Fair Trade Week has not yet started, yet the city government is already making a remarkable announcement. The city is committing itself as a pilot organisation within Fair ICT Flanders. This means that in the coming years it will take concrete steps to achieve a fair and/or circular ICT procurement and processing policy within the organisation.

As a pilot organisation, the city is committed to making the City of Ghent's ICT procurement policy more sustainable in the coming years. It will do this by choosing the most ethical and ecological product on the market when purchasing, and by working on extending the life span of the purchased ICT products. Ghent will thus start using its purchasing power to make the problematic ICT chain more fair and sustainable.

This announcement is not completely out of the blue. Indeed, it fits perfectly with the vision set out by alderwoman Tine Heyse in her policy paper International Solidarity: ‘As European capital of fair trade we want to further sensitise consumers in the field of fair food, ethical clothing and fair ICT. The city itself is also a buyer. We are taking further steps towards an even fairer purchasing policy within our own operations, together with alderman Storms and alderman Bracke. In our role as a relatively large purchaser, we as local government have an impact on producers and the transition to sustainable and fair trade. We want to strengthen our European lead in fair trade.’

To be continued no doubt