Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

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.

Circular by design: How apparel brands can make informed choices

All materials have impacts. Whether it be fossil fuel inputs, land and chemical use, or human rights issues, brands are keen to show verifiable, data driven improvements in their sourcing choices. There are emerging solutions, and materials with lower impact coming on the market at scale today. Presently, we need a more honest conversation about the factors driving brand choices, and the circular solutions that exist in the global market place.

This webinar discussed how brands can make the right impact driven choices to separate true circular from recycling. The expert panel also looked at:

• Why choice and design matter so much, in terms of choosing the right materials to lower brand and supply chain impact fastest
• How sourcing companies can communicate with apparel designers around the true impact of material choices
• Whether communicating a full production narrative showing real, verifiable impact enable greener customer choices

Panel members:

• Lucita Jasmin, director of sustainability & external affairs, APRIL
• Sarah Hayes, sustainability business expert circularity, H&M
• Megan Stoneburner, director of materials, Textile Exchange
• David Quass, senior director sustainability, VF Corporation

The discussion was moderated by Toby Webb, founder of Innovation Forum.

This webinar was hosted in partnership with APR.

Weekly podcast: What an effective vertical food supply chain looks like

This week: Insight from Rahul Raj, co-CEO of Indian vegetable supplier Sasya Produce. The company specialises in high quality packaged products and is working to integrate regenerative agriculture techniques with smallholder farmers in its vertically integrated supply chain.

Plus: new International Energy Agency and International Renewable Energy Agency report into decarbonisation rates; the EU’s 153m tonnes of food waste problem; Primark to pull back from sourcing in Myanmar following Ethical Trading Initiative report; and, Barry Callebout on track to reach full direct traceability by 2005, in the news digest.

And Innovation Forum’s Hanna Halmari gives an update on the sustainable landscapes and commodities conference, coming up on the 1^st and 2^nd November in Amsterdam

Host: Ian Welsh  

A how-to guide for a deforestation-free palm oil supply chain

Goetz Martin, director for sustainability and strategic projects at Golden Agri-Resources, discusses with Ian Welsh why companies are now really taking emission reductions seriously. They talk about  the role of monitoring and carbon pricing in tackling deforestation, what good collaboration looks like, and why working with indigenous communities is essential for impact on tackling deforestation and emissions reduction at scale.

Weekly podcast: Nestlé’s road to a collaborative net-zero strategy

This week: Owen Bethell, environmental impact lead, global public affairs, at Nestlé, talks about the company's decarbonisation strategy, and the need for corporate climate advocacy, working with governments, peer companies and suppliers. He argues that this collaboration is integral to bringing increased sustainability impact and making progress at scale towards Nestlé’s net-zero targets.
 
Plus: land conversion for agriculture remains the greatest driver for deforestation; indigenous communities calling for a new pact preserving 80% of the Amazon forest by 2025; tougher EU deforestation regulation on the cards; and, Patagonia's owner transfers company stock into charitable trust to tackle climate change, in the news digest.
 
Host: Ian Welsh

Why supplier relationships are key to achieving ambitious targets

Britvic’s supply chain director Nigel Paine talks with Ian Welsh about how the £2bn soft drinks business goes about identifying its material impacts, setting targets to reduce them in collaboration with supply chain partners, and how net zero strategy should focus on efficiencies. They discuss how, for example, making bottles lighter can cut thousands of tonnes of plastic in packaging, and the importance of a balanced approach to counter unintended consequences of actions.  

Is the revolution in plant-based diets a fixture?

Chiara Vitali, senior consultant at Robertsbridge, discusses with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh some new research into trends in patterns of meat eating and how consumer behaviour is changing in different markets. They talk about the environmental and healthy-eating concerns that encourage consumers to turn to more plant-based diets including meat alternatives, and the public and business policy levers that can drive change.   

Weekly podcast: Cargill’s commodity sourcing challenges in Brazil

This week: Renata Nogueira from Cargill discusses how to work with suppliers in Brazil to prevent land conversion and report degraded ecosystems. And Tiphaine Aries from the Carbon Trust talks about corporate net zero planning and a new route to net zero standard.

Plus: Selfridges builds its resale, repair, rental and refill model; brands still have cotton sourced from Xinjiang in apparel lines; the impacts of Antarctic krill fishing; and, new carbon credit insurance scheme, in the news digest.

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

Host: Ian Welsh   

Due diligence regulation – the risk of smallholder exclusion

Assistant professor of environmental policy at ETH Zürich Rachael Garrett and Musim Mas’s director of sustainability Olivier Tichit talk with Ian Welsh about their collaboration engaging smallholder farmer communities to deliver the data and traceability that palm oil buyers require. They discuss the importance of not divesting from higher risk sourcing regions and why there is still work to be done to ensure that due diligence regulation delivers the impacts intended.