2. LA Zagreb: SDG 2 & 12

Second Learning Activity within the sociSDG project took place from May 21st until May 25th 2018 at the RRiF College for Financial Management in Zagreb. Its participants were members of nine renowned European organizations in the field of SDGs: The Croatian Institute for CSR (coordinator, Croatia), Global Impact Grid (Germany), LUM University (Italy), Pontis Foundation (Slovakia), Homo Eminens (Lithuania), Materahub (Italy), LatConsul SIA (Latvia), Datamaran (UK) and Kaleidoscope Futures (UK).

Considering the fact that the primary goal of the project is adult education and the exchange of the best practices when it comes to the social SDGs, a five-day learning activity was designed in order to cover different aspects of SDG 2: Zero Hunger and SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

All participants took part in a Workshop: Towards Sustainable Production and Consumption, led by prof. Wayne Visser, PhD and Indira Kartallozi. The workshop focused on Leadership and Innovation in Food and Agriculture and the Energy, Waste and Water Nexus. This workshop raised awareness of sustainable consumption and production by focusing on innovation in waste, energy (SDG 7) and water (SDG 6) management in the food and agriculture sector. The workshop succeeded in sharing knowledge of best practices from around the world in waste, energy and water management in the food and agriculture sector, and introduced key concepts like circular economy, life cycle analysis, footprint assessment and block-chain management in the supply chain.
Giulia Netti, PhD student from LUM University presented to the project partners how companies are measuring and implementing SDG 12 on the example of Illycaffè
Ezio Pinto, Marketing Director from Di Leo Pietro, talked about the use of palm oil in the biscuit sector
Antonello Ferrara, Innovation Leader from Apulia Distribuzione, explained sustainable retail and consumption trends
Biljana Borzan, member of the European Parliament and Parliament's rapporteur on resource efficiency talked to project partners about the importance of reducing food waste, stimulating food donation, and improving food safety and quality throughout European Union
As a part of roundtable on Food Innovation, prof. Dubravka Vitali Čepo, PhD presented her project Valorization of olive waste in sustainable food innovation – NutriOliWa
Božidar Benko, PhD, explained to project partners the benefits of hydroponics as a sustainable alternative to soil gardening.
Zdravko Matotan, PhD, presented how Podravka is implementing sustainable development into its strategy and why is it important to work on preserving biodiversity of vegetable species in Croatia

During the Learning Activity, participants organized two webinars. First webinar focused on the topic of SDG 12. Prof. Wayne Visser, PhD, from Antwerp Management School presented some of the main problems and opportunities in implementing responsible consumption and production patterns, while Gianpiero Menza, PhD, from Bioversity International talked about the impact of agriculture biodiversity loss on agriculture value chains, risks for agri-food companies and opportunities for change. Presentations were followed by a Q & A and discussion.

Second webinar focused on the topic of SDG 2, in which prof. Zdravko Matotan, PhD, from Podravka, explained how companies are implementing the SDG 2, while Marie Populus from Infarm – The Urban Farming Company, talked about the future of sustainable food production. Presentations were followed by Q & A and discussion.