Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Regenerative agriculture: do believe the hype?

James Ede, group sustainability lead for starches, sweetners and texturisers at Cargill, and Andrew Voysey, head of impact and carbon at Soil Capital, talk with Ian Welsh about why regenerative agriculture has become so much a part of the food sector’s decarbonisation plans. They discuss how regen agri brings together the opportunities to deal with carbon emissions, as well as water use, soil health and biodiversity risks. What’s crucial, they argue, is the need for verified data that provides farmers and their customers with the evidence they are progressively cutting carbon emissions and other impacts.

Weekly podcast: Agri-sector entrepreneurs backed by Tesco and WWF

This week: Representatives of the winning projects from WWF and Tesco’s Innovation Connections programme for agricultural supply chain entrepreneurs, receiving up to £150,000 each, talk about their projects and how they will impact at scale. Talking with Ian Welsh are Casey Woodward, founder and CEO of AgriSound, Branston agronomy director David Nelson, Oliver Kynaston, carbon calculator manager at Farm Carbon Toolkit, Chirrup project lead Conrad Young, and Future by Insects chief executive Evelyn Peters.

Plus: concerning new road development in the Amazon; indigenous rights impacts from land speculators; India’s new carbon market for heavy emitting sectors, and UK retail chain Morrisons goes carbon neutral in its egg supply chain, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

How direct law enforcement prevents deforestation in Cambodia

Dr Suwanna Gauntlett, founder and CEO of anti-deforestation NGO Wildlife Alliance, talks with Ian Welsh about how protection of forests on the ground is essential to halt deforestation in Cambodia. They discuss the drivers of deforestation in the country, not least from speculators clearing forest for illegal land sales. In addition, they talk about how REDD+ projects provide carbon market finance that enhance indigenous people’s livelihoods through economic development as well as funding for professional law enforcement personnel.

Green agriculture: how fertiliser partnership makes perfect

Birgitte Holter, head of green and low carbon fertilisers at Yara, and Claes Johansson, head of sustainable development at Lantmännen, talk with Ian Welsh about how their collaborative approach is enabling lower emission fertilisers for fossil-fuel-free food supply chains. The creation of green ammonia using hydrogen from electrolysing water, using renewable electricity, is the key process that Yara has developed in partnership with Lantmännen.

How the palm oil sector is shifting from environmental to social sustainability

Ian Suwarganda, head of policy and partnerships at Golden Agri-Resources, speaks to Ian Welsh about going beyond compliance with new due diligence regulations, to transform entire supply chains for better worker safety and wellbeing. They discussed the role of government and the value-driven consumer, and reasonable expectations for consumer-facing brands in supply chain transformation.

Plus: emissions from power generation to decline by 0.3%; Brazil’s Supreme Court rules Paris Agreement a human rights treaty; IMF launches a new gender strategy; and Dow and Mura Technology partner to scale advanced plastics recycling in EU and US, in the newscast.

Why net zero could be too narrow a target

At IF's Future of Climate Action Conference, Rob Cameron, global head of public affairs and ESG engagement at Nestlé, spoke to Ian Welsh about why companies need to continue to focus on carbon, take immediate action at scale, and the potential benefits from regenerative agriculture. He argued that there will be no transition to a low carbon economy unless it is a “just transition”, and put the case for always following the science in corporate action on climate change.  

How to address leakage and establish baselines in deforestation projects

Josh Tosteson, president of Everland, outlines a new plan to tackle deforestation at scale through rapidly developing new REDD+ forest projects in threatened landscapes around the world, and accessing the unprecedented levels of climate finance via the voluntary carbon markets. He also addresses the main criticisms of REDD+ projects; how to prevent deforestation from simply leaking outside the project boundary, and how to establish baselines to measure deforestation reduction.

Weekly podcast: Renewable energy sector’s community-level human rights risks

This week: Sam Szoke-Burke, senior legal researcher at the Columbia Centre on Sustainable Investment in New York, and Ikal Ang’elei, co-founder and director of Friends of Lake Turkana in Kenya talk about the impact of the renewable energy sector on the human rights of local peoples during the deployment phase of wind and solar projects. Land rights abuses are among the key risks for companies and their suppliers.  

Plus: microplastics found in beef and pork by new Plastic Soup Foundation sponsored research; the Lisbon Declaration signed by 150 nations at UN oceans conference; Mighty Earth keeps pressure on the soy sector and links to Cerrado biome conversion; and, Volvo set to leave European auto industry group over speed of conversion to all-electric vehicles, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

How brands can create jobs for refugees in their supply chains

Nick O’Flaherty, director of UNSTUCK, and Sarah Maurer, head of new product development at Chobani, talk with Innovation Forum’s Emily Heslop about UNSTUCK’s market-driven model that partners with consumer brands to enable suppliers to support refugees with employment, and to help them rebuild often shattered lives. They discuss the importance of identifying suppliers that are already working with refugees, and how consumer brands can use such initiatives to engage their customers.  

What can apparel learn from other sectors on living incomes?

At Innovation Forum’s recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference, Toby Webb was joined by Anke Ehlers, managing director for global corporate responsibility at Aldi Süd, and Remco Kouwenhoven, social innovation lead at Fairphone, for a session where the discussion focused on what the apparel sector can learn from living income programmes in other industry sectors.