Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Webinar: how can materiality drive sustainability reporting and strategy?

There are many factors that have lead to the increased awareness of environmental, social and governance – or ESG – issues. These sustainability challenges are changing the way companies go about financial reporting and auditing.

This has led to greater focus on the principle of materiality to distinguish the information that is most important for key stakeholders. But for companies, defining when and why each matter becomes material is a real challenge.

In this webinar, our expert panel discuss: how to clear up any confusion over what is ‘material’; tips on how to design a materiality assessment that suits your business; and, then how to use information generated from these assessments to drive strategy more effectively.

Panel:

Bill Hall, head of sustainability, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Amy Braun Senter, senior director, global sustainability, Kellogg Company

Terry Nelidov, managing director, The Erb Institute, University of Michigan

Hosted by Ian Welsh

All you need to know about materiality

Judy Kuszewski, chief executive of Sancroft, and Toby Webb from Innovation Forum debate approaches to corporate materiality. Kuszewski outlines the results of Sancroft’s recent research – Towards materiality – into FTSE100 companies. She argues that practices around materiality appear not to have evolved very far over the past 10 years, and that companies should focus more on linking materiality and risk. And for investors, companies should consider demonstrably integrating material issues into their strategy, to show that they have identified risk and opportunity effectively.

How to go all in on corporate sustainability

David Grayson, emeritus professor of corporate responsibility, Cranfield University, speaks with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb about how understanding and expectations have changed over the past two decades around business and sustainability. They also debate what business leaders are going to be doing differently over the coming years. Co-author of the new book – All in: the future of business leadership – Grayson outlines five critical attributes for business and sustainability that he and his colleagues identified.

How BNP Paribas promotes sustainable palm oil

Elisabeth Hipeau, senior industry analyst, BNP Paribas, explains to Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb the bank’s approach to dealing with deforestation risks, and how it puts into practice its policy of its investments having as little impact as possible. Hipeau outlines how innovative financial products can help reward sustainability performance.

Weekly podcast: changing corporate deforestation commitments and impact of slavery sanctions

This week: Mickael Blais from the French Alliance for Forest Protection talks to Toby Webb about how company commitments on deforestation across different commodities are changing. And Stephanie Brown Cripps, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, discusses with Ian Welsh the impacts of government modern slavery sanctions on business. Plus, Australia pulls back on emissions commitments, plastic pollution in SE Asia and the best jeans ever, in the news roundup.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Business benefits of the natural capital approach

Mark Gough, executive director of the Natural Capital Coalition explains to Ian Welsh how the natural capital protocol has been developed and why it is being taken up by an ever-expanding network of leading companies. Taking a natural capital approach, Gough argues, brings robust business school thinking to sustainability.

Webinar – Responsible recruitment: tackling forced labour at the root

Recruitment is often the stage at which workers in supply chains can be most vulnerable to falling into modern slavery and bonded labour. They are forced to pay large fees to recruitment agents and middle-men. In response, a number of brands are taking action. In this webinar, an expert panel discusses the Employer Pays Principle and assesses the latest company commitments towards responsible recruitment.

Webinar panel:

Brent Wilton, director of global workplace rights, The Coca-Cola Company

Doug Nystrom, director of human rights – supply chain, Walmart

Cindy Berman, head of modern slavery strategy, The Ethical Trading Initiative

Hosted by: Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

Is slavery the greatest human rights risk for business?

Yousuf Aftab, principal at Enodo Rights, explains to Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh why modern slavery is both a salient and material risk for companies. Given the legal trends – slavery is the area that legislators worldwide are now targeting – business has no option but to take notice and engage on the issues. Aftab outlines why the move of mainstream investors, such as Black Rock, to ask companies more and more questions about modern slavery and human rights is another key trend that corporate leaders can’t ignore.

Weekly podcast: why investors expect more on modern slavery, and palm oil's biodiversity impact

This week: Valentina Gurney from the Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility talks to Ian Welsh on trends in disclosure and behaviour change that investors expect from companies on modern slavery. And Erik Meijaard from Borneo Futures and Toby Webb talk about palm oil’s impact on biodiversity. Plus why regulation on plastic bags is having a big impact, investor pressure on the RSPO and some potential impacts of the recent Monsanto court verdict, in the news roundup.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Capacity building to enforce modern slavery laws

Tim Gehring, director of global policy and partnership, International Justice Mission and Ian Welsh discuss why governments worldwide require help to develop the capacity to respond properly to modern slavery and forced labour. They discuss collaboration trends and why too many actors work in parallel rather than combining to tackle slavery issues more effectively together. And Gehring outlines what companies can do better to identify their own human rights risks and to help bring modern slavery perpetrators before the courts, while at the same time improving supply chain efficiency.