Going beyond just a summit to a carbon neutral celebration of change, Control Union Sri Lanka, part of the global network of Inspections, Certification and Laboratory services, held its ‘Sustainably Versatile Summit – TEX 360’ to weaving a greener, more sustainable future for the textile industry.
The summit was held recently at Hilton Colombo, was attended by many industry leaders, subject experts, and policy-makers, coming together to discuss groundbreaking ideas and solutions that will help the industry embrace a more holistic eco-conscious and responsible approach in tackling some of the most pressing issues facing today and in the future.
The highlights of the event included the introduction of a dedicated mobile application, EVENTA to calculate event emission including those of the attendees, and a virtual sustainable gift was given out to each participant, bestowing the ‘Climate Neutral Citizen’ status for one year, by neutralising estimated annual personal level emissions using 2 tCO2e carbon credits each.
By neutralising the event and awarding the virtual sustainable gift to all participants, the event in itself was able to achieve a total neutralisation of a million kilograms equivalent of carbon dioxide emissions.
The speakers included Franco Costantini – CEO, Regenagri; Ganesh Kasekar – South Asia Representative, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS); Saket Kulkarni – Implementation Manager, South Asia, Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP); Vincent Decap – Co-Founder, Zero Plastic Oceans, and Abhishek Bansal – Head of Sustainability, Global Water Innovation Centre for Action – GWICA, discussing issues and providing solutions and standards in addressing them.
Two thought-provoking discussion panels were held. The first panel titled ‘Stitching Sustainability’ discussed on how innovative strategies are needed to tackle challenges, ensure revival, sustain growth, meet brand demands, and anticipate upcoming legislation especially in supply chain compliance. It also stressed on exploring global textile opportunities, promoting strategic collaborations to enhance innovation and technology, and how the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) plays a vital role in enhancing export development for the apparel industry.
The panellists were Dr. Kingsley Bernard, Chairman/CEO – Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB); Dr. Saranga Alahapperuma, Chairman – Industrial Development Board (IDB); Indika Liyanahewage, Chairman – Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA); Yohan Lawrence, Secretary General – Joint Apparel Association Forum Sri Lanka (JAAFSL), Dr. Sampath Wahala – Chairman, Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB), moderated by Roshan Ranawake, Managing Director – Control Union Sri Lanka.
The second panel discussion titled ‘Innovation Unraveled’ brought together some of the most senior executives at Control Union, including Dr. Binay Kumar Choudhury and Fakhrul Islam Khan, Co-Chairmans – Global Expert Team; Dirk Teichert, Board Member/Chairman Asia Pacific; Ms. Lonneke de Kort, Manager Sustainable Textiles & Materials EMEA; Roshan Ranawake of Sri Lanka, and Ms. Mariecar Gecale, Product Owner for Asia, Peterson Technologies, moderated by Naveen Singh, Center of Excellence – Textile – Asia.
