Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

This week: José Luis López, palm oil and biodiversity programme manager at Solidaridad, and Mario Rafael Rodriguez, senior associate for LandScale at the Rainforest Alliance talk about a collaboration project in the Ocosito landscape in Guatemala using the LandScale framework. In particular, they discuss how LandScale – a new system for measuring sustainability at a landscape level, led by Rainforest Alliance, Verra and Conservation International – has helped to identify human rights and labour risks.  

Plus: new research shows that forests, and especially tropical forests, have an even greater role in tempering climate change than previously thought; Nasdaq’s new reference indices tracking carbon price; Ukraine war forces Iceland U-turn on palm oil use in its own products; and UN World Food Programme facing $9bn shortfall, in the news digest.

And, Innovation Forum’s Emily Heslop gives an update on the Future of Food conference coming up in Minneapolis on 14^th-15^th June.

Host: Ian Welsh

 

Textile Exchange’s COO Claire Bergkamp and director of Climate+ strategy Beth Jenson talk with Ian Welsh about some impacts of climate change for the apparel and textiles sector. They discuss the challenges around getting to a net zero position by mid-century, via a 45% cut in emissions by 2030, and the willingness of the sector to make the innovations necessary.  

This week: Salla Saastamoinen, director for civil and commercial justice, DG Justice and Consumers at the European Commission, talks with Innovation Forum’s Bea Stevenson about how the new EU due diligence directive for companies regarding human rights and environmental impacts will be implemented. They discuss how companies can work to prepare their strategy now to ensure alignment with the proposed regulation, and the potential sanctions for non-compliance.  

Plus: new emissions reporting proposals from the US Securities and Exchange Commission; EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism details become clearer; HSBC’s plan to finance the transition to net zero; Swiss Re to stop insuring carbon-intensive energy projects; and, Unilever tracks 188,000 tonnes of palm oil in a blockchain transparency pilot, in the news digest.

And, Innovation Forum's Natasha Bodnar provides an update on June’s climate and business action conference.

Host: Ian Welsh

Leony Aurora, landscapes and partnership lead at the Tropical Forest Alliance, and Patrick Mallet, director of innovations at ISEAL, talk with Ian Welsh about newly released guiding practices from ISEAL designed to help companies address critical sustainability challenges collectively and at scale. The guidance covers where is makes the most sense to invest, how to maximise impact, how to measure effectiveness and what clear and credible communications should look like.

Ian Suwarganda, Golden Agri-Resources’ head of policy and partnerships, sustainability and communications, and Róisín Mortimer, Tropical Forest Alliance lead private sector engagement and programming, talk with Ian Welsh about the impacts of the EU’s importing regulations. While the establishment of a level playing is welcome, they argue that there should be greater awareness of the challenges for smallholders to demonstrate compliance. There is a risk of sourcing into the EU switching away from higher-risk regions, which could mean that the deforestation and other challenges in these areas will not be addressed.  

This week: Niels Wielaard, founder of Satelligence, talks about how financial institutions are ratcheting up how they expect companies to engage with their supply chains. He outlines the importance of accurate and up to date data as companies take a due diligence approach to what are complex and challenging issues, and the unforeseen circumstances of simply shifting out of sourcing from higher-risk regions.

And, Megan Passey, head of knowledge and learning at the International Cocoa Initiative, discusses the results of a cash transfer programme to support cocoa farmers in Ghana, and why such initiatives can be more effective than increasing crop price.

Plus, an update from Innovation Forum’s Hanna Halmari on the upcoming sustainable apparel and textiles conference.

In the news digest: the International Platform for Insetting’s new practical guide; Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure launches first reporting framework; and, ClientEarth sues Shell’s directors over lack of net zero preparation.

Host: Ian Welsh

In this session, recorded at Innovation Forum’s sustainable landscapes and commodities conference, an expert panel examines how landscape approaches are developing. They discuss the work of the Consumer Goods Forum’s forest positive coalition of action and how to set effective and realistic definitions and deadlines. Joining Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb are Barry Parkin from Mars, Magdi Batato from Nestlé, Olivier Tichit from Musim Mas and Christine McGrath from Mondelez International.  

Through sequestration, soil plays a pivotal role in mitigating climate change. Improved agricultural practices that promote soil sequestration can help reverse climate change while improving the livelihoods of farmers. However, there is currently no commonly used business standard or approach for measuring carbon in soil.

There are many emerging approaches, and more are on the way. So which current approaches can be used by companies today? In this webinar, we discussed current practices, the opportunities for standardised approaches, and the potential positive outcomes in the race to net zero.

Webinar panel:

• Sophie Throup, head of agriculture, fisheries and sustainable sourcing, Morrisons
• Ian McConnel, director of sustainability – international business unit, Tyson Foods
• Prof Peer Ederer, program and science director, Global Food and Agribusiness Network
• David Fatscher, head of ESG, BSI

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

This webinar was hosted in partnership with BSI

Michal Zrust, founder of Lestari Capital, talks with Ian Welsh about the Rimba Collective, a palm oil sector led initiative – involving Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Wilmar and others – set up to achieve forest conservation at scale. Zrust argues why conservation needs to be a core part of doing business and how the project plans to deliver $1bn to protect or restore 500,000 hectares of forest, supporting 32,000 individuals in forest communities in southeast Asia over 25 years.

This week: Patrick Mallet, director of innovations at ISEAL, and Leony Aurora, landscapes and partnership lead at the Tropical Forest Alliance, discuss some new guiding practices for companies engaging in supply chain landscape approaches and jurisdictional initiatives – including how actions can best contribute to performance and how to communicate the results of these actions.

Plus: palm oil deforestation levels down in 2021 says new report from Chain Reaction Research; Ukraine conflict’s “global food crisis” according to Yara International; brands scrambling to stop trading in Russia; and, some of the tech needed for any chance of achieving 1.5C warming limit in report from the Energy Transitions Commission, in the news digest.

And, Innovation Forum’s Natasha Bodnar gives an update on May’s future of food conference.

Host: Ian Welsh