From LA, to Europe, to London – it’s been a whirlwind of a week spanning almost all the time zones for Products of Change this week as across the globe businesses and brand owners have been celebrating Earth Month.
Our exploits took us to Universal Music and Bravado’s Global Sustainability Summit fover on the sandy shores of Los Angeles this week, where I was honoured to sit on a panel session exploring The Next Frontier of Sustainable Merchandise.
It was a panel made up of some truly inspiring female founders, including Jaime Nack, president of Three Squares; Iris Alonzo, co-founder and creative director of Everybody World; Samata Pattinson, ceo of Red Carpet Green Dress; and Jenny Silbert, co-founder and master scavenger of Rewilder.
We were one of six panel sessions and discussion that made up the day’s activities, joining the likes of Maggie Baird from Support + Feed, an organisation driving the adoption of plant-based food provisions at music venues across the US, Reverb, and a wonderfully energetic panel session on the Sustainable Innovations in the Circular Design Economy.
It was a real privilege to be a part of proceedings and present Products of Change’s mission statement and community-driven impact. Universal Music Group is one of the largest producer of music globally, accounting for a large proportion of the global scene, from events to artists, and one of the leaders in driving sustainable development across it.
The team was among the global music industry leaders to launch the Climate Music Pact in 2021 and makes no secret of its vision to harness the power of the music industry towards inspiring transformational action on the climate crisis.
From here, it was an early morning dial-in to Mattel’s own Earth Day celebrations when it hosted its Sustainability Summit for the entire Mattel EMEA entourage. During the hour-long session, I exchanged notes and insight with Mattel EMEA’s lead sustainability engineer and past Sustainability in Licensing Conference speaker, Elizabeth Eaves across a spectrum of topics that make up the wider sustainability conversation. This included a look into the incoming legislative changes surrounding Extended Producer Responsibility and more than a cursory glance at the role and responsibility that world-leading brands such as Mattel have in educating both customer and the industry along the journey of sustainable development.
Earth Week this week has been a wonderful demonstration of the meeting of some very brilliant minds. We’ve seen the environmental organisation Canopy receive a $60m funding packaging from The Audacious Projectto catalyse work in transforming the clothing, paper, and packaging industries to a low-carbon and circular supply chain and moving them away from a reliance upon ancient and endangered forests. We’re very excited to see what research and innovation this funding can go on to unlock in this space.
This week has also seen brilliant minds from across the licensing industry convene, too via Products of Change’s very first Licensor Carbon Meeting. Hosted by The LEGO Group at its London office and bringing leading licensors in digitally, the session took some major first steps in a mission to gain parity on the methodology we can use to host carbon accounting at an industry-wide level. Thank you to everyone who joined and shared your depth and breadth of knowledge on the subject. It’s incredibly exciting to be at the start of a bold new journey for brand owners across the licensing space.
Mobile game developers, Supercell are the latest to join the Products of Change community this week as we extend a very warm welcome to the team and look forward to bringing you in to the fold and learning more from you in the coming weeks.
And so, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind Earth Week over here. Our editor Rob managed to squeeze in a trip to London Book Fair to learn the latest advances being made upon the sustainable development of the publishing world and did not return disappointed. Meanwhile, things are moving apace to bring together the next issue of the Products of Change magazine. There’s still time to get in touch if you’d like to be featured, but it’s a window growing smaller by the day.
With such a lot crammed into the last five days, we’re looking forward to slowing things day this weekend to enjoy Earth Day on Saturday, 22nd April for what it is, the chance to reflect upon why we are all doing this together and appreciate the stability our home offers to enable us all, and the majestical array of biodiversity we share it with, the chance to thrive.
It’s always important to remember that without nature, there would be no business. So, please do make sure you have a restful and happy Earth Day weekend.
