Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Weekly podcast: Blockchain solutions for modern slavery risks, and development finance in apparel supply chains

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

Satelligence on how satellite data can drive the right sourcing decisions

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.

Weekly podcast: APR’s approach to deforestation-free pulp, and Orange on telecom sector audit collaboration

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

Bayer on how to ensure all agricultural land is used wisely

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.

Weekly podcast: CottonConnect on why transparency is crucial for effective supplier impact analysis

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.

Global Canopy on why no company will be deforestation free by 2020

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 20^th March 2019.

Weekly podcast: how Nestlé tackles palm oil and plastic packaging challenges

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

How Eileen Fisher builds apparel supply chains from the ground up

Amy Hall, vice-president social consciousness, Eileen Fisher talks with Ian Welsh about why it is so hard for the apparel sector to look deep into its supply chain given companies simply have, traditionally, so little influence beyond tier one.

They discuss how brands can reach back to farmers and suppliers to achieve real supply chain traceability, the use of “better” chemistry in the manufacturing process and the potential of circular models in the sector.

Weekly podcast: Bayer on how food supply chain innovation will feed growing populations

This week: Stephen Brunner, global key relation manager for Bayer Crop Science, explains what the future of food supply will look like. He explains why climate change is the great urgent challenge that the entire value chain must address.

And: CDP’s new global water report, why central banks need to consider climate risks, global rubber sector deforestation initiative and recognition of environmental human rights defenders by the UN, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Are biofuels a sustainable – and scalable – solution?

In this webinar experts from IINAS, WBCSD, SkyNRG and United Airlines join Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb to discuss the sustainability of biofuels and who will be using them by 2025 and beyond.

They debate the scale challenges, and look at how and whether biofuels will play a major role in carbon reduction for business users.