Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Why current market mechanisms don’t reflect the true cost of food

Libby Bernick, managing director of Trucost Corporate Business, S&P Global, discusses with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh the changing business models required to truly capture the value of food, and the role of better data management in solving this.

She argues for taking total environmental and social costs of commodities into account – something that investors are increasingly asking for. Lenders, too, are keen to reflect environmental and social performance when pricing finance, Bernick says.

Why Pepsico gathers 240 supplier data points

David Wilkinson, head of agriculture procurement at PepsiCo, talks with Toby Webb about the technology that, at scale, is growing efficiencies in-the-field in the brand’s supply chains.

They discuss the growth of precision agriculture techniques and how Pepsico has been changing how it engages with its farmer-suppliers helping them to benefit from best practices increasing yields and reducing inputs.

Syngenta on how to tackle global agriculture productivity challenges

Jill Wheeler, head of sustainable productivity Syngenta North America, and Duane Martin, commercial traits manager at Syngenta Seed, talk with Ian Welsh about some specific commodity supply challenges, and innovations that can provide solutions.

They discuss how to increase productivity in developed and developing markets, concerns at the rates of soil degradation, how to develop better resource efficiency, and how agriculture can contribute to really tackling greenhouse gas emissions.

Danone on why agriculture must shift to being regenerative, not just sustainable

Mariano Lozano, CEO of Danone North America, discusses with Toby Webb about what’s necessary to make the business case for real change in agriculture practices. Lozano talks about the dual challenges of creating value for the company, alongside convincing farmer-suppliers that changing their practices will mean less volatility and greater returns over the long-term.

Lozano argues that “sustainability” is no longer enough, with a move for the agriculture industry to being regenerative now necessary. As an example, he highlights the importance of putting carbon back into the soil, specifically increasing the organic material in the key top six inches from 0.5% to 2%.

Weekly podcast: IBM on use of AI in agriculture, and Quantis on science-based targets engagement

This week: Dan Wolfson, IBM distinguished engineer with the Weather Company, discusses the potential of artificial intelligence for agriculture. And Carole Dubois, food sector lead at Quantis, talks about how companies can use science-based targets to drive business value.

Plus: the world’s biggest companies failing on climate targets, plastics driving GHG growth, and new floor cocoa price in west Africa, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Why PEFC enables apparel sector deforestation-free viscose supply

Antonio Brunori, secretary-general of PEFC Italy, explains to Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh how the Forests for Fashion initiative helps fashion brands develop transparency in their pulp-based fibre supply chains.

The apparel sector’s growing demand for viscose means increasing deforestation risks for the sector – but PEFC’s chain of custody approach helps the industry source certified-sustainable supply.

How the PVC industry has addressed its sustainability challenges

Mark Everard, ecosystems services expert and associate professor at the University of the West of England, explains PVC’s sustainable future to Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb.

Everard outlines how the vinyl sector has engaged with five key sustainability challenges for over the past couple of decades, and they debate why the developments have been rather under the radar.

Weekly podcast: Are gen-Z consumers really engaging with corporate sustainability issues?

This week: Tamara Ansons, behaviour science consultant at Ipsos, on new research that shows how younger consumers are engaging with corporate sustainability issues. And Niels Wielaard, founder of Satelligence, on how using remote sensing data can help brands with tropical supply chains reduce deforestation risks.

Plus: 50m hectares more deforestation says Greenpeace, plastic ingestion dangers, and UK legislates for net-zero emissions, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Click here for more detail about the Ipsos-Innovation Forum research. We’re looking for new partners to work with to develop more research that is really valuable for business. Interested? Click here to get in touch.

ETI on what supply chain due diligence on labour issues looks like

Peter McAllister, executive director, Ethical Trading Initiative, and Ian Welsh discuss trends in how companies are engaging with modern slavery in supply chains, and why forced labour keeps appearing in new places.

McAllister argues the case for transparency and normalising in consumer eyes that there are going to be problems and it’s how they are fixed that’s important. He outlines why businesses should adopt a due diligence approach to track labour migration, and how to ask the right questions internally for companies and when engaging with suppliers.

How companies can really capture the ROI from sustainability innovation

Tensie Whelan, director, NYU Stern Centre for Sustainable Business, and former president of Rainforest Alliance discusses with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb her work helping future business leaders embed sustainability in operations and demonstrate the causality of the relationship between good ESG performance and economic return. Whelan argues that company accounting is currently designed to value capital assets and not take account of some of more intangible indicators of company value such as IP or sustainability of operations.