Innovation Forum hosts a weekly podcast along with regular interviews with business leaders in sustainability. Each week, we summarise the latest sustainability news and announcements, and get the views of leading experts on business critical issues. Widely regarded as one of the best sustainability podcasts around, stay tuned for regular insights, debate and analysis.
Episodes
Thursday May 02, 2019
Thursday May 02, 2019
This week: François-Ghislain Morillion, co-founder of sustainable sneakers brand Veja on innovation in sourcing to find the right materials for the company’s products. And Sebastian Siegele, managing director, Sustainability Agents, on how to develop best practice in supplier factories.
Plus: climate impacts on food supply, deforestation rates, enzyme-based plastic recycling, and H+M’s new garment supplier transparency, in the news digest.
Hosted by Ian Welsh
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Alison Ward CEO of CottonConnect and Ian Welsh discuss the benefits of transparency in helping monitor corporate impacts in apparel supply chains. Ward also highlights how better story-telling in communications with consumers leads to more engagement and points out the benefits of actually introducing a brand board director to the company’s supplier-farmers.
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Monday Apr 29, 2019
Anna Turrell, head of sustainability for UK and Ireland at Nestlé, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges in tackling modern slavery issues, and why the business’s first step was to align, as far as possible, with the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. They discuss why different supply chains, including palm oil and cocoa, can require very specific approaches – and that a holistic approach encompassing environmental and social goals is typically what works best.
Turrell also outlines what Nestlé is doing to develop better packaging, reducing plastic use where feasible while working to encourage the sort of sector-wide innovation necessary to radically increase reuse and recycling rates.
Friday Apr 26, 2019
Friday Apr 26, 2019
This week: Sabine Schlorke, global manufacturing manager at the International Finance Corporation, talks about how the IFC works with big apparel sector brands in Bangladesh, Vietnam and other countries providing their suppliers with access to development finance.
And, Mark Blick, head of government solutions at Diginex, explains how blockchain can help brands identify where their modern slavery and forced labour risks are – following the relevant data points and ensuring transparency.
Plus: Walmart and green finance, Yum!’s science-based targets, and Adidas’s new single base-material trainer, in the news digest.
Hosted by Ian Welsh
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Thursday Apr 25, 2019
Niels Wielaard, founder, Satelligence, discusses with Ian Welsh how using remote sensing data can help brands with tropical commodity supply chains reduce deforestation and other supply chain risks, and how such data can be used for helping farm-level development.
Wielaard argues that palm oil is a sector leading the way in using satellite technology, particularly through establishing clear roadmaps to monitoring entire supply chains. The landscape approach and business collaboration, he says, is how real impact at scale can be achieved.
Satelligence was a sponsor of Innovation Forum's recent sustainable landscapes event in London.
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
This week: Cherie Tan from Asia Pacific Rayon talks with Toby Webb about how to develop sustainable wood-pulp supply chains for the apparel sector. And Yves Nissim, from French telecom giant Orange, and Ian Welsh discuss how peer collaboration on auditing can help tackle modern slavery. Plus: Greenpeace targets Nestlé on plastic; why investors are taking ESG metrics more seriously; and, the potential impact of the successful court action against Vedanta in London, in the news roundup.
Hosted by Ian Welsh
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Tuesday Apr 16, 2019
Stephan Brunner, global key relation manager at Bayer Crop Science, speaks with Ian Welsh about some of the company’s business partnerships that are helping to drive strategy and impact. Brunner argues that the first point of reference has to be the sustainable development goals, to help all agricultural supply chains become more efficient, while ensuring food safety and profitability for farmers.
Thursday Apr 11, 2019
Thursday Apr 11, 2019
This week: CottonConnect CEO Alison Ward speaks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the role of enablers in apparel supply chains, and how to build capacity effectively on the ground. They also discuss how water impacts in cotton supply chains are being best tackled with a landscape approach. Plus all details of Innovation Forum’s upcoming conferences and events.
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Sarah Rogerson, from Global Canopy Programme talks with Ian Welsh about the latest Forest 500 report that identifies and ranks the biggest companies that have tropical deforestation risks in their operations and supply chains. The report concludes that as a global community we will miss 2020 deforestation targets and no companies will be deforestation free in this time frame. There are some positive signs, in the palm oil sector in particular, but the report concludes that the progress in commitments and their uptake is still not happening fast enough.
Please note that this interview was recorded on 20th March 2019.
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Friday Apr 05, 2019
This week: Anna Turrell, head of sustainability for UK and Ireland at Nestlé on business risks from modern slavery, and how the brand is continuing to develop its commodity supply chains and engage with its consumers’ concerns on plastics.
Plus: Aldi goes for 100% sustainable soy, a new open apparel registry from the C&A Foundation, and why Ryanair is the new coal, in the news digest.
Hosted by Ian Welsh