Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Jon Dettling, global director for services and innovation at Quantis, and Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh discuss some of the challenges for businesses in the food supply industry, and how they have to innovate to make the necessary change to control impacts.

Dettling points out the requirement for measuring and tracking benefits – as there is no point in developing a ‘sustainable’ product that ends up being a business failure. And they discuss how the potentially game-changing switch for consumers to plant-based alternatives to meat might eventually reflect a overall trend towards long-term sustainable food supply.

This week: Nestlé’s Anna Turrell, Plastics Europe’s Eric Quenet and Closed Loop Partners’ Kate Daly on the wholesale business changes necessary to reduce corporate plastic footprints. And Cargill’s Marie Lavialle-Piot, PepsiCo’s Natasha Schwarzbach and Proforest’s Sophie Higman on the benefits of a landscape approach for sustainable palm oil.

Plus: brands banning Brazilian leather, Blackrock linked to deforestation, India’s single-use plastic ban, and animal protein suppliers don’t meet brands’ commitments, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Simon Usher, CEO Plastics Oceans UK, talks with Ian Welsh about some of the changes in public attitudes and political concern around plastic pollution, and the role of business to tackle the problem.

Usher says he’s encouraged by innovation in packaging materials, but argues for the collaboration necessary to achieve real systems change. However, frustrations come, he says, from a rush to switch to alternatives without considering the full lifecycle analysis of making the change.

Simon Usher will be speaking at Innovation Forum's future for plastics conference in Amsterdam on 30th and 31st October. Click here for full details.

This week: ABN Amro’s Dick Ligthart, M&G Investments’ Anita McBain and Invesco’s Maria Lombardo on the role of the investment community in global commodities supply chains. And Ocado’s Suzanne Westlake on the challenges of developing more sustainable packaging that involves less plastic.

Plus: G7 weighs in on Amazon fires, palm oil free product labelling ban in Indonesia, Tesco threatens to de-list brands on plastic use and Primark’s training to reach 160,000 farmers, in the news digest.

Hosted by Ian Welsh

Stephen Wetmore, director of business development at the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, and Ian Welsh discuss biofuel feedstocks and their role in moving to a low carbon economy.

Wetmore outlines the challenges around balancing the demands in a developing bio-economy, and debates some of the unintended consequences that can arise. He argues the case for always keeping ultimate relative carbon emissions front of mind when considering the best use of potential feedstocks.

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

 

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.

 

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.

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.

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