders Dialogue

A key highlight of the forum this year will be the inaugural Responsible Business Forum Young Leaders Dialogue hosted by Eco-Business, Global Initiatives, The Straits Times, Eco Singapore and City Developments Ltd. A group of 100 young leaders from polytechnics, universities and young professionals in the field of sustainability will be given the opportunity to discuss sustainability issues with other young leaders, and convey a message to the current global leaders at the event.

Launch of new TEEB for Business Coalition Natural Capital project for Business

The natural capital agenda to account for the value of nature to the economy is growing and adds value to sustainability approaches for business and investors. The TEEB for Business Coalition and members including WBCSD, IFC, World Bank, The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, GRI, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and FMO Development Bank will showcase the latest innovations on natural capital at the Responsible Business Forum. TEEB for Business Coalition are inviting businesses to participate in a new project to develop and pilot test valuation of natural capital and the role it plays in business and investor applications e.g. supply chain management, financial accounting and corporate reporting. This project will be launched at the Responsible Business Forum.

About Responsible Business Forum:

The Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development is a global series of interactive events where experts, industry and government leaders offer practical ways to accelerate solutions for a more sustainable world. Food, water and energy security, poverty, environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness are among the many global challenges discussed. Leading companies and visionaries share innovative approaches to solving these problems with a focus on higher-level collaboration, growth and commitment to action.

Co-organised by Global Initiatives, Eco-Business.com, TEEB for Business Coalition, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and WWF, the forum is also supported by the Singapore Tourism Board, National Environment Agency, Building and Construction Authority, Centre for Liveable Cities, Singapore Business Federation and media partners The Straits Times and Bloomberg Television.

Corporate partners include ABB, Autodesk, Aviva, CIFOR, City Developments Limited, Credit 360, DNV KEMA, Marina Bay Sands, Monsanto, OCBC Bank, Ricoh, South Pole Carbon, Veolia Water and Wilmar International.

http://www.responsiblebusiness.com/

Levi Strauss seeks to slow down fast fashion with sustainable practices

Levi Strauss launches a new line of clothing committed to durability and responsible manufacturing. Will consumers buy it?

By Marc Gunther in The Guardian (6 November 2013):

Sixteen years of work as a fashion designer in New York was enough for Paul Dillinger. He quit and took a job teaching design at his alma mater, Washington University in St Louis. “I had become somewhat disillusioned – really challenged morally or ethically – by the industry,” he says.

Then a friend recruited Dillinger to work for Levi Strauss & Co. Today, he’s leading a cutting-edge initiative to take sustainable design to new heights at the 160-year-old company: a Dockers line of clothes called Wellthread. The line brings together the best practices in materials sourcing and garment manufacturing, providing social and economic benefits to factory workers in Bangladesh and delivering durable khakis, jackets and T-shirts to consumers.

Dillinger wants to weave responsibility into every stage of design, manufacturing and usage, from the cotton fields to the factories to the market and beyond.

“I saw all these different nodes of activity in the company that were tackling different problems,” Dillinger said, when we met this week at Levi’s Eureka Innovation Lab, a research and development unit near the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. “The opportunity, to me, was to string all of these ideas together and create a systems approach to change.”

Michael Kobori, vice-president of social and environmental sustainability at Levi Strauss – a speaker at the Global Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development – describes the Wellthread collection as “the second generation of sustainable product because it is focused on both the environmental and social aspects of sustainability”.

There’s just one catch, and it’s a big one: for now, at least, there are no plans to sell Wellthread at retail outlets in the US when the collection is released next year. In a move that appears to reflect uncertainty about whether sustainability can be effectively marketed to US consumers, the line will be sold online and in stores in Europe.

In a business-case study of Wellthread, the company explains:

So far, all these changes are being implemented at a relatively small scale to explore the results in terms of social and business value. Wellthread will make its debut in the spring, and the company is exploring how future Dockers and Levi’s collections can capitalize on the process.

“By having this little lab to test and substantiate ideas at small-risk scale, we’re then able to deploy these new best practices at large scale,” Dillinger says.

What’s clear, nevertheless, is the seriousness of thought that has gone into Wellthread. It aims to be the antithesis of fast, cheap throwaway fashion.

“The fashion cycle that seeks to reinvent itself every six months? It doesn’t ask, ‘How do we improve the lives of the people we touch?’” Dillinger told me.

On the contrary, he said, as a New York designer for American Eagle Outfitters, Calvin Klein and DKNY, he saw brands join a race to the bottom to deliver cheap clothes in ever-changing styles. That forced brands to compromise on the quality of their products and to squeeze costs out of their supply chain at workers’ expense.

Dillinger, who is 41, has devoted his life to design. “I saw a fashion show on Donahue when I was 12 and I said, that’s what I want to be,” he said. He got a sewing machine for his 16th birthday and still keeps one on his dining table at home.

When he arrived at Levi Strauss, he found a company with a history that demonstrated a belief in durability – the company secured the first patent for the riveted pockets that help blue jeans last longer – and a commitment to an ethical supply chain. Levi Strauss was one of the first companies to set labor, health and safety standards for its global suppliers.

As senior director of color, concept and design for Dockers, Dillinger devised the plan for Wellthread. Last year, he became the first fashion designer to be awarded a First Movers fellowship at the Aspen Institute, where corporate executives develop ways to integrate social and business value.

He designed Wellthread to last for years, using a long-staple yarn grown in Pakistan (some of it under the auspices of the Better Cotton Initiative) that he expects will hold up through numerous washings and, eventually, recycling. Buttonholes and pockets are reinforced to make them more durable.

The manufacturing process will use roughly 30% less water and energy than conventional methods. Factory managers from a trusted Bangladesh suppler were flown to San Francisco to participate in design decisions. “Once we gave them permission to make suggestions, they were abundant,” Dillinger said. Too often, he said, designers simply dictate specs, by email, to the factory floor.

Meanwhile, Levi Strauss – working with partners including its foundation, BSR and Ceres – also has been developing a program to improve the finances and wellbeing of workers in its supply chain. The Bangladesh factory that makes the Wellthreads line is participating in the program.

These clothes, of course, don’t come cheap. Pants cost $140, T-shirts $50 and jackets $250. And Levi Strauss faces a big challenge of finding ways to market Wellthread to mainstream consumers so that the principles involved in its design can be deployed throughout the company.

Beyond that, the company must figure out to reconcile a commitment to long-lasting clothes with a desire to grow revenue by selling more stuff. Levi Strauss is a private company, albeit a big one, with $4.6bn in revenues in 2012. “We want to think about what thoughtful, intentional, restrained growth would look like,” Dillinger said.

Yet Dillinger also wants his ideas to spread and to change the very terms of the conversation about fashion. As he once put it: “Maybe one day, discussions of the celebrities’ red carpet choices will be go beyond daring color and revealing neckline to include the use of sustainable fibers and natural dyes. If you’re going to dream, dream big, right?”

Source: www.theguardian.com