Innovation Forum podcast

Weekly podcast – Reality check: the future of regenerative agriculture

This week: Dominik Klauser, director of regenerative agriculture at SAI Platform, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the key risks and opportunities generated by the current shift towards regenerative agriculture. They discuss the growing importance of traceability and transparency in supply chains and share what best practice looks like in achieving these.

 

Plus: COP28’s Emirates Declaration highlights the importance of food system resilience; six global dairy companies join alliance to cut methane; several nations make new commitments on oil, gas and coal; EU agreement on ecodesign for sustainable products regulation, in the news digest with Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

The pathway to nature-positive business: definitions, measurements and targets

On 30th November at 2-3pm CET, Innovation Forum hosted a webinar on nature-positive business approaches in partnership with Golden Agri-Resources. This is an audio recording of the webinar. 

 

Faced with what the United Nations calls an ‘unprecedented’ decline in biodiversity, businesses are taking action to find solutions to reduce and ultimately reverse human impacts on our ecosystems.

Recent initiatives such as the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, recommendations from the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Nature Positive Initiative aim to offer a path forward with definitions to guide conservation organisations, businesses and financiers towards a net positive impact on nature. But how can businesses put guidance and solutions into practice, and what steps should be taken to set clear goals and find novel solutions for organisations to contribute to a better future for biodiversity and nature?

In this webinar, our expert panel discussed:

• How should businesses define terms like nature zero and nature positive to help them measure and manage progress?
• What action brands are already taking to create and articulate their nature strategies, and what lessons can be learned for the future to drive measurable change.
• Where and how should companies set targets to effectively address a nature-positive future?
• The support needed from government, regulators, finance and other stakeholders to achieve change

Our panel:

• Götz Martin, Head of Sustainability and Strategic Projects, Golden Agri-Resources
• John Buchanan, Vice President Sustainable Production, Conservation International
• Conor McMahon, Global Net Zero and Nature Lead, Nestlé
• Loraiza Davies, Global Sustainability Manager, Land and Biodiversity, GSK

The webinar was moderated by Tanya Richard, COO and Head of Stakeholder Engagement at Innovation Forum

Expert insight: future of sustainable commodities and landscapes

At Innovation Forum’s sustainable commodities and landscapes conference in Amsterdam, Ian Welsh spoke with a number of the expert panellists and delegates attending the event. 

• Joseph D’Cruz, CEO, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
• Palavvi Sharma, agriculture commodities sector lead, Global Rights Compliance 
• Anita Neville, chief sustainability and communications officer, Golden Agri-Resources 
• Giorgio Budi Indrarto, deputy director, Madani 
• Olivier Tichit, director of sustainability, Musim Mas 
• Catherine Barton, policy lead, Chester Zoo 
• Hanna Halmari, head of conferences, Innovation Forum
• Peter Stanbury, senior associate, Innovation Forum 

They talk about challenges and unintended consequences of the incoming EU deforestation regulation for business, conservation and non-EU supply chain stakeholders.

Monday briefing: Finance, energy and just transition at COP28

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the conversations coming up at COP28 this week, including themes of finance, energy and just transition, land-use, food and agriculture, and more. They also discuss Oxford University's latest analysis of the costs of putting carbon capture and storage solutions too much at the centre of decarbonisation strategies.

 

Plus: Innovation Forum's Natasha Bodnar introduces the future of climate action conference on 12th-13th June 2024 to be held in Amsterdam. €500 discount early-bird registrations are open.

Regenerative food systems in Africa: scaling solutions to empower smallholder farmers

Over the coming decades, smallholder farmers throughout Africa will play a pivotal role in supporting the continent’s economic development and enabling food security. However, these farmers currently face numerous constraints that hinder their productivity and profitability. Challenges include a lack of support and access to resources such as financing, technology, inputs, and markets.

Accelerating Africa’s regenerative agricultural transformation requires a farmer-centric, ecosystem-led approach that involves actors across the whole value chain. Impactful partnerships and collaborations between farmers, governments, developmental organisations, entrepreneurs, food companies, and stakeholders must yield innovative solutions to help smallholder farmers overcome this complex set of constraints. Access to resources and opportunities through resilient value chains is essential to optimising profitability and improving smallholder livelihoods.

