Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

The Genetic Literacy Project’s Jon Entine and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about why gene editing has yet to make significant impact in the agriculture sector. Entine explains how gene editing mimics what happens in nature, enhancing qualities and eliminating problems. They discuss the differences between gene editing and genetic modification, and why the former should not be bundled together with the latter as regulators and brands catch up with the potential of science.

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This week: Antje Fehling from Bluesign on some techniques that help apparel companies really get to know their supply chain – and why it’s unavoidable that this necessary process requires significant effort. And, Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb and forests expert Simon Lord talk about some of the unintended consequences of simply just planting trees to counter deforestation. As they explain, it’s a lot more complicated than that.

Plus, in the news roundup: French and German climate change targets revealed; the UK’s Co-op slashes prices of plant-based meat alternatives; supermarket chains threaten to stop buying from Brazil; and, could legacy coffee variety be a climate-change proof supply solution?

Host: Ian Welsh

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Jim Gawron, manager in the Ford commercial vehicle team, talks with Ian Welsh about how electrification of corporate fleets can be taken to scale – tackling corporate scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in the process. Gawron outlines why the commercial vehicle sector in particular is one where electric vans and trucks can be very competitive when compared with combustion-based alternatives, taking entire vehicle life costs into consideration. They also talk about the public policy changes and the right incentives that can help.

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This week: Textile Exchange’s COO Claire Bergkamp on how to prepare for this year’s COP26 meeting, the outcomes that are likely, and her hopes for the apparel sector. Plus Steven Bethell, co-founder of Bank & Vogue and Beyond Retro, on the huge resource potential in post-consumer textiles. In parallel with maximising resale and upcycling, he outlines how chemical recycling techniques and better data analysis of fabrics, can lead to fibre-to-fibre recycling at scale.

Host: Ian Welsh

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National Wildlife Federation’s Simon Hall, senior manager for tropical forests and agriculture, talks with Ian Welsh about what the route to getting to grips with deforestation risks can look like. The first step is to get away the reactionary crisis management approach and, rather, take a more mature approach with a supplier engagement programme that includes thoughtful incentives to drive behaviour change.

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Innovation Forum’s “Innovation Accelerator” action research programme recently published ground-breaking research on how companies can enable smallholder development beyond siloed purchasing and initiatives.

Through 80+ interviews with those on the front lines of smallholder engagement, we uncovered opportunities for sourcing companies to link directly with smallholders growing a variety of crops.

Many of these, beyond those sold as commodities, can help lift communities out of poverty if market access can be enabled. This is linked with the increasing interest in “decommoditisation” and how that can deliver the transparency needed in supply chains.

Using a sustainable commodities marketplace approach, the discussions in this 60-minute webinar focus on how buyers can increase broad based economic development in supplier countries by sourcing multiple crops and collaborating on sourcing opportunities for smallholder communities.

Speakers:

• Goetz Martin, head of sustainability implementation, Golden Agri-Resources
• Alison Ward, CEO, CottonConnect
• Ruth Thomas, director, Global Agribusiness Action on Equitable Livelihoods (GAA-EL)
• Silke Peters, team leader, sustainable agricultural supply chains initiative, GIZ
• Lea Rankinen, director, sustainability and public affairs, Paulig Group
• Dr Peter Stanbury, senior associate, Innovation Forum

Moderated by: Toby Webb, founder, Innovation Forum

For the recent report, see here: https://www.innovationforum.co.uk/research/innovation-accelerator

And for a summary article and podcast see here:  http://sustainablesmartbusiness.com/smallholder-supply-chains-how-to-make-sustainability-sustainable/

This week: Anastasia Volkova, CEO of Regrow, talks about the challenges for producers to be able to demonstrate implementation of regenerative agricultural practices, and other improvements, to the rest of the value chain, and why this will increase in importance as carbon markets develop.

Plus: US to cut emissions by 50% this decade, UK to cut 78% by 2035; Land O’Lakes, McDonald’s, General Mills and Cargill getting in on carbon markets; and PepsiCo to roll out regenerative agriculture techniques over 7m acres, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh

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Five years on from the Behind the Brands campaign, Oxfam America’s Matt Hamilton talks with Ian Welsh about progress in the food and beverage sector. They talk about the contrasts between the stretching targets companies set at the top and the difficulties implementing those at the local level. Their discussion includes land rights, climate change, the locations where companies are doing well and less well, and the move from reactivity to proactivity.

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Cargill’s sustainability director for animal nutrition and health, Heather Tansey, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how methane emissions from cattle can be mitigated and controlled. There are a number of techniques that can help, including rumen modifiers added to cattle diets that significantly reduce the methane – a highly potent greenhouse gas – that cattle belch while eating.

Cargill is a sponsor of Innovation Forum’s Future of Food conference series.

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This week: To eliminate emissions in operations – and to tackle scope 3 supply chain emissions – widespread electrification of corporate fleets is pretty much essential. Jim Gawron, from Ford’s electric commercial vehicles team, talks about the potential for the new products coming to the market. Companies think in terms of total cost of ownership – and electric trucks and vans have low on-going costs over entire vehicle life. He argues that the route map to full electrification requires progress on enabling vehicle supply, significantly more charging facilities, public education about the practicalities of electric vehicles and appropriate public policy incentives.

Plus: Unilever, Microsoft and Walmart CEOs among the 300 backing Biden’s new environmental commitment; New Zealand to make the finance sector report on climate risks; as little as 3% of land has healthy biodiversity; and, Nike’s new sneaker take-back and refurbish scheme, in the news digest.

Host: Ian Welsh