Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Weekly podcast: Why carbon market growth is driven by corporate ambition

This week: Stephen Donofrio, co-author of the new State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2021 report, and director of Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace project, talks about why the voluntary carbon markets are set to top $1bn in 2021, and the drivers for this. Primarily these are corporate awareness of emissions and desire to set in place how to achieve a net zero footprint. Donofrio also argues that it is a “myth” that businesses are engaging in offsetting without decarbonising operations and supply chains concurrently.  

Plus: Mars, McDonald’s and Marks & Spencer announce new and challenging decarbonising targets; why palm oil buyers may have inadvertent timber deforestation risks, says Aidenvironment; and, embedded sustainability management practices leads to better overall company performance, according to Accenture and the World Economic Forum, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ project

With discussion on how companies can build a market-driven solution to finance forest and wildlife conservation, benefit local communities and meet SDGs, this webinar was broadcast live from the Wildlife Works Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya.

The project protects over 200,000 hectares of dryland forest, an important ecosystem with rich biodiversity. Located between the Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks, the region serves as a vital corridor for more than 300 species of wildlife, including 2,000 wild elephants. 

The emerging marketplace for REDD+ carbon offsets provides funds for the project to support social programmes that impact around 120,000 local people. Long-term jobs for local communities have replaced unsustainable and destructive sources of income such as poaching, subsistence agriculture and illegal tree harvesting. 

In 2011, the project was successfully validated and verified under the Verified Carbon Standard and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard. It was then the world's first REDD+ project to receive issuance of carbon credits and also the first Verified Carbon Standard REDD+ mega-project, in that it will result in the avoidance of over 1.5m tonnes of emissions per year for 30 years.  

Joining live from the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ project were:

• Lenjo Mwandoe, community relations manager
• George Thumbi, agribusiness and forestry manager
• Seraphine Charo, carbon committee representative
• Mercy Ngaruiya, founder of an environmental women’s group
• Eric Sagwe, head ranger

Host and moderator: Ian Welsh, Innovation Forum

 

Weekly podcast: Big brands and their scope 3 emissions challenges

This week: Oliver Hurrey, founder of the scope 3 peer group and the sustainable procurement pledge, and Ian Welsh discuss some of the talking points from Innovation Forum’s climate action conference. While tackling the climate crisis is clearly daunting, there is a sense of urgency and positivity, with business beginning to get to grips with tough scope 3 emissions. And big brands are increasingly requiring their suppliers to have clear decarbonising plans in place – getting to net zero is going to be a necessary license to trade.

Plus: all the latest about the upcoming future of plastic event from Innovation Forum’s Natasha Bodnar.  

Dole Foods: hi-tech sustainability marketing in practice

Xavier Roussel, sustainability and marketing director at Dole Foods, and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb discuss how augmented reality experiences from QR codes and other technology solutions can help brands use sustainability messages to market products. Roussel explains how the next steps will involve providing consumers information to calculate carbon footprints – many customers are now engaged with the full story behind the products they buy.  

Beyond ‘social compliance as PR exercise’ for the apparel sector

Avedis Seferian, CEO of global social compliance non-profit WRAP, talks with Peter Stanbury, co-author of Innovation Forum’s new Sustainable Apparel Barometer 2021, about the report’s key themes. Among their discussion points: the pros and cons of second versus third party auditing; the explosion in the number of audit standards and the subsequent challenges of compliance for factories; the on-going need to accept that there is no one-size-fits all solution; and, why some brands still need to think about actually achieving social compliance rather than being seen to do it.   

WRAP was a research partner for the Sustainable Apparel Barometer.

Weekly podcast: What’s a realistic COP26 wish list?

This week: Oliver Tichit, director of sustainable supply chain at Musim Mas, talks about what he wants to see from the COP26 meetings, and the challenges of translating outcomes from government level meetings to on-the-ground challenges. He also discusses how the pandemic has highlighted resilience in the palm oil industry, and some solutions that can help smallholder farmers gain access to mainstream sources of finance – a long term problem for a sector characterised by having growers in remote places.

Plus, Innovation Forum’s Hanna Halmari outlines some highlights from the upcoming climate action conference.

And: PepsiCo’s new sustainability framework; Carbon Tracker and Climate Accounting Project report says top corporate emitters are not fully disclosing risks; and, Gambia is the only country on track for 1.5C according to Climate Action Tracker, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

Sign up here for the free carbon solutions webinar, live from Kenya’s Kasigau Corridor REDD+ project on 30^th September at 2pm UK/9am ET.

How one food start-up wants to stop shipping water

Paloma López and Sean Ansett, co-founders of Future Fit Foods talk with Toby Webb about their vision for convenience foods that are healthy and efficient to transport. They discuss the benefits of using the latest freeze-drying techniques that preserve flavour and retain nutrients – and mean that the cost and footprints of transporting the water to consumers are eliminated.

Nestlé’s strategic shift away from single-use plastic

Jodie Roussell, senior public affairs manager for packaging and sustainability at Nestlé, talks with Ian Welsh about evolution in use of plastics in packaging, shifting to different materials, and the growth of reuse and refill models. They discuss how these change shopping habits and, crucially, the importance of addressing consumer concerns over packaging performance.   

Weekly podcast: The radical solutions necessary for decarbonisation at scale

This week: Alan Kroeger, head of supply chains and natural climate solutions at Satelligence, talks about eliminating emissions from forest commodity supply chains, the role of nature-based solutions in achieving this, and how companies can navigate their way through the challenges using the right data. And, RSPO’s Victor Tamanjong discusses the state of play for sustainable palm oil in Africa.

Plus: European Union pledges another €8bn for developing world climate action; new air carbon capture and storage plant opens in Iceland; and, the rapid growth of the voluntary carbon markets in new report from Ecosystem Marketplace, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

 

Climate crisis: are there reasons for hope?

The Carbon Trust’s director for implementation and e-mobility Myles McCarthy talks with Ian Welsh about some of the positive solutions emerging that can deliver decarbonisation at the rate necessary. They discuss some of the detail to look for from the outcomes of the COP26 meetings, how companies are becoming more sophisticated in how they are working to cut their emissions across scopes 1, 2 and 3, and the positive impact of science based targets.

The Carbon Trust was a sponsor of Innovation Forum's future of climate action conference.