
THE IPPAG
SUSTAINABILITY PLEDGE

WHAT IS
IPPAG ?
IPPAG, the International Partnership for Premiums and Gifts, is made up of market-leading promotional item distributors and wholesalers spread across the globe.
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IPPAG’s mission is to facilitate its member’s common desire to share and grow together within the promotional items industry, gaining in expertise, excellency and efficiency through shared projects, resources and initiatives
WHAT IS
IPPAG ?
WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY ?
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According to the UN: “Sustainable development is the masterful balance of meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own…”.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice

At IPPAG, and within all our member companies, in a world of increasingly finite resources, we believe that this gives us the moral and commercial imperative of not only taking great care about:
WHERE
WE
PRODUCE
[ What Factories ]
HOW
WE PRODUCE
[Factory Auditing & Quality Control]
WHAT
WE PRODUCE
[ What Materials & Chemicals ]
WHO
PRODUCES
​
[Social Compliance]
… but must drive us to add an even more fundamental concern:
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Why we produce…?

With increasing and unwavering focus: this means that
‘AUDIENCE – INTENT – PURPOSE’
are at the heart of everything we do…
Making sure that the promotional items we propose, promote and produce are not only:
MORE SUSTAINABLE, but also MORE MEANINGFUL…
One of the best and most impactful ways to ensure something is sustainable, is to ensure it will be
APPRECIATED, USED,
KEPT, CHERISHED
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals also state that:
“Sustainability’s goal is to create possibilities, not to limit options…”
Just like in any other business sector that has traditionally been based on volume: this calls for a complete paradigm shift: an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way…’
And this should be a BETTER and MORE SUSTAINABLE way…


We like to refer to the legend
of the hummingbird
One day a terrible fire broke out in a forest - a huge woodlands was suddenly engulfed by a raging wild-fire. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream they stopped to watch the fire and they were feeling very discouraged and powerless. They were all bemoaning the destruction of their homes. Every one of them thought there was nothing they could do about the fire, except for one little hummingbird. This particular hummingbird decided it would do something. It swooped into the stream and picked up a few drops of water and went into the forest and put them on the fire. Then it went back to the stream and did it again, and it kept going back, again and again and again. All the other animals watched in disbelief; some tried to discourage the hummingbird with comments like, "Don't bother, it is too much, you are too little, your wings will burn, your beak is too tiny, it’s only a drop, you can't put out this fire."
And as the animals stood around disparaging the little bird’s efforts, the bird noticed how hopeless and forlorn they looked. Then one of the animals shouted out and challenged the hummingbird in a mocking voice, "What do you think you are doing?" And the hummingbird, without wasting time or losing a beat, looked back and said, "I am doing what I can…"
The most sustainable way is to not make things… The 2nd most sustainable way is to make something very useful, to solve a problem that hasn’t been solved”
(Thomas Sisgaard)
We don't claim to be perfect,
we don't claim to have all the answers.
But we do wholly and sincerely commit to doing BETTER
in collaboration with our suppliers, partners and clients
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Day by day…, action by action…, choice by choice…
THE IPPAG CARBON TRACKING INITIATIVE
We have created a unique and ISO 14067 certified ‘Carbon Tracking Tool’ to be used by all IPPAG members: to calculate the carbon emissions related to the products that we propose and sell
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​Our members companies then use this data and its interpretation
to demonstrate impact / compare solutions and optimize choices / reduce overall emissions / and compensate as applicable via local schemes
We are « on track » towards a lower carbon impact.
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THE IPPAG
"SUSTAINABILITY PLE(a)SE" Scorecard
To help each and every person in a company do this: to know how to ask the right questions and have the right conversation with a client: IPPAG has developed a ‘More Sustainability PLE(a)SE’ scorecard: and we’re happy to share it with you here
START BY ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS,
MAKING BETTER CHOICES
Step by step, one product and one campaign at a time…
Contact Us

Our IPPAG Member companies around the world