Since 1972 IFOAM has occupied the unchallenged position as the only international umbrella organization of the organic world. For the third time it launches now the International Conference on Sustainable Business and Consumption. Several prestigious organizations, such as CSCP – UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC), the Rainforest Alliance, and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), have joined the conference network SusCon. These collaborators will be working alongside Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). ( more here)
 

The environmental challenge for our planet is topic of a conference in London. Participants are interdisciplinary: agriculture, social- and economic science, researchers, politicians, but also stakeholders like investors or members of areas dealing with sustainability or being under environmental pressure. More at the Web-Site

This year’s conference was supported by Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO) IAMO was founded in 1994 and has its headquarters in Halle(Saale)/Germany, but is interconnected with other institutions working mainly on topics of agriculture. Its main targets are areas of Central and Eastern Europe as well as Central and Eastern Asia.
 

Under the leadership of MTT/Finland a research-team is working on an application for EU’s Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP) programme. The topic is: How to facilitate the transformation of the European food system actors towards competitiveness through sustainable development. The components are:

• Exchange of know-how and experience
• Recruitment of experienced researchers
• Networking, workshops and conferences

The Cologne based REWE-Group/Germany initiated in 2010 the intellectual movement “ProPlanet” . An independent Advisory Board of five people representing for years environmental/sustainable behaviour is developing with the REWE Group a hand-book to select the products being benchmarks for the total supply chain.

The UK retailer Marks and Spencer has launched together with the Cranfield School of Management a competition – about sustainability! 5.000 British Pounds are the reward for the winner!

Students from all across Europe will compete about the topic of sustainable retailing. The targets are MBA students (More here)