Participants of the Better Cotton Conference 2022 in Malmö, Sweden, and online, can access materials relating to the conference sessions here.
22 June 2022: DAY ONE
Keynote and morning plenaries
Speaker: Alan McClay, CEO, Better Cotton
▼ Location: Mega
Speakers:
- Charlene Collison, Associate Director, Sustainable Value Chains and
Livelihoods, Forum for the Future - Iain Watt, Founder, IJW Climate Strategy
Useful links:
■ Plenary Presentation ▼ Location: Mega
Speakers:
- Nigel Burnett, Cotton Grower Emerald Queensland and Cotton
Australia Chair / Cotton Australia - Saleena Pookunju, Capacity Building Manager, Better Cotton
- Chiara Trabacchi, Climate Change Manager, British International Investments
Facilitator: Charlene Collison, Associate Director, Sustainable Value Chains and Livelihoods, Forum for the Future
Useful links:
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Speaker: Better Cotton Lead Farmer, Director of Somnath Farmer Producer Company, Gujarat (India)
■ Plenary Address ▼ Location: Mega
What is needed to shift the economics of cotton farming, and so improve the livelihoods and wellbeing of smallholder farmers and their communities?
How does climate change affect the options available to us?
Speaker: Isabelle Roger, Senior Policy Advisor, Solidaridad Network & Better Cotton Council Member
■ Plenary Address ▼ Location: Mega
Exploring the challenges and opportunities facing smallholders in a world with a changing climate, from the perspective of farmers and partners from India, Egypt and Tajikistan.
Speakers:
- Balubhai Parmar, Better Cotton Lead Farmer, Director of Somnath
Farmer Producer Company (India) - Mona Kassem, Better Cotton Division Manager, and Export and
Impact Manager, and ALKAN Mohamed Nossier for Trading and
Industry (Egypt) - Sharipov Habibullo, Better Cotton Farmer (Tajikistan)
Facilitator: Saleena Pookunju, Capacity Building Manager, Better Cotton
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Breakout Sessions 13:00 – 13:55
Exploring the frameworks, investments, market mechanisms, platforms and funding that are needed to enable successful landscape approaches.
Speakers:
- Gregory Jean, Standards and Learning Manager, Better Cotton
- Pramit Chanda, Global Director Textile & Manufacturing, Country
Director – India, IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative - Willem Ferwerda, CEO & Founder, Commonland Foundation
- Paul Chatterton, Founder & Lead, Landscape Finance Lab
Facilitator: Anita Chester, Head of Materials, Laudes Foundation
Useful links:
- Laudes Foundation
- Commonland’s 4 Returns Framework
- IDH Landscapes
- IDH SourceUp
- Meridia App
- Better Cotton Adapting to Landscape Approach (ATLA) Project
■ Breakout Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Taking a systemic approach to climate adaptation. Explore why adaptation approaches need to look beyond policies and programmes to consider complex relationships, power and mindsets, and understand how systems thinking and futures approaches can help overcome the critical gaps and challenges in current approaches to climate adaptation
Speakers: N/A – interactive session
Facilitators:
- Hannah Cuneen, Principal Change Designer – regenerative, just and
resilient value chains and livelihoods, Forum for the Future - Charlene Collison, Associate Director, Sustainable Value Chains and
Livelihoods, Forum for the Future
■ Breakout Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Blackbox
Leading partners – what innovative approaches could hold the key to greater impact at scale?
Speakers:
- Sunil Sundaine, Project Manager, Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation
- Rajan Bhopal, International Project Manager, Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK)
- Julio Cézar Busato, Cotton Producer & President, Responsible Brazilian Cotton – ABRAPA
- Dr Oliver Knox, Associate Professor of Soil Systems Biology, cotton –
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England
Facilitator: Angela Russ, Senior Manager, Programmes, Better Cotton
Useful links:
- Pesticides in Cotton
- PAN UK Mobile App
- The Goondiwindi Circular Cotton Project:
■ Breakout Panel Discussion ▼ Location: View
Breakout Sessions 14:05 – 15:00
Going beyond the buzzword: how regenerative agriculture can help with climate change and more.
