Delegates attending this year's Planet Textiles event in Copenhagen on May 11 will gain a unique insight into how China's latest five-year plan will impact environmental issues in China's textile manufacturing sector by 2020. Speaking at the event will be Zheng Jian, Project Manager at the Office for Social Responsibility with Chinese National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC). Jian has been working on sustainability issues in the Chinese Textile and Apparel Industry since 2005. The five-year plan for China's textile industry was recently launched by the government, and CNTAC is the key organisation charged with the task of ensuring the plan is properly implemented and interpreted throughout the industry.

CNTAC’s office for Social Responsibility recently led the work of the Textile Sustainable Manufacturing Coalition, an initiative that was set up by CNTAC, the China Dyestuff Industry Association and the Artificial and Synthetic Leather Committee of China Plastics Processing Industry Association. The work of the project includes environmental information disclosure, chemicals information exchange and sustainable technological innovation in textile supply chains in China. Delegates at the event will hear the latest on these plans in addition to other environmental initiatives underway in the world's largest textile and clothing manufacturing sector.

Among the key speakers at Planet Textiles include environmentalist, mountaineer and filmmaker, Rick Ridgeway (Patagonia's vice president of environmental affairs), senior governmental representation from the German Ministry's Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, and the European Clothing Action Plan, which will talk about how to embed a circular economy approach to the European clothing sector.