Last Thursday, November 3, the meeting of the Ethical Trade Forums took place at the NH Luz de Huelva hotel with the title “Behind the water and carbon footprints of the agri-food sector”. This meeting was attended by more than fifty attendees between companies and interest groups in the sector.
The event had a very dynamic and participatory course with the intervention of the different expert speakers and the public that attended:
Alejandro Marín (DPS) opened the day by communicating the actions that the Sustainability Group of the Ethical Trade Forums have carried out in recent years and analyzing the Carbon Footprint Guide.
Next there was a panel of experts, “Water Footprint and Carbon Footprint” where Patricia Gómez (Ecoterrae), Sebastián Guery (Life for Doñana) and Alejandro Marín (DPS) himself discussed the calculation of the footprints and clarified doubts to attendees as to how to perform this calculation and the measurement equipment that exists for it.
After that, Luis Salvatella (Grupo La Cartuja) presented his experiences in the field in search of efficiency in the use of water and made a fair statement about the profile of the irrigators in the sector.
Carmen Palanco (Hortifrut) presented her company’s Environmental Sustainability strategy, in which the calculation of the Carbon Footprint is a key element, and explained the different actions they carry out in search of reducing the Carbon Footprint.
After the coffee break, the activities of the Working Groups of the Ethical Trade Forums were updated and a very participatory dynamic was held in which the different personal experiences with environmental certifications were discussed.
The morning ended with the presentation of Mario Díaz (Innocent) “Experience in training leadership skills for middle managers of the company.” An example of how the supply chain can collaborate to improve working conditions.
After lunch, Sergio Barberá (Director of Ethical Trade Forums) gave an update on the recently established Ethical Trade Forums Association and invited everyone to participate in it.
The day concluded with two workshops in parallel, the first about the Water Carbon Footprint in which Patricia Gómez and Cecilia (Ecoterrae) helped everyone to better understand the calculation of these footprints; the other workshop was given by Steve Miles (Emerging Leaders) with the help of the Innocent and SVZ team and gave some insights into the Emerging Leaders training methodology for skills and leadership enhancement.
The day concluded satisfactorily and various positive opinions were obtained in this regard.