Innovation Forum podcast

Weekly podcast – Delivering future food supply security: a how-to guide

This week: Cargill's vice president for environmental sustainability, Heather Tansey, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how supply shocks have impacted the planet's food systems. They discuss the importance of future proofing for these inevitable shocks as the sector continually builds towards a higher-yield, lower impact food supply system.

 

Plus: Muhammad Muiz Bajwa, sustainability manager at South Asian Sourcing Private Limited, talks with Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson about the impacts of climate change and the necessary adaption measures farmers need to make.

 

And, new data analysis linking soy and deforestation in Brazil; Tyson Foods and Purdue Farms investigated for child labour; and, reflections on Climate Week and the UN General Assembly in New York, in the news digest with Bea Stevenson.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Going the whole hog? Sustainability in the US pork sector

Brett Kaysen, senior vice-president, producer and state engagement lead, at the US National Pork Board and Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh case study the sustainability challenges for the pork industry and for protein supply chains more generally. They discuss how to best set goals, and the tools and guidance to reach targets and monitor progress.

Driving change in fashion: circularity, design innovation and regulation

At the recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference in New York, Innovation Forum's Toby Webb reflects with Karimah Hudda, founder of illumine.earth, about the discussions over the two days of the event. In particular, they talk about the contrast between food and apparel industry and the continued importance in adopting circular principles. They also discuss the need to maintain balance in regulation and design innovation.

Weekly briefing: Managing food waste across the supply chain

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, coming up on the 29th September, focusing on taking action to transform and build resilient food systems. They also discuss the development of the global chemical and waste framework coming up at the 5th session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management, which aims to tackle chemical pollution.

 

Plus, Innovation Forum's Emily Heslop shares details about the upcoming future of climate action conference to be held in Washington, DC on 8th-9th November.

Weekly podcast – Farmer voice: how brands and buyers can help smallholders and secure supply

This week: As a preview of the 2023 future of plastics and packaging conference in Amsterdam, hear from Ignacio Gavilan, formerly of the Consumer Goods Forum, Jodie Roussell from Nestlé, Eastman’s Camiel Steffanie and Sofie Vergucht, Jenny Wassenaar from Trivium Packaging and Christina Dixon from the Environmental Investigation Agency as they reflected with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh last year on how business can build plastics and packaging strategy that delivers impact at scale.

 

Plus: Wakinya Samuel, smallholder coffee farmer from the Bushika Integrated Area Cooperative Enterprise in Uganda, speaks with Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson about how farmers can best be supported to counter climate change impacts and the potential for agroforestry to deliver sustainable supply security.

 

And, the UK government makes a U-turn on key environmental policies; European Union's new regulation to tackle corporate greenwashing; many big plastics companies not linking executive pay to sustainability metrics, according to Planet Tracker; and, Equitable Earth Coalition launched to develop new voluntary carbon market standard to drive finance to forest communities to halt deforestation, in the news digest.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Dyeing for change: decarbonising the textiles supply chain

This year at the sustainable apparel and textiles conference in New York, Toby Webb talked with Talha Khan, chief executive of Pakistan Environment Trust, about the evolving conversations about apparel supply chains in North America and how they compare to those in Europe, including more downstream discussions around circular business models. They discuss the importance of textiles supply chain decarbonisation with bottom-up initiatives and financing cleaner energy transition.

Monday briefing: What to look for at Climate and SDG weeks

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the Sustainable Development Goals week of events, organised during the UN General Assembly High-level Week. Key themes include climate, gender equality inclusion and more to accelerate sustainable impact as we pass the midway point of the SDG’s original timeline. They also discuss what to expect and how to get involved during Climate Week in New York, which focuses on moving the needle in climate action and setting viable strategies to implement green technologies for energy security this year.

 

Plus, some details about the Innovation Forum 2024 spring conference including the responsible sourcing and ethical trade forum in London and the sustainable apparel and textiles conferences in Amsterdam and New York City.

Weekly podcast – What good corporate data measurement looks like

This week: Saif Hameed, CEO of Altruistiq, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges in measuring and tracking corporate emissions data. They discuss changing regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations, and how companies can best adapt.

 

Plus: the first in a new farmer voice series. Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson speaks with Deborah Osei-Mensah from the Asunafo Cocoa Cooperative in Ghana. They talk about the impacts of extreme and unpredictable weather patterns and in particular how this can disproportionately impact women farmers.

 

And, Science-Based Targets initiative separates entities for standard setting and validation; the emergence of plastic offsets; and, the International Energy Agency predicts peak fossil fuels demand will be before 2030, in the news digest.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Collaboration to drive progress on decarbonising apparel supply chains

At the recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference, Innovation Forum's Toby Webb spoke with Krishna Manda, vice-president for sustainability at Lenzing, about supply chain decarbonisation. They talked about the importance of steering away from a one-size-fits-all solution and the need to engage with collaborative platforms such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. They discussed Lenzing's strategy in decarbonising its supply chain working with the Science Based Targets initiative and the potential benefits of blended finance approaches.

The chemical recycling debate: is there a place for chemical recycling in a net zero and circular world?

In the midst of our escalating waste crisis and the global call for sustainable solutions, chemical recycling for plastics has emerged as both a potential solution and a subject of spirited debate. The concept of transforming post-use plastic into usable resources equivalent to virgin materials through chemical processes holds significant promise. However, several pitfalls and question marks have been raised around how sustainable the process and its outcomes truly are.

In this instalment of our debate series, our panel of experts have come together to dissect the feasibility, benefits, and challenges of integrating chemical recycling into our journey towards a sustainable future. They discussed:

• The methodologies behind chemical recycling. Can the process be sustainable, and how?
• The opportunities and positive impacts of chemical recycling, and the potential trade-offs and pitfalls.
• How brands are approaching chemical recycling in their plastic-reduction strategies.
• The future of this approach. Is there a sustainable way forward with it, and how can we get there?

Our expert panel:

• Chris Dixon, ocean campaign lead, Environmental Investigation Agency
• Nick Cliffe, deputy challenge director, UKRI
• Charles Van Reij, global lead packaging, paper and print, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute
• Inari Seppa, director, circular advocacy, EMEA, Eastman

This webinar was moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director at Innovation Forum.