Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

How to turn pre-consumer apparel ‘waste’ into sustainable yarns

Anurag Gupta, managing director at Usha Yarns, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how pre-consumer recycled cotton and post-consumer PET can be used to create new yarns. They compare the footprint of recycled and virgin fibres and discuss the drivers for developing the next generation yarns for the apparel sector.

How agroforestry can drive progress in coffee supply chains

This week: Ben Aschenaki, delivery unit lead and rebuild facility lead from Regeneration talks with Ian Welsh talk about the potential of an agroforestry approach and forest coffee supply chain. They discuss the importance of encouraging farmers to steer away from monocultural practices through providing incentives, training, and linking smallholders to international markets.

 

Plus: US pledges funding to curb deforestation in the Amazon; key vote strengthens new EU corporate due diligence rules; EU strikes deal to set binding sustainable fuel targets for aviation; and, global EV sales to increase by 35% in 2023, in the news digest by Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson.

 

And, quick fire insights from the recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference in Amsterdam from European Commission's Malgorzata Golebiewska, Brittany Sage Brown from Kraft Heinz and CottonConnect's Alison Ward.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Where agribusiness giants stand on gender empowerment and land rights

Matt Hamiltion, senior advisor on traders and inclusive value chains at Oxfam America shares with Ian Welsh some results from Oxfam's latest Moving the Middle report, assessing big agribusinesses on their policies and implementation plans. The companies are evaluated across five issue areas: women's empowerment, land inequality, smallholder equity and transparency. They also debate the need to go beyond commitments and begin implementation to sustain a just food system for the long-term.

ESG through the supply chain: Incentives that work on the ground

In order to hit targets on sustainability issues such as emissions, waste and ethical work conditions, companies must work with suppliers to implement changes on the ground. Asking suppliers to shift behaviour and protocol can be challenging, and so incentives are often needed.

As part of the theme for Earth Day 2023 to “Invest in Our Planet”, this special webinar had panellists share the different types of incentives and approaches that encourage suppliers to implement sustainable changes in farms and factories. They gave proven examples of incentives that have worked, whilst discussing:

• The potential challenges and pitfalls of communicating with supply chain workers around new sustainability initiatives
• Best practice for approaching discussions with suppliers to drive progress in factories and farms
• How to work with suppliers to build sustainable policies and initiatives that work for the business, the supplier, and workers on the ground

The panel:

• Kate Larsen, director ESG, human rights, sustainability in supply chains advisory, SupplyESChange
• Mr Sathya Raghu V Mokkapati, co-founder and president, Kheyti
• Saif Khan, technical director, Footprints

This webinar was moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum.

Monday briefing: Rana Plaza collapse ten years on – progress but challenges remain

In this week's preview of what's coming up, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the ten-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, and why despite the best efforts of many in the apparel sector, the same challenges persist a decade later. They also discuss the upcoming webinar Innovation Forum is hosting with Nestlé on 27th April, at 3pm CEST, with the focus on regenerative agriculture.

Plus, Innovation Forum's Hanna Halmari looks ahead to this week’s sustainable apparel and textiles conference in Amsterdam, and gives some last-minute updates and information for attendees.

What a fool-proof apparel net-zero plan looks like

This week: Scott Kelly, senior vice president, Risilience shares guidance with Ian Welsh on how apparel brands can implement effective net-zero plans by 2050. They discuss the importance of measuring carbon emissions first, then creating a concrete plan to reduce emissions with interim targets set along the way.

 

Plus: Greenpeace and other groups take the European commission to court over green investment taxonomy; FAO report says climate change is compounding inequalities for women in agriculture; billions more in funding needed to protect tropical forests, says Energy Transitions Commission; and, CDP launches plastics disclosure platform, in the news digest by Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

What does the route to responsible sourcing and ethical trade look like?

Hear some on-the-spot reflections at the recent responsible sourcing and ethical trade forum in London from Clifford Chance’s Rae Lindsay, Fiona Wheatley from Bakkavor and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s Phil Bloomer, talking with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh.

They highlight the importance of mandatory human rights due diligence in supplier engagement through in-depth investigation of tier 3 and 4 suppliers. They also discuss the need to initiate real executive leadership and collaboration to drive progress.

Monday briefing: The ongoing transboundary climate risks and adaptation debate

In this week’s preview of what’s coming up, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the 6th Nordic Conference on Climate Change Adaptation where stakeholders share key lessons learned from their policy approaches in adaptation across cities and municipalities. They also discuss potential impacts from the Extinction Rebellion four-day peaceful protest at the UK houses of parliament this week. Plus they look forward to Innovation Forum’s webinar discussing ESG and incentives that work coming up on Friday 21^st April to mark Earth Day 2023. Click here to register for this webinar (21^st April, 10 am UK time) or to receive the recording in your inbox after the event.

Plus, Innovation Forum's Emily Heslop shares an update on some of the discussion points on the agenda at the future of food USA conference on 31st May and 1st June in Minneapolis.

Weekly podcast: How recycled yarns are a route to circularity for the apparel sector

This week: Anurag Gupta, managing director of Usha Yarns, talks with Ian Welsh about products the company is developing from pre-consumer recycled cotton combined with PET plastic. They discuss the potential for sustainable fibres becoming mainstream, the importance of increasing the value of waste and developing products that don’t require virgin material use.

Plus: further reflections from the recent responsible sourcing and ethical trade forum from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Ruth Thomas and eBay’s Chris Gale. They highlight the importance of access to finance for rural SMEs can aid development and the need for migrant worker empowerment programmes.

And, the era of clean power potentially imminent says new Global Electricity Review from thinktank Ember; the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market launches core market principles; US senators investigate big brands on migrant child labour; UK's Advertising Standards Authority bans Etihad ads for greenwashing, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

Click here to register for the ESG through the supply chain webinar (21st April 11am CET) and click here to join the regenerative agriculture webinar with Nestlé (27th April 3pm CET).

Is ’verified deforestation-free’ the future for palm oil?

Olivier Tichit, director of sustainability at Musim Mas, talks with Ian Welsh about the potential for “verified deforestation-free” programmes to counter the challenges generated by the impending EU deforestation-linked products ban. They discuss the need to proactively halt deforestation by working at a landscape level and engage in multi-stakeholder collaboration, alongside verification to recognise progress.