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Farewell to Florian Tiedtke on leaving the Green Button Secretariat
Christine Moser-Priewich takes over as head of the Green Button Secretariat
After almost five years with the Green Button and one and a half years in the senior management, the Green Button is saying goodbye to Florian Tiedtke. He will remain in the same GIZ project in which the government-run textile label is anchored but will in future take over the management of the advisory for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) relating to the transformation of textile supply chains. From now on, Christine Moser-Priewich will be solely responsible for heading the Green Button Secretariat.
Florian Tiedtke:
“As I look back on the last few years at the Green Button, I am amazed and proud of how much the Green Button, the BMZ, the Green Button Secretariat, the certification bodies, the issuing body, the recognized standards, but also and especially the licensees of the Green Button have moved and achieved. At the end of 2019, hardly anyone had expected that the government-run textile label would develop so well and establish itself on the market so quickly. The Green Button has done pioneering work in the field of corporate due diligence. The transition to the Green Button 2.0 has made it clear that companies can and want to go the extra mile and implement more ambitious and far-reaching requirements. I am deeply grateful to have been able to accompany the team and you on this journey. Although it is a shame that I will no longer be able to experience the rest of the journey first-hand, I am very much looking forward to the new challenge. I am also reassured by the fact that the Green Button Secretariat has one of the best teams in the world and, with Christine Moser-Priewich, a wonderful head of the Secretariat. I would like to thank you all very much for the good, exciting and educational cooperation and support.”
Christine Moser-Priewich:
“Everything has an end... I would like to thank Florian Tiedtke for the last one and a half years of co-leadership of the Green Button Secretariat and for a total of five years of dedication to the Green Button! He contributed significantly to the development of the Green Button, and it is also due to him that the Green Button is where it is today. I and the team at the Green Button Secretariat have learned a lot from working with him, both professionally and personally, and always with a good sense of humor! Many thanks, Florian, for the time we spent together! All the best from all my heart.”
The Green Button wishes Florian Tiedtke all the best for his new role and looks forward to continuing the good cooperation with Christine Moser-Priewich.
Quarterly meeting of the Green Button certification bodies
The Green Button auditors and the Green Button Secretariat meet four times a year. The focus of this regular exchange is to promote a common understanding of the Green Button Standard and its certification program. Interpretations of Green Button indicators and findings from audit monitoring by the Secretariat are shared and information is pooled.
Green Button certification bodies and their staff will receive an invitation by e-mail.
Quarterly meeting of the Green Button certification bodies
The Green Button auditors and the Green Button Secretariat meet four times a year. The focus of this regular exchange is to promote a common understanding of the Green Button Standard and its certification program. Interpretations of Green Button indicators and findings from audit monitoring by the Secretariat are shared and information is pooled.
Green Button certification bodies and their staff will receive an invitation by e-mail.
Quarterly meeting of the Green Button certification bodies
The Green Button auditors and the Green Button Secretariat meet four times a year. The focus of this regular exchange is to promote a common understanding of the Green Button Standard and its certification program. Interpretations of Green Button indicators and findings from audit monitoring by the Secretariat are shared and information is pooled.
Green Button certification bodies and their staff will receive an invitation by e-mail.
Quarterly meeting of the Green Button certification bodies
The Green Button auditors and the Green Button Secretariat meet four times a year. The focus of this regular exchange is to promote a common understanding of the Green Button Standard and its certification program. Interpretations of Green Button indicators and findings from audit monitoring by the Secretariat are shared and information is pooled.
Green Button certification bodies and their staff will receive an invitation by e-mail.
Asian Dialogues Conference 2025 in Cambodia: Advancing Sustainability - The Need for Regional Perspectives
On 25 February 2025, the Green Button will be represented at the 14th Asian Dialogues Conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Green Button will gather input from manufacturers in a workshop to improve its certification scheme, aligning with manufacturers' interests and supporting brands' Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) efforts.
For further information please follow this link!
The Green Button at the OECD Garment Forum 2025
On February 11 - 12, the OECD Garment Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector will take place in Paris. As in previous years, this event will bring together representatives from governments, businesses, trade unions, civil society, and international organisations worldwide. Their goal: To discuss challenges, risks, and best practices in implementing due diligence in global textile supply chains.
Our highlights:
Learnings from OECD alignment assessments in the garment & footwear sector
Feb 12, 2025 | 1:30 PM- 3:00 PM (CET)
Room CC9
The Head of the Green Button Secretariat, Christine Moser-Priewich, will represent the Green Button on the panel discussion for the session Learnings from OECD Alignment Assessment in the Garment and Footwear Sector. This session will present the latest OECD findings from sustainability initiative assessments in the textile sector. The 40-minute panel discussion can be livestreamed.
Here you can register for online or on-site participation!
Engagement and Networking
Feb 12, 2025 | 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM (CET)
Room CC24
We warmly invite Green Button companies, members of the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, and other interested stakeholders to join us for dialogue during the Forum. We will provide the room CC24 at 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM (CET) on Wednesday, February 12, for this purpose. Take this opportunity to engage with the Green Button, the Textiles Partnership, and the BMZ on key topics.
If interested, please contact us at mail@textilbuendnis.com!
For more information and the detailed programme, visit the 2025 OECD Forum on Due Diligence in the Garment and Footwear Sector.
We look forward to your participation and engaging discussions — both in Paris and virtually!
The Green Button becomes a supporter of Sustainable Textiles Switzerland 2030!
Sustainable Textiles Switzerland 2030 (STS 2030) is a multi-stakeholder programme that supports the Swiss textile and clothing sector in acting in a socially and environmentally responsible manner along its entire value chain and integrating transparent sustainability criteria into its organisations. Participating actors from the textile sector can commit to achieving a total of four goals based on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progress towards achieving the goals is measured and communicated annually. A roadmap and a guideline with specific implementation instructions provide orientation for the realisation of these goals.
