Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Andrew Wallis, CEO of UK-based trafficking and modern slavery organisation Unseen, talks with Ian Welsh about trends in human trafficking and modern slavery. Wallis highlights the positive influence of the finance sector in tackling the challenges, particularly as climate change is an increasing driver of displacing vulnerable populations around the planet. And they discuss the big questions facing FIFA ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Join Andrew Wallis at the Responsible Sourcing and Ethical Trade Forum, 4th-5th April.

Sebastiaan van der Hoek, forestry advisor at Cargill, discusses with Ian Welsh the potential for agroforestry to transform the cocoa sector. He outlines how working with farmers to introduce more trees – whether for fruit or timber, or to promote more biodiversity – is integral to delivery of the Cargill Cocoa Promise, and also why getting incentives right is a crucial part of this process.

Cargill was a sponsor of the recent Innovation Forum sustainable landscapes and commodities event.

This week: La Rhea Pepper, Claire Bergkamp and Megan Stoneburner from Textile Exchange discuss the potential from manmade cellulosic fibres – particularly viscose and rayon – for the apparel and textiles sector. They talk about the challenges of ensuring sustainable supply, particularly for fibres sourced from forests, and how such materials can have a key role as the sector addresses the significant challenges in transitioning to net zero.

Plus: UK farmers set to be paid £1.6bn for re-wilding and environmental sensitivity; France bans plastic wrapped fruit and vegetables; and, better news on deforestation rates in Indonesia down to palm oil sector scrutiny, says Rainforest Action Network, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

Tara Luckman, apparel sector expert, and advisor to the US Cotton Trust Protocol, and Dr Mark Sumner from the school of design at the University of Leeds, talk with Ian Welsh about how better data can help business connect with cotton suppliers and farmers. They discuss why a move away from a mass balance approach, and greater traceability, can enable brands to demonstrate to stakeholders how they are meeting impact goals.

As the dust settled from the Glasgow COP26 meetings in November, Lord Deben, chair of the UK’s Climate Change Committee spoke with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how the progress can be built upon in the coming months. They highlight the presence of big business leaders in the climate debate, some of the practical initiatives that have emerged, and why protestors need to be part of the 2022 COP27 meetings in Egypt. Among the next steps to look out for are net zero commitments that stand up to measurement, and for a real focus on delivery.

This week: To round off the year are extracts from some of the interviews that have featured in the Innovation Forum podcast during 2021.  

First up are Sarah Rogerson and Emma Thomson from Global Canopy discussing the 2021 Forest 500 report. Then hear from Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talking with forest expert Simon Lord about the unintended consequences of just planting trees. Ford’s Jim Gawron gives some insight into the growth of the electric vehicle market. Dole Food’s Xavier Roussel talks about how to engage consumers on sustainability matters. Forest Trends’ Stephen Donofrio gives his views on the rise and rise of the voluntary carbon market. And, Molly Jensen and Rachael Howie, pupils at the High School of Glasgow, discuss the COP26 meetings and their hopes for the future.

Host: Ian Welsh

Nigel Sizer, executive director of the Preventing Pandemics at the Source coalition, and former president of Rainforest Alliance, reflects on some of the outcomes from COP26, welcoming the funding that was announced to help halt deforestation. Speaking with Ian Welsh, Sizer also talks about the links between deforestation and global pandemics and how, much like climate change, it is always those that are least equipped to deal with the challenges that are impacted most. To reduce risks of future pandemics, he calls for forest conservation, controls of the wildlife trade and stronger biosecurity in animal agriculture.  

This week: Andrew Wallis, CEO of UK-based trafficking and modern slavery organisation Unseen, talks about where the modern slavery and forced labour hotspots are right now, and the impacts of climate change on forced migration. He also outlines what Fifa should be thinking about ahead of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Plus: Walmart’s new supply chain finance programme with CDP and HSBC; how HSBC plans to exit coal, and why ShareAction isn’t impressed; and, the European Commission outlines new carbon removal proposals for the EU, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

Liesl Truscott, corporate benchmarking director at Textile Exchange, Lucita Jasmin, director of sustainability and external affairs at APRIL, and Nigel Sizer, executive director at the Preventing Pandemics at the Source initiative, talk with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb about some of the findings from the recent Apparel Barometer report, in particular regarding viscose. The discussion includes the challenges of using recycled fibres, the relative impacts of different feedstocks, and the opportunities for increased sustainability from moving from fossil to natural fibres.

In this 30 minute webinar, the latest in the From the Forest Frontlines series, hear from project members and community leaders at the Wildlife Works Mai Ndombe REDD+ project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Congo Basin is home to the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest and the largest carbon sink. The preservation of this forest is critical to mitigating climate change, as well as maintaining biodiversity and the livelihoods of 80 million people.

The Wildlife Works Mai Ndombe REDD+ project protects 300,000 hectares of rainforest and wetlands by addressing the drivers of deforestation and biodiversity loss while improving the well-being of local communities – is achieved through the sale of verified emission reductions credits that are traded on the voluntary carbon market. An average annual reduction of 3.5m tonnes of CO2 equivalent now being achieved. The carbon financing that's generated covers project costs and goes to the community, which funds activities including building schools and medical clinics based on their needs. 

The emission reductions are verified by Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and major socio-economic co-benefits by the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standard.

Over the past decade, agroforestry nurseries and sustainable farming crops and techniques have been introduced to relieve deforestation pressure on the local community. The project has so far built 10 schools – a total of 28 have been committed to – that are educating over 5,000 students. A new mobile medical clinic has treated thousands of patients who previously had little or no access to health care.

The project is an example of how private-sector investments and the voluntary carbon markets can support and finance community-led forest and biodiversity conservation, while helping companies meet their Sustainable Development Goal and net-zero pledges.

Welcome from: The Honourable Benjamin Toirambe Bamoning, secretary-general for environment and sustainable development, Government of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Panellists:

• Prof Jean-Robert Bwangoy Bankanza Bolambee, DRC country director, Wildlife Works
• Mme Chief Basabo Bolombala
• M Chief Bola Bakali Ba Wema
• M Engokulu Wanza, president of Grand LDC Lokanga
• M Erasme Mboba, teacher at school funded by the Mai Ndombe project
• Dr Bosenge Nswele, medical practitioner
• Mme Anne Bokutu Bolekoka, community representative

Host: Ian Welsh, Innovation Forum