Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

This week: Alberto Acedo, co-founder and chief scientific officer at Biome Makers, talks about how the company’s BeCrop technology can test soil health to drive improvements in agricultural sustainability. He discusses the benefits of identifying the soil metrics that help farmers identify and monitor biological and chemical properties of soil to provide effective solutions for sustainable agricultural management.

Plus: quick fire insights from Golden Agri-Resources' Anita Neville, Mighty Earth's Glenn Hurowitz and Everland's Joshua Tosteson, speaking at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities conference in Amsterdam.

And: funding for loss and damage due to climate change and a proposed two-year halt in debt payments from nations impacted by climate-related disasters, discussed at COP27; a more-rapid shift to regenerative agricultural practices needed according to Sustainable Markets Initiative taskforce's report; and, a growing row between Indonesia and the EU over legal timber and deforestation due diligence, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

Please complete Innovation Forum’s five-minute survey and get exclusive first access to useful insights on sustainability supply chain trends. Survey available here.

Proforest's deputy director for company collaboration Veronique Bovee, and landscape coordinator for Indonesia Mila Nuh, talk with Ian Welsh about their landscape and livelihoods programmes. These tackle deforestation and human rights issues, and facilitate smallholder inclusion. They discuss the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration between district and national governments, local communities and companies, with a bottom-up approach to achieve forest protection and improved community livelihoods that is beneficial for all.

This week: Clem Ugorji from the Global Plastic Action Partnership, formerly vice-president for public affairs communications and sustainability for west Africa at Coca-Cola, talks with Bea Stevenson about the reality of waste collection infrastructure in the region, and ways to create value and incentives for plastic collection and waste segregation. 

Plus, insight from Tesco’s Anna Turrell, APRIL’s Craig Tribolet and FarmStrong Foundation’s Michiel Hendriksz, speaking with Ian Welsh this week at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities conference in Amsterdam.

And, in the news digest with Bea Stevenson: Ellen MacArthur Foundation says corporate plastic recycling reuse targets ‘unlikely to be met’; Lula victory in Brazil spurs hope for the Amazon; Tesco and WWF on mandatory farm food waste reporting; and, Microsoft's president warns of sustainability talent shortage.

Host: Ian Welsh

Leah Samberg, lead scientist, global policy, at Rainforest Alliance, and McDonald's sustainability director, nature and climate, Pete Garbutt, talk with Ian Welsh about new guidance developed by the Accountability Framework initiative in partnership with the Science Based Targets initiative and Green House Gas Protocol on land use change and further target setting, accounting for impact and disclosure. They discuss McDonald's strategy to reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions and focus on how the guidance will aid towards accounting challenges, targeting alignment and routes to success through collaboration.

This week: Mike Senior and Abraham Baffoe from Proforest discuss how landscape approaches can work in practice, and the growing momentum over the past few years from companies making commitments and investments – through the Consumer Goods Forum’s Forest Positive Coalition for example. They talk about the leadership that is necessary from grower country governments, and why science-based targets for nature are going to be a key future innovation. Collaboration will be necessary, they argue, to ensure incentives for sourcing companies are aligned with countering deforestation and land use change in higher risk regions.

Plus: Mondelēz International’s new $600m investment in cocoa sourcing sustainability; deforestation rates slowed 6.3% in 2021 according to latest Forest Declaration Assessment; H&M, Unilever, and Nestlé among those calling for mandatory nature impact and disclosure by 2030; and, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority proposes new clampdown on greenwashing in 2023, in the news digest from Innovation Forum’s Bea Stevenson.

Host: Ian Welsh

Juliet Ermer and Sarah Laidler from the Carbon Trust talk with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about decarbonisation in the packaging sector, and what is needed to enable recycled plastic content to compete with virgin. They discuss the prospects for a legally binding UN plastics treaty by 2024 and consider legislation on extended producer responsibility, pros and cons of chemical recycling and what good policy on consistency in packaging design can look like.

For companies working towards their net-zero and nature-positive commitments, the need for clear and reliable intelligence on natural capital is vital. Innovative remote-sensing solutions can be an important enabler for improving business decisions with such data.

This webinar, our expert panel discussed how remote-sensing data can be utilised to support company action for net-zero and nature-positive supply chains. We explored the science and best practice, as well as the challenges for integration with other supply chain data and existing business processes. In brief, we talked about:

• The challenges that food, land use and agriculture companies face when collecting and applying natural capital data.

• How business can integrate remote-sensing based natural capital intelligence with other critical supply chain data such as asset location, supplier information and land ownership.

• The importance of high-quality natural capital intelligence to drive collective action and multi-stakeholder collaboration for sustainable supply chains and landscapes.

• How utilising this data can accelerate existing sustainability, procurement, and reporting processes.

Our panel:

• Andrew Wilcox, Senior Manager, Sustainable Sourcing & Digital Programs, Unilever

• Rob Emanuele, Geospatial Architect, Microsoft

• Anita Neville, Chief Sustainability and Communications Officer, Golden Agri-Resources

• Alessandro Baccini, Co-founder and CSO, Chloris Geospatial

 

This webinar was moderated by Ian Welsh, director of publishing at Innovation Forum, and hosted in partnership with Chloris Geospatial.

This week: Rupert Day, farmer livelihoods advisor at Cargill cocoa and chocolate, discusses some of the sector innovations that are making a real difference for producer communities, and why keeping farm incomes considerations front and centre of supply chain strategy remains vital.

Plus, comment from Christina Dixon, Environmental Investigation Agency, and Jenny Wassenaar, Trivium Packaging, both speaking at the recent future of plastics and packaging conference in Amsterdam.

In the news digest: biodiversity crisis outlined in WWF’s Living Planet Report; Consumer Goods Forum’s plastic coalition predicts 800,000 tonnes of chemically recycled plastic required in 2030; and, Net Zero Tracker compares public and private companies.

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

Host: Ian Welsh

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. 

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.