Our panel of experts drew on from real-world examples and experiences, as they discussed:

• The current financial, economic and technological barriers preventing many African smallholders from implementing more sustainable farming techniques
• How can value-chain stakeholders best work together to build capacity, and support farmer-centric solutions to smallholder farmers challenges within fragmented value chains?
• The role of policy changes and support mechanisms in fostering robust, efficient and inclusive smallholder ecosystems
• Examples of new and innovative technologies that can improve rural access to financing, for improved livelihoods and climate-smart farming

This webinar was moderated by Toby Webb, founder of Innovation Forum.

This was the second part of the Focus on Farmers webinar series, hosted in partnership with Bayer Crop Science. To listen to the first part in this series, click here. 

To find out more about Bayer's work in this area, see here.

Weekly podcast – Collaboration to drive progress in transforming the food and agriculture sector

This week: Charlotte Bande, global food and beverage sector lead at Quantis, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how to improve the weak points in mainstream corporate sustainability decision making within the food and agriculture sector. They discuss the continued importance in peer-to-peer collaboration and share guidance on what a good just transition could look like.

 

Plus: on-the-spot reflections at the future of climate action conference in Washington DC from Rabobank's chief sustainability officer Terryn Lawrence and Mura Technology's head of sustainability Geoff Brighty.

 

And, global food business Cargill's commitment to eliminate deforestation and land conversion in South America; Danone announces collaboration with Global Methane Hub to reduce methane emissions from livestock; and, Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative's new guidance on high-integrity carbon credits, in the news digest.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

COP28: the imperative for government and company action now, from Julia Butterfly Hill

Forests activist Julia Butterfly Hill talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about progress and further opportunities for companies and government in forest and biodiversity protection. They highlight the importance of corporate investment towards carbon market projects such as REDD+. Julia also shares an urgent message for world leaders convening in Dubai for the COP28 climate talks.

 

For more on Julia’s call to action for world leaders click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gYzJcGcRNI

From beans to brew: navigating EUDR’s effects on the coffee sector

IDH's regional director for Asia landscapes, Chi Tran, and senior programme manager for coffee, Tessa Meulensteen, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about what the incoming EU's deforestation regulation will mean for the coffee sector. They discuss the opportunities and challenges to this regulation, including potential smallholder farmer exclusion and diversity loss in supply chains.

Monday briefing: what to expect from COP28

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the key issues up for negotiation at COP28, which begins this week in Dubai. In particular, they discuss the different positions around clean energy agreements, and the need to establish a new loss and damage fund.

 

Bea Stevenson talks to Gotz Martin, director of sustainability and strategic projects at Golden Agri-Resources, about the outcomes and impact that he hopes will come from this week's webinar, 'The pathway to nature-positive business: definitions, measurements and targets'. Watch the video is now available. Or listen as a podcast here.

 

Bea also speaks with Veronique Schmitt, Bayer Crop Science’s head of communications for EMEA, about why they have been working with Innovation Forum to put out the 'Focus on Farmers' series: Regenerative food systems in Africa: scaling solutions to empower smallholder farmers'. Watch the video recording or click here to listen as a podcast.

 

Plus, Innovation Forum's Hanna Halmari talks to Ian Welsh about what to expect from Innovation Forum's sustainable apparel and textiles conference in April.

Weekly podcast – The big picture: evolving private sector landscape-level action

This week: Rodrigue Kreilmann, corporate sustainability governance manager at Mars, and Veronique Bovee, deputy director for responsible sourcing at Proforest, talk with Ian Welsh about how companies can help accelerate progress towards nature, people and climate goals on a landscape level. They discussed the importance of corporate leadership to drive this and peer collaboration.

 

Plus: At the recent future of climate action conference in Washington DC, Bea Stevenson and Ian Welsh spoke with Ashley Allen from Oatly and Saif Hameed at Altruistiq about the importance of scaling product carbon footprinting and emissions data for corporate decision making.

 

And, 2.9C warming looming even with national efforts, according to UNEP; the Ellen Macarthur Foundation calls companies to scale the use of refill packaging; this year's Pepsico Positive Agriculture Outcomes Accelerator rewards farm projects worldwide; and, why insetting is part of the climate impacts solution, in the news digest.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

 

To read Tropical Forest Alliance's latest report, click here.