Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

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.

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.  

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.

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

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.  

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.

This week: James Ede, Group Sustainability Lead for Starches, Sweetners and Texturisers at Cargill, and Andrew Voysey, Head of Impact and Carbon at Soil Capital, speak to Ian Welsh about why both businesses and farmers are increasingly interested in the shift towards regenerative agriculture. They discussed how actors are working together within supply sheds to enable farmers to evidence regenerative outcomes; demonstrating the business case for regenerative farming; and the proof and features of growth in the area.

Plus: The US Supreme court rules against the EPA; India’s single-use plastics ban; The EU, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana come together with the cocoa sector for an Alliance on Sustainable Cocoa; and The Sustainable Apparel Coalition pauses its use of the Higg Index.

Host: Bea Stevenson

 

Ian Welsh talks to business and climate strategy expert Iain Watt about some of the challenges for companies in getting to net-zero emissions. He argues the need to recognise that science mandates that timeframes are very tight for 1.5C and 2C pathways – and that leading companies may have to do more than their fair share, to stay within our carbon budget. 

This week: Dr Suwanna Gauntlett, founder and CEO of anti-deforestation NGO Wildlife Alliance, talks about how better law enforcement to prevent illegal forest clearance, combined with developing better economic prospects for local communities, can really impact deforestation. She talks about the importance of bringing benefits to these local people, through REDD+ project development, for example, which provide the finance via the global voluntary carbon markets that is necessary.

Plus: UN continues to push for biodiversity agreement; Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance’s new research into what realistic carbon pricing needs to look like; and, Blackrock calls for proposed SEC reporting guidelines to align more closely with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, in the news digest.

And, Innovation Forum’s Emily Heslop gives an update on the upcoming plastics and packaging conference, coming up in Amsterdam in October.

Host: Ian Welsh   

As companies strive to meet their net-zero targets, they must rapidly reduce their supply chain emissions. Leading companies are beginning to go one step further to develop ‘insetting’ programmes that actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. In the complex world of carbon accounting, it is still unclear who can count a carbon removal and when. 

This webinar assessed the frameworks that are needed to incentivise the right actions from brands. There was discussion on how business can balance emissions reductions and removals in an effective climate strategy, with some examples of current reductions and removals programmes. An expert panel also considered: 

• the headline challenges around calculating and claiming supply chain emissions removals; 
• the opportunities to cut carbon, enhance land use, and claim benefits; and
• potential unintended consequences to avoid in developing guidance.  

Panel members:

• Conor McMahon, global climate delivery manager, Nestlé 
• Dr Goetz Martin, director, sustainability and strategic projects, Golden Agri-Resources
• Hannah Birge, director of agriculture, Nebraska, The Nature Conservancy
• Tilmann Silber, global lead, thriving nature, Barry Callebaut

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

This webinar was hosted in partnership with Nestlé.