Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Innovation Forum’s Bea Stevenson talks with Salla Saastamoinen, director for civil and commercial justice, DG Justice and Consumers at the European Commission about how the EU proposed directive on due diligence corporate accountability will be implemented. They discuss what companies should expect, and how they can align climate and social strategies to meet the new regulation’s requirements.    

This week: Jenny Costelloe, chief executive of the Ethical Tea Partnership, discusses how the sector is tackling its environmental and social challenges, and why tea has not been subject to the attention other commodities have had. Costelloe explains why the traditional tea plantation model is becoming outdated, with smallholder farmers becoming principal sector suppliers – and all the farm income and labour risks this brings.  

Plus: new regenerative fashion manifesto featuring Stella McCartney, Zalando, Burberry and other big brands; Arla Foods’ food additive pilot to reduce methane emissions from 10,000 cows; and, hydrogen’s greenhouse gas potential 11 times more potent than carbon dioxide, in the news digest.  

And Innovation Forum’s Hanna Halmari talks about the upcoming sustainable apparel and textiles conference on the 26^th to 28^th April. Plus detail of an exclusive podcast listener offer.

Host: Ian Welsh

Innovation Forum founder Toby Webb talks with Jon Entine, director of the Genetic Literacy Project, about the rise of the use of gene editing in agriculture, and how fact-based debate has led to a broader acceptance of such techniques. In a wide-ranging discussion they also highlight how the war in Ukraine will significantly impact global food supply and argue the case for GMO grain to help ease the pressures.  

Craig Mills, CEO of Vizzuality, talks with Ian Welsh about how companies are changing the process of engagement with supply chain data. They discuss what best use of corporate sustainability data looks like, and how a move to AI and machine learning has transformed what can be done with it. Mills also outlines how the work of the World Resource Institute and Global Forest Watch has transformed tracking of deforestation, and argues the case for greater free and open data sharing so that innovation and knowledge from tech startups that ultimately fail will not be lost.  

This week: Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer’s Elizabeth Forster and Innovation Forum’s Bea Stevenson talk about some of the new areas of legal risk relating to human rights and environmental impacts that companies need to be aware of, and some of the measures that they can take to mitigate them.

Plus: Oxfam and Save the Children highlight the food supply crisis in west Africa; IPCC’s mitigation report highlighting need for net negative carbon strategy; and, Plastic Soup Foundation research into microplastics in cosmetics, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh  

IDH’s Matthew Spencer, Proforest’s Ruth Nussbaum and Conservation International’s John Buchanan talk with Ian Welsh about how the SourceUp platform can improve the distribution of value in commodity supply chains, bringing corporate boardrooms and grower communities together. They argue the case for companies engaging more closely with the landscapes they source from and how positive impacts can be scaled up.

Niels Wielaard, founder of Satelligence, and Ian Welsh talk about traceability-to-plantation innovation in palm oil and cocoa supply chains. Wielaard explains why appreciating the complexity of the challenges is important and, crucially, why companies should not shift from sourcing from higher risk countries as a reaction to EU and other due diligence legislation. This could, he argues, simply shift problems to lower risk countries.  

This week: David Grayson, campaigner and former director of the Doughty Centre at Cranfield School of Management, and co-author of the new Sustainable Business Handbook, talks with Ian Welsh about the evolving role of business in tackling climate change, global inequality and the impacts of globalisation. Grayson outlines how shifts in emphasis from the investment community in terms of ESG screening is impacting business planning, and welcomes the growth in sustainability bonds. And, they discuss how the pandemic has led companies to rethink their “just in time” approach to supply chains.     

And, Innovation Forum senior associate Peter Stanbury and Welsh review some of the main issues that arose during Innovation Forum’s responsible sourcing and ethical trade conference in London, including how to improve value chain data, the importance of grievance mechanisms, how to focus collaboration, and the potential unintended consequences when companies stop working in high risk regions.   

Megan Passey, head of knowledge and learning at the International Cocoa Initiative, talks with Ian Welsh about use of cash transfer to farmers to target hazardous child labour in Ghana. They discuss why regular funds direct to farmers can be more effective than single lump sums, and why disconnecting them from payments for their cocoa crop is important.  

Toby Webb and Peter Stanbury reflect on Nestlé’s new strategy for the cocoa sector, with the ambition to get to grips with child labour risks, increase farm income and achieve full traceability in the cocoa sector. This will involve farmers having the ability to earn more for their crop alongside making improvements in other areas, including diversifying income and encouraging school enrolment. They argue that Nestlé’s plans represent significant ambition and discuss what the longer-term impacts of this and other initiatives could be.