Member-only carbon footprint Technical Forum

*This event has taken place*

On 21 March we're hosting a 'Furniture Products Carbon Footprints Technical Forum' which is only open to members of the Furniture Industry Research Association.

Event details:

• Date: Tuesday 21 March
• Time: 09:30-13:30
• Location: FIRA International, Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Background to the forum

The UK Government has made the commitment for all Government activity to reach Net Zero Carbon by 2050 but what this will look like in practice and the route to the destination is still unclear. In this Technical Forum members will be given the opportunity to share the challenges, good practice, benefits and complexities about the different approaches that are being adopted in the supply chains and how we can work together to present a clear strategy towards zero carbon.

Many organisations have started their carbon reduction journey by measuring their Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions and publicly listed organisations are required to publish carbon emissions by law. The link between an organisation’s carbon footprint and a product’s carbon footprint is not always straight forward particularly with complex products like furniture which contain many different components and are offered with a variety of options some with long supply chains where Scope 3 carbon emissions can be difficult to calculate.

Manufacturers and suppliers are increasingly required to provide greater transparency relating to materiality, including embodied carbon. Investigations and certification can, however, represent a significant investment and potentially prohibitive to SMEs and new start-ups.

Why attend

This forum will allow everyone along the supply chain the opportunity to better understand what is required by customers and the development of routes to communicate and reduce their organisation’s carbon impact as well as embodied carbon within the product offering.

Agenda

• 09:30 Coffee, pastries, networking
• 10:00 Welcome and introductions, Brian Ahern, Chair of the Furniture Industry Research Association
• Introduction to Carbon Measurement, John Hubbard, Technical Consultant, FIRA International
• Communicating Carbon in the Contract Furniture Supply Chain, Joanna Knight, Partner, The Knight Partnership 
•  The ‘call for ecolabelling’ – do we know what ecolabelling means? Panel discussion with Brian Ahern, John Hubbard, Joanna Knight and Levent Caglar, Head of Consultancy and Senior Ergonomist, FIRA International
• Round table discussions
• Conclusions and next steps
• 13.00 Lunch and networking
• 13:45-14.45 Optional furniture testing site tours of FIRA International including the flammability laboratory, structures bay, finishes laboratory and ergonomics (please indicate your interest when you register)

This event is only open to FIRA members, if you're interested in becoming part of the Furniture Industry Research Association you can learn more about membership here.