Plastic is everywhere. Its versatility, low weight and low cost have made our lives easier. However, one of its most remarkable properties – its durability – is also its main pitfall when it ends up in the environment, not least in the oceans. The numbers are scary. The World Economic Forum predicts that kilo for kilo there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. Other research from the University of Georgia says that 8.6m tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every year. In many respects ocean plastic pollution is essentially everyone’s fault and everyone’s problem. Therefore, it will require a multi-stakeholder approach to drive the necessary innovation, scale and speed to meet the challenge head on.

In this webinar discussion join:

Kirstie McIntyre, director, global sustainability operations, HP

Adam Hall, head of sustainability, Surfdome

Will McCallum, head of oceans, Greenpeace UK

Nicholas Mallos, director, Trash Free Seas program, Ocean Conservancy

Introduced and moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

Cocoa farming is one of the critical drivers of deforestation and becoming ever-more the target of activist campaigning, but what can the cocoa sector do to drive real progress? 

In the west African nations of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where the majority of the world’s cocoa beans are harvested, there is significant deforestation due to cocoa farming. Changing weather patterns from climate change are forcing farmers to expand into new areas or to relocate, leading to even more deforestation. Deforestation itself is, of course, a significant climate change driver.

Mondelēz, has developed a programme to address these challenges, and some partner organisations – including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Impactum – have provided crucial help along the way.

In this webinar, panelists from Mondelēz International, UNDP and Impactum debate cocoa supply chains and deforestation. The panellists share their experiences addressing deforestation and helping cocoa farmers become more resilient against the effects of climate change through cross-sector collaboration.

Panellists:

Cédric van Cutsem, global operations manager, Cocoa Life, Mondelēz International

Andrew Bovarnick, lead natural resource economist and global head, green commodities program, UNDP

Marc Daubrey, chief executive officer, Impactum

Introduced and moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

In the past, companies have viewed human rights risks as a reputational risk – if abuses are found, the impact on the company’s reputation has been at the forefront, making them act. 
But, is this still the case? 

In this Innovation Forum webinar experts from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and Hilton International discuss the new legislation designed to keep companies in check, such as the UK modern slavery act, and ask how far these rules and regulations really go. Are they, in fact, driving change in corporate behaviour? 



What are the other motivators for business to protect human rights? 
And how far do corporate human rights policies go in safe guarding the rights of those in their operations and supply chains? 
What role can other stakeholders play in encouraging (and helping) business to take proactive action on human rights? 


Ultimately, what does make companies act? 



With Mauricio Lazala, deputy director, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and Caroline Meledo, global head, corporate responsibility and human rights, EMEA, Hilton 


Introduced and moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

Many companies, large and small, have made commitments to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2020. Now, with only two more years to deliver on 2020 targets, the pressing question is: will it happen? To help address this need, Climate Focus on behalf of TFA 2020, has prepared the Commodity and Forests Agenda 2020: Ten Priorities to Remove Tropical Deforestation from Commodity Supply Chains. The report is a framework for action at the global and regional level in order to accelerate progress in addressing commodity-driven deforestation.

In this webinar join experts from TFA, Proforest and Supply Change debate the new report’s conclusions, and how companies can up the pace in really eliminating deforestation risk from their operations and supply chains.

With

• Marco Albani, director Tropical Forest Alliance 2020
• Isabella Vitali, Latin America co-director, Proforest
• Stephen Donofrio, senior advisor, Supply Change (a Forest Trends Ecosystem Marketplace project)

Introduced and moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

Across the apparel, FMCG, electronics, home furnishings and other consumer goods sectors, how factories can develop to secure supply and be more sustainable is a crucial business risk issue. In this Innovation Forum webinar, hear an expert panel outline some effective and current collaboration initiatives that are helping to create alignment between companies and their partners working on factory improvements in emerging markets.

Senior practitioners from Better Work, Fair Factories Clearinghouse, EICC and Social and Labour Convergence debate the visions and goals that are essential for these partnerships, how they are working towards them, the lessons that can be applied across sectors and the future role of companies in making the process work

John Morrison, chief executive of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, talks to Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about some of the human rights challenges emerging for business from big data.

They debate what companies need to be aware of when they use data, particularly aggregated data, and the human rights risks they now run, and how the moves towards transparency in supply chains, for example, can have unintended privacy consequences for small suppliers and individuals. Morrison argues that there is a potential backlash looming for companies about the data they hold unless they properly engage with stakeholders on the data they hold and how they use it.

Steve Gray, CEO, Earthwatch, talks with Ian Welsh, Innovation Forum, about how companies can engage their employees linking better corporate practises, lessening environmental and social impacts, with core business purpose.

Gray argues that overall corporate strategy is becoming increasingly the core focus of employee engagement – linking individuals’ roles to their business’s overall impacts and how these link into the bottom line. He says that it is crucial to establish personal context for employee engagement – how their and the company’s impacts can make a difference both to wider stakeholders and to themselves. This trend is reflected in the move away from philanthropic approaches to employee engagement to a desire to change motivation and inspiration across businesses.

Dave Robb, sustainability manager, Cargill Aqua Nutrition, talks to Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about corporate impact measurement, and the importance of establishing baselines and the topics that are most relevant, and then measuring progress against them.

Companies need to establish what relevant and challenging goals look like, set targets and then make progress towards achieving them. Maintaining progress is very important so that companies can see the clear benefits of making positive change. Robb argues that businesses also need to remember that they can’t do everything, and that they should choose to focus efforts where their impact is greatest.

Beth Holzman, Good World Solutions, and Dan Viederman, Humanity United, talk to Innoation Forum's Ian Welsh about the new West Principles for worker engagement on forced labour.

Companies don’t know what is going on in their supply chains on human rights and forced labour and social audits have proved to be inadequate. The Worker Engagement Supported by Technology (West) Principles are a set of guidelines for technology-driven efforts to engage workers in global supply chains. Technology has the capacity to scale worker engagement and data collection, and to help business better understanding migration patterns. The eight principles fall into four distinct stages: design, engage, analyse and utilise data.

They aim to maximize the impact of technology-driven efforts to engage workers in global supply chains and ensure they can work with dignity and free from abuse. Initiated by a group of technology providers, the principles seek to engage stakeholders at all levels of global supply chains – including workers, worker organizations, the private sector, and governments – to collectively develop a roadmap to operationalise their use.

Rob Lederer, executive director, Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about EICC’s new Responsible Labor Initiative. The new initiative is designed to facilitate cross-sector collaboration, exporting EICC’s due diligence tools to other industries. Lederer points out that forced labour issues are not unique to the electronics sector and, as such, there is much that other sectors can benefit from the electronic sector’s work. He admits that many were caught off guard by the issues of modern slavery and forced labour – and explains how EICC has worked hard to move from a reactive to proactive approach to the challenges. With the prospect of the repeal of the Dodd-Frank legislation in the US, the imperative for industry to stay on top of these issues is more important now than ever.