Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Felicitas Weber from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about some of the key conclusions from the recently-published latest Know the Chain benchmark into the forced labour risks in big apparel sector companies and investors.

The good news is that all the companies benchmarked have improved their performance at least a little. The less good is that there remains generally a significant difference between what companies say they should be doing compared with what they are doing in practice – with luxury brands not typically performing well.

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This week: Samuel Avaala from Benso Oil Palm Plantation in Ghana, talks about how to work with suppliers to improve traceability and transparency from non-certified sources, to tackle deforestation and ensure sustainable supply. The discussion includes how initiatives and tools, including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and the Accountability Framework help, and the need for careful alignment of farmer incentives so the entire value chain benefits.  

Plus: new food eco labelling scheme, backed by Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Sainsbury’s and others, to cover all environmental impacts; southeast Asian working group on standards for corporate communications on sustainability; and, PepsiCo backing PET bottles with unlimited recyclability, in the news round up.    

Host: Ian Welsh

Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talks with Sir Ian Boyd, professor of biology at the University of St Andrews, and former chief scientific adviser to the UK government on food, environment and rural affairs. They discuss why food production is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise and the massive challenges around resource inefficiencies, and why techniques like controlled system farming might become essential to unlock food sector efficiency. And they debate the pros and cons of regenerative agriculture.

Please note: this interview was recorded in late May.

This week: Eunice Oduro, project manager at anti-poverty NGO CARE in Ghana and Samuel Apana, Cargill’s cocoa sustainability lead in Ghana, talk about their long-term partnership that has helped secure the sector’s long term future, building farm resilience and empowering rural communities.

Plus: Target’s new targets; University of Cambridge’s plastic polymer from soy proteins; International Monetary Fund calls for $75 carbon price; and Lego bricks from recycled plastic bottles, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh  

At Innovation Forum’s recent future for climate action conference, Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, chair of the Carbon Trust, and chair of the adaptation sub-committee of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change – the statutory non-departmental body set up to advise the United Kingdom and the devolved UK governments and parliaments on tackling and preparing for climate change – speaks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh. Their wide-ranging discussion includes prospects for the upcoming COP26 meeting in Glasgow, the urgent need for business to adapt to climate change and the possible implications for public policy around corporate greenhouse gas emissions. 

In 2010, Nestlé made a commitment to end deforestation in its supply chain. In this webinar, join Nestlé's forest and sustainable sourcing leaders along with additional experts who will discuss what is needed to achieve a ‘forest positive’ future. They will consider how land rights intersect with conservation; the role satellite monitoring can play in combatting deforestation; and, how we can go beyond fighting deforestation to support active reforestation where it's needed most.

Panellists:

• Emily Kunen, climate delivery leader for forests, Nestlé
• Bastien Sachet, executive director, Earthworm Foundation
• Benjamin Ware, head of sustainable sourcing and climate delivery, Nestlé
• Andy White, coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative
• Fabiola Zerbini, regional director for Latin America, Tropical Forest Alliance

Moderator: Toby Webb, founder, Innovation Forum

This webinar was supported by Nestlé.

 

This week: Expert insight from Cargill’s Dave Robb, Thai Union’s Tracy Cambridge, the Marine Stewardship Council’s Erin Priddle and the Nature Conservancy’s Mark Zimring on how the seafood sector should respond to market concerns on climate change and shifting fish stocks, and the role of business in managing these effectively.

And the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s Felicitas Weber discusses the key findings in the latest Know the Chain benchmark research into big apparel sector companies and the forced labour risks in their supply chains.

Host: Ian Welsh

Pina Gervassi, FSC’s climate director, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the benefits from transparency in forest-based raw material supply chains, and the innovation in newly certified sectors including rubber and bamboo. They discuss the credibility that can come with certification and how growers can develop value from ecosystem services by moving from thinking about performance to impact.

FSC was a sponsor of the recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference.

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Danone’s Marie-Pierre Bousquet Lecomte, Nestlé’s Conor McMahon, Cargill’s Robert Horster, and Everland’s Joshua Tosteson join Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb to discuss how to implement natural climate solutions that deliver large scale greenhouse gas reduction. The panel talks about why such solutions are featuring ever-more prominently at the forefront of corporate commitments and strategy.  

Plus: investors worth $41tn demand greater government effort on climate change via the Investor Agenda; Global Witness links Chinese banks with deforestation; US egg farmers embracing regenerative agriculture; and Waitrose ups recycled plastic in packaging, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh  

Patricia Quijandría, director for the tropical Andes at Rainforest Alliance is joined by project partners Camila Olmedo, from agriculture commodities trader Ecom, and Jose Carlos Apaéstegui from finance provider Norandino to discuss with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh a LandScale programme pilot project in Lamas Province, northern Peru. They discuss the challenges aligning stakeholder expectations and targets, and how taking a landscape approach can help provide solutions.

This podcast is supported by LandScale.