Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

This week, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh talks about what to expect at this week's responsible sourcing and ethical trade forum in London. He introduces this year's focus on the practical implications of evolving legislation, and highlights key speakers who will be joining over the two days.

 

Plus: Innovation Forum's Hanna Halmari shares further updates on the upcoming sustainable apparel and textiles conference taking place in Amsterdam on 23rd-24th April. Click here for more information and registration details.

This week: Gerard Barron, CEO of deep sea mining exploration company The Metals Company, speaks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh on the challenges and environmental impacts of traditional extraction methods and what the future demand for critical metals and minerals is going to look like. They discuss the latest innovation in extracting vital resources from the sea floor with significantly less harmful impacts.

 

Plus: the Science Based Targets initiative updates progress on its Business Ambition for 1.5C programme; World Trade Organization finds fault in EU's move against palm oil biofuel; and, EU's corporate sustainability due diligence directive in revision with a greater focus on smaller suppliers' compliance, in the news digest.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Please note that this is an audio recording of a webinar containing slides and presentations. To view the video recording, click here.

 

On 12th March, Innovation Forum and Nestlé hosted a webinar sharing Nestlé's 2023 climate progress update

Nestlé has pledged to reduce absolute emissions by 20% by 2025, and by 50% by 2030. This live virtual event featured updates of its progress in 2023, with case studies illustrating how transformative action is taking place on the ground.

In particular they discussed:

• The importance of transparency in climate disclosures, particularly on progress across scopes and different GHGs
• Evolutions in target setting, including Nestlé’s SBTi approved FLAG objectives.
• The critical role of nature-based solutions in driving emissions reductions in agricultural supply chains (via two impactful case studies)

The panel:

• Florence Henry, global head of sustainability nutrition, Nestlé
• Benjamin Ware, global head of climate and sustainable sourcing, Nestlé
• Sukumaran Karuthara, head of agriculture services, coffee and tea, Nestlé India
• Barbara Sollero, sustainable agriculture manager, Nestlé Brazil
• Charlotte Podeur, strategy and ESG manager, Nestlé Coffee Brands
• Alexandre Berndt, researcher, The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporate (Embrapa)
• Moderator: Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

This webinar was hosted in partnership with Nestlé.

See here for more on Nestlé’s 2023 Creating Shared Value and Sustainability Report.

Pilar Cruz, chief sustainability officer at international food business Cargill, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about where corporate efforts should be focused over the coming months and through to the COP30 climate meetings in Brazil at the end of 2025. They discuss the drivers for multi-stakeholder collaboration in tackling climate challenges and to produce food sustainably.

This week, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, which is due to be officially approved by the EU. They also discuss what to expect at the Energy Transitions 2024 event, focusing on the disruption of the traditional "energy trilemma".

 

Plus: Innovation Forum's Emily Heslop shares updates on the upcoming future of food and beverage USA forum taking place in Minneapolis on 30th-31st May. Click here for more information and registration details.

This week: Max Dougherty, carbon business development lead at Bayer Crop Science, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about why a farmer-centric approach to regenerative agriculture is essential, and some of the potential routes to funding for agricultural transition. They also discuss the markers for effective stakeholder collaboration, when it comes to implementing regenerative farming in practice.

Plus: SEC approves climate disclosure rules; negotiators push for watered down EU CS3D deal; preliminary agreement on PPWR; and FAO report shows higher financial toll of climate crisis for rural women, in the news digest, with Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson.

On 5th March, Innovation Forum and Bayer Crop Science hosted a webinar exploring the best practices for soil regeneration

At the root of some of the most urgent challenges facing agriculture today is the global threat to soil health. Challenges such as soil erosion, compaction, salinization and water retention are compounded by the impacts of the evolving climate crisis, threatening the resilience of global food systems.    

Maximising soil health can lock in carbon to mitigate climate change and provide various benefits to growers and ecosystems - such as soil resilience, improving profitability, biodiversity, crop yield and nutrition.  

As land stewards, farmers can regenerate soils through the adoption of carbon farming practices. But what are the correct practices to ensure maximum carbon sequestration, emissions reduction and regenerative outcomes? And how can we ensure the significant value-chain support needed to enable this?  

In this webinar, our panel drew on case studies to identify practical and impactful farmer-centric solutions for building the relationship between healthy soils, regenerative agriculture, and climate-resilient food systems at scale.  

They discussed:

• The practices, such as cover cropping, crop rotation and no-till, which can help to restore soil organic matter and sequester and/or reduce carbon.  
• The importance of taking a nuanced and context-specific approach to applying sustainable practices.   
• The technology and data tools available to develop, nurture and maintain healthy soils   
• The role of different value-chain actors in supporting continued innovation and scale 

The panel:

• Florence Braye-Rigel, EMEA Carbon Farming Agronomic Lead, Bayer Crop Science 
• Paul Luu, Executive Secretary, The International “4 per 1,000” Initiative 
• Antoine Bedel, Forage and Service Plants Expert, RAGT 
• Andrew Williamson, Farmer 
• Moderator: Toby Webb, founder, Innovation Forum

René Groot Bruinderink, head of climate solutions for the UK and Netherlands at South Pole, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the latest trends in corporate environmental impacts, as highlighted in South Pole's recent annual net zero report. They discuss the corporate drivers in climate change, the rise of “greenhushing" and the challenges for business to deliver on climate targets.

Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh talks about free-to-join webinars coming up, including a discussion on soil health and carbon farming on Tuesday 5th March at 2pm CET, supported by Bayer Crop Science. Join the conversation alongside representatives from RAGT Seeds, the French ministry of agriculture, a farmer and Bayer Crop Science.

 

And then on Tuesday 12th March, Innovation Forum will host in partnership with Nestlé a webinar to present an update on the company’s  progress on its climate pledges in 2023. Hear from experts across Nestlé, with case studies illustrating their progress at 3pm CET. If you would like to join, you can register here.

 

Plus: Innovation Forum's Hannah Oborne shares updates and highlights some key discussions to take place at the future of food and beverage conference in Amsterdam on 14th-15th May. Click here to join us and to discuss how to deliver a sustainable, resilient and regenerative food systems.

This week: Neill Wilkins, head of the migrant workers programme at the Institute for Human Rights and Business, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the ongoing challenges in responsible recruitment including worker fees. They discuss the current business impact on human rights and efforts to tackle human rights risks specifically for women workers.

 

Plus: Forest 500 report highlights deforestation laggards; recycled yarn business Renewcell files for bankruptcy; EU’s CSDDD implementation stalls; and, the European Parliament approves new nature restoration law, in the news digest, with Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson.

 

Host: Ian Welsh