Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Transforming supply chains in India through regenerative agriculture

Rahul Raj, co-founder of Sasya Produce talks with Ian Welsh talk about the company's priority to support farmers to implement sustainable agricultural practices and open new international markets. They discuss the future of food supply chains and the company’s five-year plan for regenerative agriculture and improving smallholder farmer livelihoods. 

Voices from the farm: Priorities, challenges and aspirations for sustainable transformation

Farmers are at the core of sustainable commodities production; however too often, they are not given a seat at the table.

Ahead of our Sustainable Landscapes and Commodities conference in November, our online panel of farmers from across the globe discussed:

• The challenges they have faced this year and are likely to face in the year ahead.
• Their priorities for the future of their farms and families.
• What they need from food companies to secure their livelihoods, and future sustainable food production.
• Practical examples of specific initiatives that have benefited farming communities and driven a positive impact of the ground.

Join our panel of farmers:

• Stephen Lansana, palm oil farmer and inaugural secretary, Ngoyai Gbaayegie Farmers Group, Sierra Leone
• Kule Francis Baita, coffee and fruit farmer and board secretary, Bukonzo Organic Cooperative Union, Uganda
• Jorge Bianciotto, crop farmer and board, Sociedad Rural de Pergamino, Argentina
• Ashirafu Kihongosi, sunflower and soybean farmer and project training lead, Clinton Development Initiative, Tanzania

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

How Nestlé advocates for effective climate action

Owen Bethell, environment impact lead from the global public affairs team at Nestlé, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about Nestlé's priorities in climate advocacy through engaging with all stakeholders within the supply chain to achieve net zero by 2050. They discuss companies' duty to collaborate with farmer organisations, governments and most importantly peer companies to create collective climate action.

Weekly podcast: Delivering successful landscape outcomes for Indonesia’s forests

This week: Veronique Bovee, senior project manager, and Mila Nuh, southeast Asia regional landscape coordinator, at Proforest, talk about why preserving forests and ecosystems can mean adopting taking a pragmatic approach in working landscapes. They discuss some of the challenges encountered at projects in Indonesia, the importance of collaboration with indigenous communities and how to ensure transparency to maintain trust.

And, comments and insights from the future of plastics and packaging forum in Amsterdam with the Consumer Goods Forum’s Ignacio Gavilan, Nestlé’s Jodie Roussell, and Camiel Steffanie and Sofie Vergucht from Eastman.  

Host: Ian Welsh

 

How REDD+ is saving Cambodia’s forests: Southern Cardamom REDD+ project

Innovation Forum and Everland present a podcast focusing on the Wildlife Alliance Southern Cardamom REDD+ Project from the recent webinar, How REDD+ is working to save Cambodia's forests.

 

The project is located in the Cardamom rainforest landscape, one of the last unfragmented rainforests remaining in southeast Asia and is a critical part of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. We’ll hear about the unique ‘boots-on-the ground’ enforcement partnership between the project, Cambodia’s Environment Ministry and the Cambodian military that prevents more than 3,000,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and protects 497,000 hectares of tropical rainforest in South-West Cambodia.

 

Tune into over conversation with the panel moderated by Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh:

• Suwanna Gauntlett, CEO, Wildlife Alliance, Southern Cardamom REDD+ project
• Sophany Touch, livelihoods manager, Wildlife Alliance, Southern Cardamom REDD+ project

Farmer focus: Cargill’s collaboration for restoration in Brazil

Renata Nogueira, South America sustainability lead at Cargill, talks with Ian Welsh about partnering with farmers in Brazil in developing the sustainable agricultural practices necessary for the company to become deforestation and conversion-free by 2030. They discuss how farmer-driven programmes and collaboration benefit all stakeholders within food value chains, with environmental regularisation, restoration of degraded lands and protection of native vegetation.

Weekly podcast: Packaging’s carbon impacts unpacked

This week: Sarah Laidler and Juliet Ermer from the Carbon Trust talk about the evolving impacts of packaging, what good policy looks like, and potential routes to packaging decarbonisation. They also discuss the significant challenges that remain preventing plastic packaging moving to truly circular reuse and recycling models.   

Plus: CEOs expect recession in 2023 and contemplate pausing ESG programmes, according to KPMG report; Nestlé halts sourcing palm oil from Indonesian supplier accused of land and human rights abuses; how better waste management could enable net-negative emissions for cities; and, Tesco’s plans to halve food waste in operations by 2025, in the news digest, compiled by Bea Stevenson.  

Host: Ian Welsh

Progress on deforestation: where are the chinks of light?

Rhett Butler, founder of Mongabay, and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about the latest trends in tackling deforestation in the world’s tropical forests. They discuss the increasing focus on nature-based solutions and the necessity for indigenous communities to be involved in conservation projects. Butler also explains why the move from simply thinking about tree planting to sophisticated ecosystem restoration is the sort of game-changing focus shift to be celebrated.

More from Rhett Butler on why the Amazon forest’s future could depend on the Brazilian presidential election available here.

 

Weekly podcast: Get to grips with deforestation and land conversion impacts: a how-to guide

This week: Leah Samberg, Rainforest Alliance's lead scientist, global policy, and lead on the Accountability Framework initiative, and Pete Garbutt, sustainability director, nature and climate, at McDonald’s, discuss just-released guidance developed by AFi in partnership with the Science Based Targets initiative and Green House Gas Protocol. They talk about how the guidance can support companies in aligned target setting, accounting and disclosure for deforestation, ecosystem conversion and land use change emissions. 

Plus: Chatham House urges the forest sector to prioritise establishing more resilient land and forest economies; seven German citizens suing the federal government over air pollution; and, EasyJet to halt all carbon credit use, in the news digest.

And Innovation Forum's Emily Heslop gives an update on the future of plastics and packaging conference coming up on the 11th and 12th October in Amsterdam.

Host: Ian Welsh

 

The new  AFi, SBTi and GHG Protocol land use change guidance is available here.

What do we really mean by net zero?

Tiphaine Aries, consultant at the Carbon Trust, talks with Ian Welsh about how companies are responding to the pressures from stakeholders to plan for net zero emissions, set targets and be transparent on progress. They discuss the new Route to Net Zero Standard from the Carbon Trust, the specific challenges tackling scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions and some pointers to look for that demonstrate success in terms of progress over the coming years.