Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Webinar – A roadmap to 2025: how business can achieve plastics targets

When it comes to plastics, all stakeholders ultimately want the same thing: to reduce and eliminate plastic waste so they leave the environment in a better place for generations to come. Leading brands and retailers have already committed to some ambitious 2025 goals. But what about the practicalities and realities of achieving these targets?

In this webinar a panel of business experts discuss some of the wholesale business changes required to reduce plastic footprints, and make the right plastics sustainable.

Panel:

• Anna Turrell, head of sustainability, Nestlé UK
• Eric Quenet, director, western Europe, PlasticsEurope
• Kate Daly, executive director, Centre for the Circular Economy, Closed Loop Partners

Introduced and moderated by Ian Welsh

 

Weekly podcast: how public attitudes are impacting plastic pollution trends

This week: Simon Usher, CEO of Plastics Oceans UK, on the trends and innovations developing in plastics packaging and pollution, and the systems change necessary to avoid a rush to higher-impact alternatives. Plus, Rainforest Alliance’s Leah Samberg and Forest Trends’ Philip Rothrock discuss tools to help brands to deliver deforestation commitments.

And: Amazon fires and President Bolsonaro, palm oil’s Brexit angle, plastic polluting the Arctic and the growth of apparel resale, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Please note that the Detroit event discount code for podcast listeners is POD20. Click here to register.

 

Rainforest Foundation Norway on biofuel’s impact on deforestation

Nils Hermann Ranum, head of the drivers of deforestation programme at Rainforest Foundation Norway, talks with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb about biofuel feedstocks, including palm oil, the associated land use change and its potential impact on forests and indigenous communities.

They debate what a sustainable biofuel policy might look like, and how it could be used to encourage better production policies in palm oil and other potential biofuel feedstocks.

How to align business and worker interests in the Indian apparel sector

Anant Ahuja, co-founder and CEO of Good Business Lab, talks with Innovation Forum’s Haafizah Khodabocus about his organisation’s work in apparel factories in India.

He explains how his family background in Indian apparel business Shahi Exports has helped inspire Good Business Lab’s worker empowerment programmes, and they discuss collaboration projects with Gap and other brand partners.

Weekly podcast: innovation in agriculture supply chains, and how Microsoft and Hilton engage the C-suite on sustainability

This week: Jon Dettling from Quantis on how business can innovate to tackle supply chain challenges in the agriculture sector, including game-changing plant-based alternatives to meat. And Hilton’s Daniella Foster and Microsoft’s Jennifer Marsman outline how they engage their senior colleagues on the business case for sustainability, how to measure positive impacts, and the importance of ‘story-telling’ to keep communications relevant.

Plus: fallout from the latest IPCC report; benefits of switching subsidy to renewable energy technology; and, M&S and Aldi’s latest packaging innovations to remove single use plastics, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

GAR on the emotional debate around palm oil as a biofuel

Anita Neville, senior vice-president group corporate communications, Golden Agri-Resources, and Ian Welsh discuss the challenges for the palm oil sector in developing the crop as a biofuel feedstock. Neville argues that there is not a level playing field for potential inputs into biofuels, and a lack of life cycle analysis into relative impacts of different crops.

They also discuss supply chain deforestation risks, and reasons why most companies are going to miss 2020 targets, despite significant innovation in use of technology to, for example, identify areas of tree loss and land use change.

How Tesco frames its environmental targets

Kené Umeasiegbu, head of environment at Tesco, talks with Ian Welsh about how the business has used science-based targets to catalyse action in its operations and supply chains.

He argues for setting environmental targets that are stretching while realistically achievable – and points out the importance of setting milestones so that progress can be demonstrated to both internal and external stakeholders.

Webinar – Money talks: How financial institutions are driving sustainable landscapes and commodities

Over the past decade, sustainable and impact investing has grown from a niche form of financing to being implemented by practically every major financial institution.

Companies such as COFCO and Wilmar have secured substantial loans tied to their sustainability efforts. Similarly, BNP Paribas announced it would use $10bn in capital by 2025 for projects that are committed to improving social and environmental impact in developing countries. The World Bank also recently doubled its five-year climate investments to around $200bn.

However, the impact of this growing interest in sustainable finance still remains unclear and there is still no real consensus on how to measure it.

In this hour long webinar, we assess how finance is engaging in sustainable commodities and ask our speakers questions such as:

• Has sustainability finally started to take centre stage within financial institutions?
• What type of information, metrics, targets and KPIs are investors seeking?
• Which sustainable financing options are now available?
• How are investors factoring climate impacts into their decision making?

Speakers:
• Dick Ligthart, associate director – green, social and sustainability bonds, ABN Amro
• Maria Lombardo, head of responsible investment EMEA, Invesco
• Anita McBain, head of responsible investment and ESG, M&G Investments

Moderated by Toby Webb, founder, Innovation Forum

Webinar – Delivering on supply chain commitments: Closing the accountability loop in 2020 and beyond

The past two years have seen rapid progress in the emergence of norms and best practices for setting and implementing commitments to eliminate deforestation, ecosystem conversion and human rights abuses from supply chains. There has also been a proliferation of tools and approaches for the evaluation of company progress and performance.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss how companies can use newly available tools and platforms to deliver on their supply chain commitments. We’ll also assess how they can accurately and effectively measure and demonstrate that success. We’ll discuss:

• What is the Accountability Framework, and how can it be used to strengthen and accelerate company commitments?
• What are the latest developments and new norms around supply chain transparency?
• How the Accountability Framework and Supply Change guide corporate reporting
• How companies can measure progress and outcomes related to corporate commitments

Speakers:
• Dr Leah Samberg, Staff Scientist with the Rainforest Alliance and the Accountability Framework Initiative
• Philip Rothrock, Senior Associate with Forest Trends Supply Change Initiative

Introduced and moderated by Ian Welsh, publishing director, Innovation Forum

Weekly podcast: how biofuels can be part of a zero-carbon economy, and apparel sector worker empowerment

This week: Stephen Wetmore from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials and Ian Welsh discuss biofuel feedstocks and their role in moving to a low carbon economy. And Anant Ahuja from Good Business Lab talks with Innovation Forum’s Haafizah Khodabocus about his organisation’s work in Indian apparel factories and worker empowerment.

Plus: latest OECD/FAO agri supply chain predictions; companies with $1.3tn commit to 1.5C warming; CDP hits out at deforestation transparency; and, Inditex’s 100% sustainability pledge, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh