Copenhagen Summit to offer carbon offsetting guidance

EXCLUSIVE – The world’s largest sustainable fashion event, Copenhagen Fashion Summit, has told Apparel Insider it will offer guidance on carbon offsetting to all event attendees from next year. Eva Kruse, CEO & president of Global Fashion Agenda, acknowledged that, “carbon emissions are a consequence of attendees travelling to the summit and it is an issue that we would like to address for our future events.” Kruse was responding to a request for information on the precise travel details of this year’s 1,300 attendees who travelled to Denmark from 48 countries. GFA provided us with a list of countries represented but declined to provide further details in order that we could calculate the carbon footprint of the 2019 summit.

Elaborating, Kruse responded: “The global apparel and footwear industry accounts for 8 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than all maritime shipping and international flights combined. Therefore it is necessary that we come together to find solutions to reduce the impact of the fashion industry. Copenhagen Fashion Summit is an event that enables fashion industry stakeholders from across the globe to meet face-to-face and find solutions that will ultimately make the fashion industry more sustainable.

“It is important that a diverse range of markets and all segments of the value chain are represented at the Summit. Coming together in one location is important as it facilitates valuable connections that help to drive systemic change. We appreciate that carbon emissions are a consequence of attendees travelling to the Summit and it is an issue that we would like to address for our future events. All content from the Summit discussions is available via livestream for those who do not wish to travel to Copenhagen. Next year, we are planning to provide guidance regarding carbon offsetting to all of the attendees ahead of the event.”

We believe this is a forward step, of sorts, by GFA. However, might it be better served adding a carbon tax to ticket prices for next year? Or, better still, provide a broadcast-quality, online, interactive production, with the chance for a global audiencre to interact with high profile speakers and industry stakeholders via the web?