| Posted May 3, 2018

Towards a Longer Life: Backpack Company FOND OF Develops Circular Solutions for Their Backpacks

How many of your old backpacks have been forgotten in the attic or on the top shelf of your closet? What if they could be given a second life rather than cluttering up your storage space? Together with the Mittelstand 4.0 – Kompetenzzentrum eStandards, the backpack company FOND OF is developing solutions for prolonging your favourite backpack’s life – or reusing its raw material. “Since its inception in 2010, FOND OF has always been committed to responsible production. A large part of fabrics used for our backpacks and bags are made from recycled PET-bottles”, explains Hannes Weber, who is responsible for […]

| Posted April 30, 2018

Bringing Value to the Mongolian Cashmere Wool Sector Through Sustainability

A cashmere wool sweater is considered a luxury product in Europe. Even though Mongolia has the second largest cashmere wool output in the world, the local infrastructure is not developed enough to process the raw material, and at the same time, unsustainable herding practices are ruining pastureland – the very basis for cashmere production. Our new project, STeP EcoLab aims to change that dynamic through sustainable practices. The Mongolian cashmere wool sector is an important pillar of the country’s economy, supporting about a million nomadic herders. Unfortunately, the sector is experiencing a dilemma: It is lacking the infrastructure to process wool […]

| Posted April 12, 2018

Meet Us at “Nachhaltigkeit im Handel – From Fair Trade to Fair Business” at IHK Köln, 26 April 2018

Sustainability is gaining more and more relevance across sectors, and even well-established trade companies have to face the challenges of integrating sustainability strategies into their business models. Under the headline “From Fair Trade to Fair Business”, this session of the event series “Sustainability and Economic Success” sheds light on the relevance and potential of sustainability topics in different trade segments. The event is organised by the IHK Köln in collaboration with Cologne Business School and the Center for Advanced Sustainable Management. The afternoon features a keynote by Michael Kuhndt, CSCP’s Executive Director, a panel discussion, as well as three applied camps […]

| Posted April 11, 2018

Join Us for the Kompetenzzentrum eStandards Workshop “Digital Sustainable Supply Chains” on 15 October 2018 in Wuppertal!

Want to make your supply chains sustainable? Establishing transparency and sustainability along your entire supply chain helps with meeting customer demands, saving money, and making your business model more resilient. The CSCP is hosting the Kompetenzzentrum eStandards Co-Working Space in Wuppertal and will be organising a workshop looking at your challenges and needs in making your supply chains future-proof and developing digital solutions with you. Small and medium-sized companies especially can profit enormously from digital processes that make their supply chains more transparent and sustainable. With large companies as their customers, their supply chains are subject to continuous scrutiny and must […]

| Posted April 10, 2018

Joining Private and Public Forces to Overcome Common Challenges in Sustainable Procurement

CSCP brings together private and public actors to identify potential opportunities for cooperation. A workshop-series in April will allow deep-dives into key topics for defining common ground and the creation of a joint vision. Sustainable Procurement has been a key topic for the CSCP almost since its inception. Since public procurement accounts for a major share of a country’s gross domestic product (e.g EU 16% in average, in other countries such as Brazil, China, India even exceeding 30%), it can be a major lever to make value chains more sustainable and to pull innovation at the same time. At the same […]

| Posted April 9, 2018

INHERIT Policy Route Map: 20 Policy Interventions to a Healthier, More Sustainable and Equitable Europe in 2040

If you leave your front door and walk for five minutes – can you reach a park? Or a forest? If it was up to the INHERIT project team, there would be a policy intervention that guarantees every citizen at least 0.5-1 hectare of greenspace within 300 meters of their home. Sound great? That’s because accessible and well-planned green space contributes to the health and well-being of everyone. This policy intervention is only one of many that the INHERIT project identifies in their newly published Policy Route Map. From blockchain technology for decentralised energy trading to the transformation of parking lots […]

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Artist Ulrika Eller-Rüter Joins the CSCP’s Co-Working Space

We welcomed artist Dr. Ulrika Eller-Rüter, Professor of Painting at Alanus University of the Arts and Sciences in Bonn and Founder of the “Kunst im sozialen Brennpunkt” Institute, to our Co-Working Space, where we talked about taking art into the board room and affecting change on a larger scale. Imagine walking out of the train station in Germany’s former capital, Bonn, and stepping onto grass instead of concrete. Or exiting a subway station and running into the plywood walls of a temporary art exhibition. Or perhaps you fancy exchanging your thoughts in a writing laboratory next to your favourite burger-and-fries place […]

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Learn Which Types of Interventions Could Support More Resilient and Sustainable Food Value Chains

Price, quality, environmental impacts, working conditions, information, infrastructure, reputation, negotiation power, convenience, values, health concerns – these are all aspects that influence how food value chains function. But what drives these factors in the first place and what are their impacts on sustainable consumption and production? Most importantly: which types of interventions could support us in achieving more resilient and sustainable food value chains? Sign-Up to for Insights and Events on Food Value Chains to find out. The VALUMICS project tackles these questions in an innovative and participatory way, and we are keen to have you onboard. VALUMICS’s core objective is […]

| Posted April 8, 2018

Project Start – ProMoNa: Prosumption Models for Sustainable Food and Clothing

Are you a prosumer? That depends. If you have ever assembled furniture for your own home you are a prosumer. If you have knitted your own socks, engaged in an urban gardening project or used the self-checkout at the supermarket, that counts too. If done right, prosumption can hold great sustainability potential. According to Alvin Toffler’s “Third Wave” (1980), prosumerism is “the production for self-use” and today is gaining more and more attention with regards to its possible sustainability benefits. Prosumerism can take many forms, all of which have one thing in common: individuals or communities – in service of their […]

| Posted April 6, 2018

Sustainable Label assessment platform Siegelklarheit now supported by the CSCP

Siegelklarheit.de is guiding consumers through the label jungle. A CSCP-led consortium has been selected to support the platform in reaching out to mainstream consumers and increasing consumer awareness on sustainable products and labels. Better access to information for consumers, especially through the improvement and the expansion of product labels and product labeling, is among the key measures to enable more sustainable buying decisions. However, the sheer number of labels overwhelms consumers and makes it more difficult to identify those that are trustworthy and credible. Initiated by the German government in 2015, the web portal Siegelklarheit.de aims at closing this knowledge gap. […]

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