On 15th and 16th May, Northampton University held their inaugural Sustainability Summit with the central theme of “Adapting to a changing world – addressing our shared sustainability challenges”
The 2-day event which was held at the University’s Waterside Campus, brought together representatives from local, national and international businesses, along with academia and government, to discuss shared sustainability challenges, knowledge and experiences in our ever changing landscape.
Following keynote presentations, panel discussions and breakout working groups, the summit ended with the launch of the Northampton Sustainability Accord where the outcomes and deliverables were agreed upon for future action by the delegates.
At the end of the summit awards were given for:
“Best Social Initiative”, “Best Environmental Initiative” and the “UoN Vice Chancellor’s Award for Best Sustainability Strategy”. The latter was awarded to Sustainable Leather Foundation for their work within the leather industry through their innovative Transparency Dashboard and AIM approach (Accessible, Inclusive, Modular) designed to support sustainable improvement within the leather value chain.
Deborah Taylor, Founder and Managing Director, said on receiving the award “We are thrilled to receive this recognition of the value of the work we are doing. Although we are a young Foundation, only established in July 2020, we have already helped organisations around the world to develop robust sustainability strategies through our joined up approach of support, tools and certification. Sustainability is our entire purpose, and we now hope that through the springboard of this inaugural Sustainability Summit, we can help other industry sectors to develop their versions of our Transparency Dashboard to make the transformative change we are all working together for, whatever our industry.”
Photo credits: Max MacGillivray: https://www.beanstalkmedia.co.uk