The Green Button emphasises cooperation to promote a sustainable textile and clothing sector and will work together with STS 2030 in the future. It is also part of the STS 2030 toolbox, which provides support services and measures for implementing the goals.
We look forward to working together in a diverse network!
Webinar review: How the Green Button can be utilised for the LkSG
On 17 September 2024, the webinar ‘LkSG and Green Button - How can the Green Button be put to use for the law?’ took place, organised by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Green Button Secretariat.
Over 80 participants attended the online event to find out about the synergies between the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) and the Green Button. The speakers at the webinar were Lucia de Carlo, Head of Division at the BMZ, Christine Moser-Priewich, Head of the Green Button Secretariat, and Florian Woitek-Kießling, Head of Division at the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA). They shed light on the question of what added value the Green Button offers for the implementation of the LkSG and where there are overlaps and discrepancies between the legal requirements and those of the Green Button.
The LkSG has been in force in Germany since January 2023. It obliges companies above a certain size to take responsibility for their supply chains - a practice that Green Button companies have been implementing voluntarily since 2019. To help companies fulfil the legal requirements, the Green Button Secretariat has compiled a comparison of the requirements of the LkSG with those of the Green Button. The complete comparison of the requirements can be found here.
The results of the comparison are encouraging: Green Button-licensed companies are already well prepared for the LkSG and in some cases even better positioned than the legislator currently expects. These companies are in a particularly good position with regard to the declaration of principles and prevention measures for direct suppliers.
The participants were able to familiarise themselves with the results of the comparison and the lessons learnt by BAFA to date in implementing the law and ask their questions. The video recording of the webinar is available on YouTube.
We would like to thank all participants for their great interest and numerous questions!
Celebrating the anniversary of the Green Button: 5 years of commitment to sustainable textile supply chains!
© Kerstin Kater
In the last five years, more than 100 companies have introduced the Green Button standard, which means that around 6500 suppliers benefit from improved social and environmental standards in around 30 production countries. Behind these figures are thousands of workers who benefit from better working conditions.
This is not only an occasion to celebrate, but also an opportunity to look both back and into the future. Yesterday's jubilee and expert conference celebrated the milestones and advancements of the Green Button over the past five years. Furthermore, it was discussed how the government-run textile label can continue to actively shape the change towards a more sustainable and just textile supply chain and conscious consumption in the future. A wide range of representatives from politics, civil society, the private sector and standard organisations took part in the event in Berlin. The conference offered stakeholders a valuable opportunity for dialogue and exchange to create synergies in the implementation of corporate due diligence obligations.
The Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Dr Bärbel Kofler, opened the anniversary event with a speech in which she emphasised the extent to which the Green Button has helped shape the legal landscape. By incorporating corporate due diligence obligations into its testing standards, the textile label has not only raised the bar for production standards in the supply chain but has also played an active role in shaping and progressing the legal discourse on due diligence obligations. The event programme was followed by a panel discussion with Dr Kofler, Johanna von Stechow, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Tchibo, and Michael Windfuhr, Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR). As representatives of different interest groups, the three experts shared their findings from the last five years and their perspectives on the further development of the Green Button. Ms von Stechow explained the companies' point of view and how much the Green Button has initiated at company level, and which processes the label has influenced. The key message of the panel discussion was that the state-run textile label remains relevant despite and precisely because of increasing sustainability regulation. The Green Button aims to keep leading the way and challenging companies but also guiding and supporting them in fulfilling the requirements.
© Kerstin Kater
Following the panel, the insights were complemented by an input from Jennifer Schappert, Partner at Due Diligence Design, on current regulatory developments at EU level. Lucia de Carlo, Head of Division 120 ‘Sustainable Transformation of Global Supply Chains’ at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), then gave an outlook on the future priorities of the BMZ as the label provider.
The participants were able to discuss needs and interests and work on specific results regarding the future of the Green Button label in three break-out sessions. In view of increasing regulation at European and international level, companies will be confronted with increasing requirements in the years ahead. Not only will companies be faced with many requirements in the areas of the circular economy and environmental protection as part of the CSDDD, the LKSG and the CSRD, but the Eco-Design Regulation will also place requirements on the recyclability of products. One of the workshops therefore focussed on the question of how the topics of circular economy and climate can be further anchored in the existing Green Button criteria. The Green Button already includes requirements for the use of fibres and recycled materials. In conclusion, the participants all agreed that the topics are very relevant for the Green Button in the future and that these legislative initiatives should be closely monitored.
Another workshop focussed on challenging topics in the standard, particularly in relation to the implementation of the Green Button requirements at level B - the second monitoring audit, in which further indicators are examined in greater depth after two years. The break-out session showed that continuous improvement can be a genuine challenge and how important the exchange on implementation is to raise awareness of problems and find solutions.
The third break-out session prioritised the people in the textile supply chains and the voices of those potentially affected, thereby addressing a core concern of the BMZ. At the same time, it was emphasised that a very good balance and coordination between the expectations of the OECD, regulation, practical implementation and the well-being of the people on site are essential. Further work and learning experiences are needed here. The topic of alignment assessments was also discussed in depth by the participants. The Green Button has undergone a full OECD Alignment Assessment, whose results will be published in early 2025. The alignment assessment evaluates the degree of compliance of sustainability standards with the OECD guidelines.
The input from the break-out sessions will be collected and incorporated into the further development of the Green Button as part of the revision starting in autumn 2025. The government-run textile label is constantly evolving to adapt to changing conditions, promote responsible behaviour as a standard and transform textile supply chains in the long term. A new, improved and more ambitious version of the Green Button is expected to be launched in 2027.
