Innovation Forum podcast

Weekly podcast – Less is more: collaborative efforts to tackle agricultural decarbonisation

This week: Anke Kwast, vice president for regenerative agriculture and climate frameworks at Yara International, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges in decarbonising agriculture and why using less inputs can be the sustainable future.

 

Plus: TNFD sees 30% rise in nature impact disclosures; study shows plastic bottles emit harmful volatile organic compounds when exposed to sunlight; industry resists plastic production cap, pushes for recycling focus; and, number of companies setting science-based targets doubled in 2023, in the news digest by Ellen Atiyah.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Leveraging technology for carbon accounting in agriculture

Peter Bunce, vice president and head of cotton and microbials at Indigo Ag, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the momentum behind companies addressing scope 3 emissions, particularly in the agriculture sector. They discuss the importance of leveraging technology and partnerships to collect and analyse data efficiently, reducing the burden on farmers while ensuring accurate carbon accounting. Bunce also highlights the potential of voluntary carbon markets to drive sustainable farming practices and warns against delaying progress on carbon reduction due to challenges in addressing biodiversity impacts.

Monday briefing – Collaboration to drive progress on decarbonisation

This week: At the recent scope 3 innovation forum, Ian Welsh spoke with Katy Stevens from the European Outdoor Group and Maria Venus from Swiss outdoor brands business Fenix Outdoor about their sector decarbonisation collaboration project. They discuss the positive outcomes from this collaboration and its significance in creating a clear roadmap towards net-zero.

 

Plus: Innovation Forum’s Emily Heslop shares launch details about the upcoming sustainable commodities and land use forum, taking place in Amsterdam on 22-23 October. Click here to register at early-bird pricing.

Navigating opportunities to deliver sustainable food systems

At Innovation Forum's future of food and beverage conference in Amsterdam, some of the expert participants spoke with Ian Welsh, reflecting on discussions from the conference. They talked about how to develop regenerative agriculture across supply chains, improving farmer incomes and resilience and biodiversity impacts. Hear from Dorothy Shaver from Unilever, Producer Direct's Jason Archie-Acheampong and Marika McCauley Sine from Mars.

Tackling agricultural emissions and food loss

IFC’s senior industry specialist Ahmad Slaibi, and Tom Cumberlege, director at the Carbon Trust, talk with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about their collaborative efforts in developing a tool to address the food loss challenge in the agricultural sector. They explore the tool’s potential for agribusinesses at reducing greenhouse emissions by tracking food losses, and its broader implications for food security and environmental sustainability.

Weekly podcast – How to make tasty foods healthier

This week: Tate & Lyle's president of innovation and commercial development, Victoria Spadaro Grant, talks with Innovation Forum's Hannah Oborne about the challenges and concerns around ultra-processed foods and what brands should prioritise to secure the future of food systems. They discuss how ultra-processed foods can be a solution to tackle sustainability, nutrition and accessibility of food.

 

Plus: Better Cotton in the spotlight again over sustainability claims; people's climate vote supports stronger climate action and support for global south; UK retail chain John Lewis launches a 20-piece circular economy home and fashion collection; ISSB shares guidelines to align sustainability reporting; UK delivery company Evri increasing its electric vehicle fleet as part of a £19m investment; and, Denmark to introduce the world's first carbon tax on agriculture, in the news digest by Innovation Forum's Ellen Atiyah.

 

Host: Ian Welsh

Beneath the surface: how data and technology can drive carbon farming and resilience at farm-level

On 20th June, Innovation Forum hosted a free virtual event with Bayer Crop Science.

Data is key to shaping decisions that increase food production, farm incomes, and climate resilience. For farmers, the right data is an essential foundation for efficient, productive, and profitable operations. And now, it is becoming much easier for farmers to benefit from the data they produce. In this webinar, we discussed real-life case studies to explore how data collection and analysis can inform decision making at the farm level. We also assessed how agribusinesses like Bayer can leverage data and support carbon sequestration efforts to reduce emissions, protect nature, and build supply chain resilience. 

Our panel examined: 

• How technology and data can support farmers to deliver efficiency gains, emissions reductions, and carbon sequestration.
• How effective Measurement, Reporting, and Verification can ensure compliance and progress for food value chain actors.
• How Bayer's digital solutions can empower carbon farming and effective data sharing throughout the value chain.

Our panel included:

• Valeria Forlin, policy officer, European Commission (DG CLIMA)
• Juan Palomares, managing director EU, Trinity AgTech
• Kiera Holland, EMEA digital solutions science manager, Bayer Crop Science 
• Lionnel Alexandre, head of carbon science EMEA, Bayer Crop Science 

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

This webinar was hosted in partnership with Bayer Crop Science.

Monday briefing – What's the sustainable approach to cotton?

This week: CottonConnect's Alison Ward spoke with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh at the recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference in Amsterdam. They discussed what climate resilience looks like in cotton production and the unintended consequences of over-reliance on technology to tackle this.

Plus: Innovation Forum's Hannah Oborne announces the scope 3 innovation forum USA, returning to Washington DC on 3rd-4th December this year.  Click here for more information.

And, Catie Ball shares the latest updates ahead of the sustainable apparel and textiles conference USA this week. CottonConnect will be continuing the conversation in New York, click here for registration details.

ofi’s sustainability strategy launch

On 18th June, IF hosted a virtual event for ofi’s sustainability strategy launch

Increasing regulatory requirements are tasking food and beverage companies with more robust corporate reporting. Strengthening commitments to enhance the resilience of supply chains also remains a key imperative to deliver the change the law demands and farmers, rural communities and nature needs.

Enabling better choices to be made across the value chain is the focus of ‘Choices for Change’, a new sustainability strategy by ofi, a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients. With 2030 targets and action plans spanning its five product platforms – cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices – join us as we discussed:  

• The imperative to drive positive change across the food system, to enable prosperous farmers, thriving communities, climate action and a regenerated living world  
• The role of data and digital tools in generating actionable insight to inform more efficient interventions for real and measurable impact
• The intensive technical process involved in aligning definitions, methodologies and metrics to create an integrated, ambitious strategy at scale

We heard valuable insights from: 

• Roel van Poppel, chief sustainability officer, ofi
• Christopher Stewart, global head, sustainability impact, ofi
• Burcu Turkay, global head of sustainability for nuts, ofi 
• Alastair Child, chief sustainability officer, Mars Wrigley
• Stephanie Daniels, senior program director, Sustainable Food Lab
• Jeffery P. Cohen, mission director Indonesia, USAID

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

This virtual event was hosted in partnership with ofi.

Legislation to implementation: ESPR and digital product passports

This week: Debbie Shakespeare, senior director, sustainability and compliance at Avery Dennison talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how fashion companies can become ESPR compliant, outlining the main requirements of the Eco Design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and its timelines, starting with the latest developments, and offers practical tips to help companies get started today.

Plus: Innovation Forum's Ellen Atiyah the discusses the Nature Restoration Law, why EV sales growth has slowed in the US and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's latest report on the importance of producer responsibility policies (EPR) to achieve a circular economy for textiles.