Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson has spoken to several farmers from across geographies and commodities, to find out how climate change is impacting their crops and their livelihoods.

Hear from Deborah Osei-Mensah, a farmer with Asunafo Cocoa Cooperative in Ghana, Wakinya Samuel, a smallholder coffee farmer from Bushika Integrated Area Cooperative Enterprise in Uganda, Kamudiben Satishbhai Tadavi, a smallholder cotton farmer working with CottonConnect, from the Narmada district in Gujarat, India, and Muhammad Muiz Bajwa, sustainability manager at South Asian Sourcing Private Limited.

During Innovation Forum's recent climate action on scope 3 emissions conference in Washington DC, Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson spoke with some of the participants to reflect on the key topics and conversations over the two days. These discussions focused in particular on shifting policy and guidance landscapes, and how companies are performing and communicating on scope 3 climate targets.

 

Hear from Invariant's Adam Tarr, former senior advisor to the secretary of agriculture, Ashley Allen from Oatly, Terryn Lawrence from Rabobank, Altruistiq's Saif Hameed, Ashlie Burkhart from Germin8 Ventures and Geoff Brighty from Mura Technology.

In the final briefing of the year, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson take a look ahead to the key focal points for sustainable business in 2024. They discuss the legislation moving corporate climate disclosure from voluntary to mandatory, expected progress on supply chain due diligence, and the ever-increasing spotlight on nature and biodiversity strategy.

This week: Francis Gassert, strategy and impact lead at Vizzuality, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about measuring impact and how to ensure credibility when doing so. They discuss the importance of companies considering their land, carbon and biodiversity impacts and incoming regulatory changes driving this action.

 

And, at COP28, United Arab Emirates' $100m game changing loss and reparation pledge; Civil Society Equity Review's report estimates developing countries require $209bn yearly for renewable energy transition; global methane pledge to cut atmospheric methane by 30% by 2030; and, new research by data and monitoring provider Space Intelligence finds major flaws in earlier research scrutinising voluntary carbon markets and REDD+ projects, in the news digest.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Rodrigue Kreilmann, corporate sustainability governance manager at Mars, and Veronique Bovee, deputy director for responsible sourcing at Proforest, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about Proforest and Tropical Forest Alliance's latest research on driving progress on nature, climate and social targets at a landscape level. They discuss how companies' landscape-scale actions fit into leading climate frameworks and effective solutions for corporate action.

 

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

Speaking live from COP28 in Dubai, Owen Bethell, environmental impact lead, global public affairs, at Nestlé shares on-the-spot reflections with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the increasing focus on the global stocktake and lack of progress of agreement on fossil fuel phase-out. They discuss some progress so far, such as on food systems and methane, as ongoing negotiations take place.

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the latest at COP28 in Dubai, as final negotiations take place. They discuss the progress in fossil fuel phase-out and concerns in lack of progress in other areas such as nature and food systems. They also talk about potential updates from the European Commission on the EU deforestation regulation.

 

Plus: Bea Stevenson shares information about the upcoming Innovation Forum webinar on EUDR, the next in the "big debate" series, taking place on 18th January at 1pm CET. Click here to register.

 

And, Innovation Forum's Emily Heslop introduces the future of food conference on 29th-30th May 2024 held in Minneapolis. $500 discount early-bird registrations are open.

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

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

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.