News and press releases

Sewing the pieces together: Towards an EU strategy for fair and sustainable textiles

The think tank ECDPM has been commissioned by Oxfam-Magasins du monde, the World Fair Trade Organization-Europe and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office with the task of developing a comprehensive study on the textile supply chains.  Sewing the pieces together: Towards an EU strategy for fair and sustainable textiles, is a research paper which assesses the available options for the EU to put in place an ambitious and integrated EU strategy in support of fair and sustainable textile supply chains. read more

The European Green Deal will not be sustainable if it is not fair

(Brussels, 12 December 2019) The Fair Trade movement welcomes the European Green Deal unveiled yesterday by the European Commission President – but calls for small farmers and workers in the Global South to be included as equal partners in a “just and inclusive” transition to more sustainable consumption and production.

“The drivers of inequality and climate change are intrinsically linked, as are the solutions,” said Sergi Corbalán, Executive Director of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office. “As the Fair Trade movement has warned during the current UN talks in Madrid, climate change exacerbates the poverty and vulnerability of small scale farmers and workers. Fairer value chains, on the other hand, can help to achieve social, ecological and financial sustainability.”

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No climate resilience without trade justice

The Fair Trade movement calls for the demands of producer organisations to be heard in the negotiations on the global climate crisis on the occasion of COP25.

(Brussels, 28.11.2019) In the run-up to the Climate Summit, the World Fair Trade movement urges Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to recognise Fair Trade policies and practices as a crucial component of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Faced with droughts, floods, and unpredictable weather changes, more and more smallholder farmers are forced to leave their fields and migrate. Therefore, the Fair Trade movement calls for urgent, concrete and ambitious action to address these adverse effects of the climate crisis, which put at risk the most vulnerable populations, world food security and, by extension, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. read more

The link between the EU Competition Law and sustainability rises in the EU agenda

Yesterday a conference on ‘Sustainability and Competition Policy: Bridging Two Worlds to Enable a Fairer Economy’ brought high-level speakers together, including EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC) of the College of Europe, University College London (UCL), and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) co-organised the full-day conference ‘Sustainability and Competition Policy: Bridging Two Worlds to Enable a Fairer Economy’ yesterday in Brussels. The event brought together high-level speakers of various fields, including EU officials, Civil Society Organisations, academics, lawyers, industry experts and competition authorities.

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Fair Trade European Parliament Breakfast Highlights Fair Trade Issues to MEPs

This morning (10th October 2019) a group of Members of European Parliament (MEPs), members of civil society organisations and Fair Trade producer organisations and networks gathered in the Members Salon in the European Parliament for the annual Fair Trade breakfast.

The breakfast, which was hosted by MEP Bernd Lange (Germany) from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and Chair of the International Trade Committee, and organised by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, was attended by over 140 participants. It was possible thanks to the financial support of the European Commission and the Trade for Development Centre, in the framework of Belgium’s Fair Trade week, an initiative of the Belgian Development Cooperation.

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ‘MAKE ICT FAIR’ BREAKFAST RAISES AWARENESS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN ICT SUPPLY CHAINS

On the morning of the 1st October, the Make ICT Fair consortium held a breakfast event at the European Parliament in Brussels attended by around thirty participants. The event was hosted by Austrian MEP Monika Vana of the Greens/EFA and Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani of Renew Europe in the Members Salon of the Parliament.

The breakfast was organised to raise awareness of sustainability and human rights abuses in the supply chain of information communication technology (ICT) products, as well as facilitate the discussion on the role of MEPs in promoting EU policies on human rights, European development banks and public procurement. read more

Event highlights role of mission-led enterprises in promoting social and environmental justice

A joint event in Brussels by the Fair Trade Advocacy Office and World Fair Trade Organization Europe gathered diverse representatives from social and environmental movements on the 6th June. Fair Trade enterprises, NGOs and CSOs from the environmental, social and solidarity, and green economy movements, policy makers and trade unionists debated and dissected the current economic model, and discussed the interconnection between social and environmental justice during panel discussions and interactive group sessions.

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The Fair Times Campaign Welcomes New Members of the European Parliament

Together with the pan-European organisations involved in The Fair Times 2019 European elections campaign, the FTAO, IFOAM EU, CIDSE, RIPESS and ECOLISE extend congratulations to all candidates elected to the European Parliament for the 2019-2024 term.

The five civil society networks and their respective members across Europe have joined  forces to deliver The Fair Times campaign, using their collective voice to call for a fair and sustainable European production and consumption agenda.  

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Call for Research Proposals on Fair & Sustainable Textile Supply Chains

Call for proposals – Research on options for an ambitious and integrated EU strategy in support of fair and sustainable textile supply chains

In the context of increasing concern for both social and environmental impacts of textile production and consumption, there is an urgent need for better regulation of textile supply chains. Progress has been particularly slow at the European Union (EU) level, in spite of increasing pressure by inter alia the European Parliament.

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