Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

How tariffs impact supply chain decisions

This week: Oritain’s chief product and technology officer Paul Bentham talks with Ian Welsh about some new apparel supply chain intelligence that highlights visibility gaps, and why risk management best practice is evolving from assurance to an evidence-based approach. 

Plus: EUDR simplification measures explained, evidence that forests do promote well-being and Indonesia’s tighter state control on commodity export, in the news digest with Babette Pagès Prange. 

Host: Ian Welsh 

Click here for the new report from Oritain.

Soil as a tool for building climate-resilient supply chains (webinar recording)

Today, soil rarely appears on a balance sheet, a boardroom agenda, or even a climate strategy.

This webinar explored why that needs to change. Drawing on perspectives from leading food companies, we explored how regenerative agriculture is being put into practice, how soil health can become a credible part of climate and brand strategy, and what farmers want from these boardroom discussions.

We discussed…

• From soil carbon to soil health: Understanding soil as a system, and why a holistic approach is critical for resilience and productivity
• The emerging link between soil health and crop quality, taste, and nutrient density – and what this means for the business case for regenerative practices
• Scaling action: The role of cross-industry collaboration and value chain engagement in driving impact
• The urgency, and opportunity, of embedding soil health into strategies for a low-carbon, resilient future 

Weekly podcast – How regenerative agriculture is taking root in US cotton

This week: Ian Welsh speaks with Liz Hershfield, executive director of Cotton USA and the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, and Sledge Taylor, a cotton farmer from Mississippi, about the real-world benefits and challenges of regenerative agriculture in the US cotton sector.

And, global carbon pricing revenues top $107 billion; why circular economy interventions could transform the EU's environmental impact; forty major food companies commit to regenerative agriculture; and, why the green transition may be accelerating rainforest destruction, in the news digest by Innovation Forum's Babette Pages-Prange.

Why your label choice is a sustainability decision

Monica Gross, ecosystem engagement manager at Avery Dennison, talks with Ian Welsh about the multiple functions of packaging and why labelling is central to all of them – from brand identity and operational efficiency to recyclability and regulatory compliance under PPWR and EPR frameworks. They also discuss connected packaging and the shift from paper to filmic labels.

Weekly podcast – Why perfect is the enemy of good in food reformulation

This week: Lauren Woodley, head of nutrition and sensory science at Nomad Foods, talks with Ian Welsh about how Europe's largest frozen food company balances consumer demand for health, taste and affordability. They discuss from tackling persistent myths about frozen food to navigating the trade-offs in reformulation and segmenting products by their role in the diet.

And, Ian talks with Aidan Davy, co-chief operating officer at ICMM, about what critical minerals actually means and why no mineral is inherently critical.

Host: Ian Welsh

Design, waste and scale: breaking the circularity cycle

Eduardo Alvarez, associate director for packaging EMEA at Dow, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about what packaging circularity really means – from designing for recyclability and developing waste-to-feedstock pathways to the challenge of scaling monomaterial solutions. They discuss why collaboration and a willingness to take risk are as important as regulation in accelerating the transition.

Culture as a catalyst: Todd Corley on embedding people-first thinking into Carhartt's sustainability strategy

As sustainability conversations increasingly center on regulation, compliance deadlines and investment in new data systems, something risks getting lost: the need to invest in people who drive the change.

Todd Corley's perspective emphasizes the importance of inspiring and developing individuals across all levels of an organization. Rooted in a career shaping social, philanthropic, sustainability and belonging initiatives in corporate workplaces, he now holds one of the most distinctive roles in the industry as Chief People and Impact Officer at Carhartt. From that vantage point, he builds strategy bottom-up, and asks a different question: What happens when you treat people and culture not as a support function to your people and impact strategy, but as its foundation?
 
Integrating this strategic framework within global organizations requires persistence, adaptability, and a willingness to accept that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building a purpose-driven culture.

In this webinar, we explored:

- How Todd's journey to Chief People and Impact Officer shapes his approach to sustainability
- What it looks like to structure teams and governance for real impact, and why capacity building is a strategic investment
- Carhartt's people-first approach in practice: examples of community connection, skilled trade development and accessible circularity
- Making the internal business case: navigating pushback and keeping purpose at the core
- Reasons for optimism, and what the industry needs to do next to act on them

Weekly podcast – Less waste, better margins: the case for AI in sustainable apparel

Daniel Di Benedetto, geo lead for northern Europe at Centric Software, talks with Ian Welsh about how predictive intelligence can help the apparel sector reduce waste and improve margins.

And, Ian talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about the key themes from the Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference in Amsterdam, including the desire for regulatory certainty, the push for inclusive circularity and why heat stress and governance emerged as the standout topics for attendees.

Host: Ian Welsh

Continue the conversation in New York City for the Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA on 3-4 June. Registration information can be found here.

Tune into our partnered episode on the Supply Chain Revolution podcast with Christine Goulay, focusing on the state of apparel in North America. You can listen as a podcast or as a video interview.

The science, the policy and the US food system

Anupama Joshi, vice president of programs at the Center for Science and the Public Interest, talks with Anamya Anurag about the realities on the ground, in comparison to the Make America Healthy Again programme and its policy actions. They uncover contradictions in guidelines, federal inaction and what business can do amid budget cuts.

Weekly podcast – Why hasn’t packaging circularity scaled?

This week: Eduardo Alvarez, a plastics and packaging expert at Dow, talks with Ian Welsh about waste-to-value challenges and the need to move at speed now to stay ahead of upcoming regulation. Cost is clearly a significant barrier, but there are potential solutions to the material problems.

And, at the 2025 Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA Ian spoke about extended producer responsibility regulation with Jason Bergquist from RecycleMe.