Speakers:
- Rui Fontoura, Fiber & Materials Strategy Lead, Textile Exchange
- Marco Reyes, Senior Director Industry Initiatives and Portfolio
Management – Responsible Sourcing, Walmart - P Vamshi Krishna, Associate Director (Sustainable Agriculture), WWF India
Facilitator: Lena Staafgard, Chief Operating Officer, Better Cotton
Useful links:
- WWF India – Sustainable Agriculture
- Better Cotton and Regenerative Agriculture
- Walmart – Driving Regeneration in Agriculture
- Textile Exchange’s Regenerative Agriculture Analysis
■ Breakout Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Blackbox
How can ecosystem service payments be used effectively to benefit farmers? What are the opportunities and challenges?
Speakers:
- Ronald Vargas, GSP General Secretary, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO
- Brooke Summers, Supply Chain Consultant, Cotton Australia
- Martine Jansen, Head of Partnerships, Acorn, Rabobank
- Asger Olesen, Chief Climate and Ecosystems Officer, Forest Stewardship Council
Facilitator: Emma Dennis, Senior Manager, Sustainable Agricultural Practice, Better Cotton
Useful links:
■ Breakout Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Creating a shared approach to measuring and communicating sustainability progress – the Delta Framework.
Speakers:
- Francesca Mancini, Lead Sustainability Consultant, Delta Project
- Kristin Komives, Director of Programmes, ISEAL
- Evonne Tan, Data & Technology Director, Textile Exchange
Facilitator: Eliane Augareils, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager, Better Cotton
Useful links:
■ Breakout Panel Discussion ▼ Location: View
Keynote and afternoon plenaries
Speaker: Safia Minney, MBE, Founder and Director, Fashion Declares & People Tree
■ Plenary Address ▼ Location: Mega
How do retailers and brands plan on continuing to innovate and what will be the key driver that pushes them to meet the global target; net zero 2050?
Speakers:
- Gerson Fajardo, Director – Sustainability, Raw Materials, and Benchmarking, Walmart
- Caroline McGarvey, Material and Innovation Area Manager Textiles, IKEA
- Jeremy Lardeau, VP Higg Index, Sustainable Apparel Coalition
- Elodie Gilart, Senior Sustainability Manager, Marks & Spencer
Facilitator: Ashley Barrington, Membership Manager, Better Coton
Useful links:
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Three women field staff from Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, who are working to inspire climate action in cotton communities.
Speakers:
- Gülan Oflaz, Field Facilitator, GAP UNDP (Turkey)
- Narjis Fatima, Field Facilitator, WWF-Pakistan (Pakistan)
- Mona Kassem, Better Cotton Division Manager, and Export and Impact
Manager, and ALKAN Mohamed Nossier for Trading and Industry (Egypt)
Facilitator: Njeri Kimotho, Global Gender and Social Inclusion Linking, Learning Lead & Policy Advisor, Solidaridad Network
Useful links:
- Better Cotton – International Women’s Day
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Closing address
▼ Location: Mega
23 June 2022: DAY TWO
Keynote and morning plenaries
▼ Location: Mega
Speaker: Christina Niemelä Ström, Head of Sustainability, IKEA
Useful link:
■ Plenary Address ▼ Location: Mega
Learning from others – perspectives on traceability opportunities and challenges.
Speakers:
- Kristian Doolan, Partnerships & Innovation, FarmerConnect
- Evonne Tan, Director of Data & Technology, Textile Exchange
- Ywe Jan Franken, Serious Farm Accelerator, Tony’s Chocolonely
Facilitator: Johan Zandbergen, CEO, Chainpoint
Useful links:
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Exploring where Better Cotton is now with its work on traceability – and what comes next.
Speakers:
- Amit Shah, CEO & Founder, Spectrum Cottfibers LLP
- Arvind Rewal, Global Cotton Development Manager, IKEA Group
- Francisco Ferreira Dos Santos, CEO, San JFS
- Jacky Broomhead, Traceability Manager, Better Cotton
Facilitator: Alia Malik, Senior Director, Data and Traceability, Better Cotton
Useful links:
- Better Cotton Articles:
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Speaker: Lacy Vardeman, Owner of Cotter Key Farms, Cotter Ranch Ltd., and partner of Vardeman Farms Partnership
Useful link:
■ Plenary Address ▼ Location: Mega
Exploring climate change adaptation and mitigation as well as other sustainability challenges and opportunities from a medium and large farm perspective.
