Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

This week: Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell and Ian Welsh talk about some of themes that may emerge at the sustainable apparel and textiles conference in New York City this week. From Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new fashion circularity guidance to disaster textile waste relief partnerships, Niamh highlights sessions to look out for.

Plus: at the recent food conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota state director for the US Department of Agriculture Troy Daniel talks with Ian Welsh about the government's facilitative – not directive – role in supporting farmers and how partnerships can reconnect consumers with agriculture.

Host: Ian Welsh

With 2025 deforestation targets looming, this webinar — now available to watch on demand — explores how companies can close gaps, show progress, and scale action on nature.

2025 is a milestone year for corporate action on deforestation and ecosystem conversion. As companies with agricultural and forestry supply chains approach 2025 target dates, there is growing urgency to deliver on commitments and demonstrate progress. In this webinar, the Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) and Innovation Forum explored what meaningful action looks like in the months ahead, and beyond.

The panellists discussed: 

• How to manage 2025 target dates and any remaining gaps towards meeting commitments
• How to convey clear and credible ambitions, milestones, and plans post-2025
• How to communicate performance and progress

We heard from leading companies on how they are adapting strategies to drive real transformation across agricultural and forestry commodity supply chains, and what actions are needed to scale impact further.

Our panel of experts:

• Hillary Fenrich, global manager: nature and water strategy, McDonald’s
• Jeff Milder, director, the AFi
• Róisín Mortimer, global sustainability and stakeholder engagement manager, COFCO International
  
  

The session was moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum.

This session is essential for sustainability leads, procurement professionals, legal and compliance teams, and corporate strategists working to address deforestation, nature loss, and associated business risks.

This week: Sarah Rosenkranz and Bettina Fafengut, from the product specialist team at testing and certifiers the Hohenstein Group, talk with Ian Welsh and unpack the OEKO-TEX organic cotton certification. As consumer demand for transparency grows, they highlight how empowering buyers with product certainty can raise the bar on both organic integrity and chemical safety.

Plus: some quick fire insights from the recent packaging innovation forum  in Amsterdam with Bayer’s head of packaging sustainability, Keiko Tago, talking with Ian about the complex realities of flexible packaging.

And, Nescafé achieves regen ag target; World Refill Day spotlights reuse gaps; and, France targets fast fashion with new law, in the news digest with Ellen Atiyah.

Host: Ian Welsh

Join the conversation at the sustainable packaging innovation forum, taking place in Chicago on 28-29 October. Click here for information on how to get involved.

Emma Thomson, Forest 500 and tracking lead at Global Canopy, talks with Ian Welsh about the latest Forest 500 report. With only 3% of companies qualifying as true leaders, they discuss insights into the evolving landscape, key sectoral trends and the growing regulatory and public pressures driving action.

This week: Jeff Milder, director of the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi) talks with Ian Welsh about what meaningful action on deforestation looks like in 2025 and beyond. They share corporate progress and discuss the role of AFi in catalysing this momentum in achieving deforestation-free and conversion-free supply chains across sectors.

Plus: at the recent scope 3 forum in Amsterdam, Co-op’s senior climate change manager Joe Hulme talked with Ian Welsh about product carbon footprinting and how to scale beyond initiatives.

Host: Ian Welsh

Join the complimentary webinar, hosted in partnership with the Accountability Framework initiative, to discuss what 2025 target dates and future trajectories in delivering deforestation-free supply chains. Full registrations details can be found here.

Anna-Karin Dahlberg, chief sustainability officer at Lindex talks with Ian Welsh about how the Swedish fashion retailer is adapting to CSRD and double materiality reporting. She explains the shift from standalone sustainability reports to integrated financial disclosures, the role of cross-departmental collaboration, and how data collection – especially on social and environmental impact – is evolving across the value chain.

This week: Olivia Dobson, director of climate and resilience at Verisk Maplecroft, joins Ian Welsh to explore interconnected supply chain risks, the shift toward enterprise-level risk consideration, and emerging challenges around supply chain visibility. They examine how geopolitical uncertainties, regulatory compliance and data management are reshaping sourcing strategies.

Plus: Ulla Hueppe, vice president of sustainability at Henkel, talks with Ian at the recent scope 3 event in Amsterdam, about engaging suppliers on emissions reduction, creating transparency in supply chain data, and balancing the cost of change versus inaction. 

And: major food firms fall short on real emissions cuts, and consumers want sustainable fashion but high price hinders, in the news digest. 

Host: Ian Welsh

This week: Simon Haldrup, co-founder and CEO of agri-tech company Agreena talks with Ian Welsh about how scaling regenerative agriculture hinges on farmer incentives, customised practices and financial support. They discuss how to move beyond pilot programmes into large-scale adoption and how to make sense of data.

Plus: at the scope 3 innovation forum this week, Ian talked with Kim Schoppink from the Science Based Targets initiative about the core challenges and emerging solutions around scope 3 emissions data.

And: EU nations push to ease EUDR rules, while EU companies resist to dilute CSRD; deposit schemes slash litter as Pepsi pull reuse target; and, beanless blends brew up a buzz, in the news digest by Ellen Atiyah.

Host: Diana Kim

Jodie Roussell, global public affairs lead of packaging and sustainability at Nestlé and co-chair of the Business Coalition for the Global Plastics Treaty working on the treaty, shares the current state of progress toward a global plastics agreement. In conversation with Ian Welsh, they highlight murmurs of negotiations on the ground and behind-the-scenes progress. Jodie notes the overall heightened energy from governments to move forward, despite discrepancies in ambition levels among member states.

This interview was recorded in May 2025.

We’ll be continuing the conversation at the sustainable packaging innovation forum in Chicago on 28-29 October. Join alongside the likes of Amcor, Kraft Heinz, Amazon, TerraCycle, Estée Lauder, Ameripen, Lush and many more. Click here for information on how to get involved. 

This week: Innovation Forum's Natasha Bodnar and Ian Welsh discuss the importance of a cross-industry insights in building partnerships, candid insights and fresh thinking on scope 3. They talk about what to expect at this week's scope 3 innovation forum, taking place in Amsterdam.

Plus: Bertrand Conquéret, chief procurement officer at Henkel talks with Ian Welsh about how Henkel is leveraging procurement to lead cross-functional change and embed sustainability in product development. They highlight how to build supplier partnerships, particularly through coalitions such as Together for Sustainability — a now 50+ company coalition driving transparency and carbon data sharing across the chemical industry.

Host: Ian Welsh