Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

From regulation to resilient value chains: The business case for due diligence after CSDDD simplification

Due diligence fatigue has long affected the apparel and textiles sector, with heavy administrative workloads and repeated supplier checks that often fail to identify real labour risks. Uncertainty around the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) has made it harder for companies to commit to long-term investment.

Recent policy signals now offer clearer direction, including a narrower scope, removal of the mandatory climate transition plan requirement, and a higher applicability threshold of around 5,000 employees and €1.5bn in annual turnover. While formal endorsement is pending, clarity is returning.

This allows attention to shift from regulatory interpretation back to action. This webinar explores the business case for holistic due diligence beyond compliance, showing how better data, improved visibility and coordinated approaches can reduce duplication, ease supplier fatigue, strengthen sourcing relationships and support long-term resilience.

This session explored:

• What are the real business risks of limited supply chain visibility, and how do these risks translate into financial, operational and reputational impact?
• How can evolving compliance expectations be framed in CFO-level terms that support investment decisions, prioritisation and long-term value creation?
• Which data actually matters in a simplified regulatory landscape, and how can companies ensure it reflects workers’ rights and on-the-ground risks without creating unnecessary reporting burden?
• How can brands and suppliers collaborate in shared supply chains to improve transparency, reduce duplication and enable effective, pre-competitive problem-solving?

Weekly podcast – The textile-to-textile recycling route to circularity

This week: Karla Magruder, founder and president of Accelerating Circularity, talks with Ian Welsh about why systems thinking, collaboration across the supply chain and clear demand signals are essential to making circular textiles work. The discussion explores how new tools and partnerships could help move the industry away from landfill and incineration toward true circularity.

Plus: greenhushing erodes trust as consumers hear less; Carrefour rolls out environmental scores for clothing; and, climate friendly beef claims face WRI reality check, in the news digest by Ellen Atiyah.

Host: Ian Welsh

How Danone helps farmers adopt regenerative practices

Regenerative agriculture is increasingly seen as critical to tackling supply chain emissions, but scaling it requires more than technical fixes. At the recent scope 3 innovation forum, Danone’s Ginny Maceda and Ian Welsh talked about how long-term relationships, shared investment and trust with farmers underpin the company’s approach to regenerative dairy farming. 

Building credibility in sustainability storytelling: B2C brands and the consumer trust gap (webinar recording)

Hear from Patagonia, Primark, Kantar and Nestlé on credible sustainability communications and how to deepen consumer trust in turbulent times.

As consumers pay closer attention to brands’ sustainability claims, the challenge is no longer solely what companies do, but how they explain it clearly and honestly.

The second webinar in the series focuses on consumer-facing brands and retailers. We explore how to talk about complex topics such as supply chains, product impact and targets in a way that makes sense to everyday consumers – without overclaiming or greenwashing. 

Discussion will cover what works (and what does not) in campaigns and product communication, approaches to avoiding greenwash and “greenhush” while staying ahead of regulation, and how to measure whether sustainability communication is building trust and influencing behaviour.

Panellists include:

• Sarah Whittaker, head of sustainability communications, Primark
• Ozlem Senturk, senior partner, global sustainable transformation practice, Kantar
• Katja Seidenschnur, global head of sustainability nutrition, Nestlé 
• Wendy Savage, senior director, social impact and transparency, Patagonia

This session was moderated by Ellen Atiyah, senior stakeholder engagement and sustainability communications manager, Innovation Forum.

Can green hydrogen decarbonise heavy industry?

This week: StormFisher Hydrogen’s chief executive officer, Judson Whiteside, talks with Ian Welsh about developing carbon-neutral e-methanol and e-methane from green hydrogen, and how policy incentives and corporate scope 3 pressures are shaping global demand for low-carbon fuels. He also explores the role of North America’s renewable power advantage, the realities of scaling hydrogen projects, and what the energy transition means for shipping, aviation and heavy industry.

 

Plus: new CDP report highlights economic gains from climate leadership; why more storage is needed for hydrogen power; new US dietary guidelines debate over impacts of meat-heavy recommendations; and Levi’s launches a Gen Z-focused repair and reuse initiative, in the news digest with Ellen Atiyah. 

Host: Ian Welsh

Eileen Fisher’s approach to circular systems

Carmen Gamma, director of circular design at fashion brand Eileen Fisher, joins Innovation Forum’s Ellen Atiyah, to discuss how the brand’s circularity programme began with simple take-back and has evolved into resale, remanufacturing and textile-to-textile recycling. They explore what it takes to scale circular systems across a business, the role of leadership and cross-team collaboration, and the technical, financial and policy barriers to building a truly circular fashion ecosystem.

The unintended consequences of packaging EPR

Adam Read, chief sustainability and external affairs officer at Suez UK, joins Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh to discuss how EPR and simpler recycling rules are reshaping the waste and recycling sector, shifting costs towards producers and aiming to improve material quality, efficiency and recycling rates. They discuss unintended consequences of packaging changes, the limits of compostable materials, and how extended producer responsibility could support reuse and refill models by using pricing and financial incentives to drive better behaviour across the value chain.

Weekly podcast – The credibility questions for scope 3 ag projects

This week: Athian Ag’s chief product officer, Kendra Tolley, talks with Ian Welsh about why demonstrable credibility is essential for agriculture scope 3 projects, and how better data, traceability and verification can strengthen confidence in value chain emissions reductions and reporting. 

 

Plus: agrifood outlook warns of continued volatility in soft commodity prices; new  questions about extent of health risks from microplastics; and, Barry Callebaut considers splitting cocoa and chocolate businesses to manage price volatility, in the news digest with Diana Kim.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Weekly podcast – Are carbon markets entering a new phase?

This week: Verra's chief programme development and innovation officer, Candace Vinke, talks with Ian Welsh about how improvements in methodologies, verification and safeguards are resharing carbon credit integrity, and what that means for the markets' future. They discuss how emerging standards may influence how companies use carbon credits and value chain abatement as part of their net zero strategies.

 

Plus: Amazon soy moratorium at risk as more traders withdraw; EU carbon border levy sparks trade tensions worldwide; study warns climate mandates can backfire politically; and, the world produces more food per person than ever, in the news digest with Ellen Atiyah.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Have we been treating nature like a free factory?

Earthworm Foundation CEO Bastien Sachet reflects with Ian Welsh on why environmental and supply chain shocks are caused by long-term neglect rather than short-term disruption. Bastien argues that businesses have treated nature as a free factory, optimising costs while failing to reinvest in soils, forests and farming communities. They explore why regenerative, place-based approaches and long-term partnerships are becoming essential to secure future supply, manage risk and maintain competitiveness.