Speakers:
- Nigel Burnett, Cotton Grower Emerald Queensland and Cotton
Australia Chair / Cotton Australia - Thiago Souza, R&D Management and Innovation on Regenerative Agriculture, Scheffer Group
- Lacy Vardeman, Owner of Cotter Key Farms, Cotter Ranch Ltd., and
partner of Vardeman Farms Partnership - Fuat Tanman, Better Cotton Farmer & Chair, IPUD
Facilitator: Amna Bajwa, Programme Coordinator, Better Cotton
Useful links:
■ Plenary Panel Discussion ▼ Location: Mega
Breakout Sessions 13:40 – 14:35
Sustainability claims and greenwashing legislation – What’s going on? What is best practice?
Speakers:
- Imola Bedo, Policy Officer, DG Environment, European Commission
- Felix Fehling, Senior Coordinator, Membership and Engagement, ISEAL
- Heike Blank, Partner, CMS Germany
- Philipp Meister, Global Lead Fashion and Sporting Goods, Quantis
Facilitator: Ellie Gaffney, Member Communications Manager, Better Cotton
■ Breakout Panel ▼ Location: Blackbox
Useful links:
Examining innovative practices around impact measurement & reporting
Speakers:
- Vidya Rangan, Senior Manager Impacts & Evidence, ISEAL
- Holly Browne, Assistant Director – Sustainable Apparel, Anthesis Group
- Brooke Summers, Supply Chain Consultant, Cotton Australia
- Haki Pamuk, Impact Researcher, Wageningen University and Research (WUR)
Facilitator: Kendra Park Pasztor, Senior Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning, Better Cotton
■ Breakout Panel ▼ Location: Mega
Breakout Sessions 14:45 – 15:40
How can we unlock the potential of smallholder farmers through sustainable finance, including impact investing?
Speakers:
- Lars van Doremalen, Impact Investment & Partnerships Manager,
Solidaridad - Heleen Bulckens, Senior Manager – Materials, IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative
- Subindu Garkhel, Global Cotton & Textiles Lead, Fairtrade
- Christoph Gosdenoz, Founding Partner, FairCapital
Facilitator: Rebecca Owen, Director of Fundraising, Better Cotton
Useful links:
■ Breakout Panel ▼ Location: Blackbox
How does climate change exacerbate vulnerabilities of farm workers?
What urgent collaborative action is required to reduce these vulnerabilities, and to monitor and mitigate the changing needs and risks on the ground?
Speakers:
- Jason Glaser, CEO, La Isla Network
- Rachel Rigby, Human Rights Lead, Rainforest Alliance
- Ashif Shaikh, Founder & CEO, Jan Sahas
Facilitator: Chelsea Reinhardt, Director, Standards and Assurance, Better Cotton
Useful links:
■ Breakout Panel (Virtual) ▼ Location: View
Due diligence management systems for identifying and addressing risks to support traceability requirements, meet due diligence regulations and help the industry prioritise risk mitigation.
Speakers:
- Isabelle Roger, Senior Policy Advisor, Solidaridad Network, & Better Cotton
Council Member - Patricia Jurewicz, CEO, Responsible Sourcing Network
- María Luisa Martínez Díez, Public Affairs Director, Global Fashion Agenda/Policy Hub
- Rashad Abelson, Legal Expert, Responsible Business Conduct, OECD
- Ajay Sharma, Head, Supply Chain Management and Raw Material Procurement, The Raymond Group
Facilitator: Lisa Ventura, Public Affairs Manager, Better Cotton
Useful links:
■ Breakout Panel ▼ Location: Mega
Afternoon plenaries
Speakers:
- Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, Markets | Executive Director,
Markets Institute, WWF - Lena Staafgard, Chief Operating Officer, Better Cotton
■ Plenary Interview ▼ Location: Mega
Useful links:
Closing Address
Speakers
- Yasemin Arhan Modéer, CEO and Founder at Altitude Meetings
- Alan McClay, CEO, Better Cotton
▼ Location: Mega
Useful link:
