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.

Eileen Fisher’s leader of social consciousness Amy Fisher speaks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how the apparel sector can develop circular economy models. Eileen Fisher is already collecting previously worn clothing – some of which is then re-sold, some of it re-purposed into different garments. There are clear incentives that work, so that consumers will engage in terms of product return – Eileen Fisher offers a $5 voucher for every item brought back to a store. They debate the current barriers to repurposing at scale: the technology isn’t yet in place that allows for taking back thousands of items and extracting fibres for new clothing. But there are some exciting new business models with significant potential. 

UK footwear brand Clarks’ global head of corporate responsibility, Anthea Carter, speaks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how new industry collaboration in the leather supply chain, including via the Leather Working Group. As a byproduct the leather sector’s ability to leverage has traditionally been lessened and there had been a tendency for the footwear sector to ignore aspects of the supply chain. Not now, though, as the industry is working harder to engage with raw material suppliers and recognising their supply risks. Carter argues the case for the footwear sector to work better with other leather buyers from the automotive and luxury goods sectors for cross-sector improvements. There is plenty of scope for innovation.

Cotton Connect’s Alison Ward and Infor’s Kurt Cavano talk with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how companies can benefit from the latest supply chain mapping innovations. There are many benefits of supplier mapping, but what are the key elements in an efficient mapping process? Ward and Cavano discuss how transparency makes supply chains – particularly in the apparel sector – more personal and helps companies take real ownership of their supply chains. They discuss the models that work and how they can be taken to scale, and the technology that can take things forward. There are lessons that can be applied across different sectors – and some typical characteristics that typify the companies that want to drive change while becoming more efficient and better businesses.