Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

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.

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

 

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

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.

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

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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