Innovation Forum Podcast

In the first of an occasional podcast series, sustainability expert Simon Lord and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about some of the challenges around reforestation and forest restoration. They discuss why it’s often simpler to just plant more trees rather than try to restore degraded forest – but that just planting without proper planning can lead to monoculture and will not recreate biodiversity and soil fertility.  Some useful links: The challenges of forest restoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-0iE4vICCc https://www.dw.com/en/when-planting-trees-does-more-harm-than-good/a-56940591 https://theconversation.com/regrowing-a-tropical-forest-is-it-better-to-plant-trees-or-leave-it-to-nature-156777 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-03-08/a-tree-planting-program-in-mexico-may-encourage-deforestation

Jeff Tkach, chief impact officer at the Rodale Institute, and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb talk about how regenerative apparel should be defined, and what can be learnt from the innovation in regenerative agriculture more broadly. They also debate why regenerative is not reinventing the sustainable apparel wheel or the latest greenwash fad. This discussion was part of a workshop held by Innovation Forum ahead of the sustainable apparel and textiles conference to be held online on 27th-29th April. Full details here. Delegates have access to the full workshop recording. For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here.

This week: Heather Tansey, sustainability director for animal nutrition and health, talks about the innovations that can tackle methane emissions in dairy and beef cattle. And, Ruth Farrell, textiles marketing director at Eastman Naia talks with Andrés Ortolana, chain of custody manager at FSC Italy about developing sustainable wood fibre supply for the apparel sector. Host: Ian Welsh   For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here.

Reflecting on recent Innovation Forum research, one of the project partners, Silke Peters, team leader in the sustainable agriculture supply chains and standards programme at GIZ, talks with Ian Welsh about some of the solutions that make a difference to smallholder farm incomes. She highlights diversification of crops, with essential access to markets and long term relationships with buyers, as crucial elements in developing real resilience. They also discuss cross commodity solutions more generally.    To download Innovation Forum’s Innovation Accelerator: Building resilient smallholder supply chains report click here. For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here.

Toby Webb speaks with Grant Rosoman, senior forests campaigner at Greenpeace, about the organisation’s new report – Destruction: Certified. The discussion includes reference to Ikea, FSC, RSPO, soy certification, Rainforest Alliance and other schemes. For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here.

Gotz Martin, head of sustainability implementation at Golden Agri-Resources, explains why food systems face a big problem if smallholder farming communities can’t become more resilient and escape endemic poverty traps. He outlines some of the factors necessary to achieve this. While strong palm oil prices can help in the short term, there are clear deforestation risks if the sector as a whole expands to meet demand. Plus: new Greenpeace report slams forest certification schemes; 8bn drinks containers thrown away in the UK says CPRE; Oxfam research says big food and beverage companies unable to translate effectively global commitments to local level; and, shipping sector aims for $5bn zero emissions research fund, in the news roundup. Host: Ian Welsh For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here.

Business has lost its purpose, says Prof Andy Hoffman from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, talking with Ian Welsh. He says that, in the face of crises such as climate change and income inequality, a restructure of how companies regard success is now required. Hoffman argues the case for corporate legacy, meaning and purpose and not just pursuit of profit above all else, and embedding environmental and social issues across business school curricula – not in sustainability siloes. For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here

Neste’s Lars Börger, Covestro’s Lynette Chung, Unilever’s Marika Lindstrom and Werner Bosmans from the European Commission debate with Toby Webb the developing practical solutions to the challenge of new materials and what they are made from and, specifically, the innovations that they hope to see in 2021. To listen to the full extended discussion, click here. Plus: why we need a pandemic-level reduction in GHG every two years; $8tn of investment pledged to go net-zero; eBay’s certified refurbished circular economy solution; and, Burger King UK eliminates more single use plastics, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here.

In the first of a new quarterly podcast series, Textile Exchange CEO La Rhea Pepper talks with Innovation Forum founder Toby Webb about how organic cotton practices can help transform the sector as a whole. They debate the case for a soils-first approach and how regenerative agriculture can be a real game-changing solution for cotton and for producer communities more broadly. For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here

This week: Silke Peters from the sustainable agriculture supply chain initiative at GIZ talks about the challenges involved in developing effective multistakeholder collaboration to help smallholder farmers across different commodities. And, in the run up to this year’s conference, another chance to hear how Cargill CEO David MacLennan opened 2020’s Future of Food USA event, in conversation with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb. Plus: why Boohoo’s links to forced labour might mean a US import ban; UN assessment highlights need for Paris agreement action; and why deforestation news from Indonesia isn’t that good after all, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter for free here

Alison Ward, CEO of CottonConnect, talks with Ian Welsh about the durability of cotton supply chains and why apparel brands can gain from working directly with producers to really develop transparency. Representing 75% of all cotton farmers, and with the livelihoods of 350 million people at stake, working with smallholders in particular leads to gains for brands and everyone in the value chain. The keys are helping farmers to diversify their crops, and gain access to markets and finance. For more content like this subscribe to the Innovation Forum newsletter here

This week: Andy Hoffman, professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, on why business has to evolve to embrace sustainability across functions and accept that profit is only one measure of success. Business may be the problem, he argues, but is also clearly the solution. Plus: H&M and Ikea developing new low impact fibres from forests; Sainsbury’s to take back and recycle plastic films; palm oil’s SE Asian deforestation impact down 58% year on year in 2020 says Chain Reaction Research; and, AB InBev takes up $10.1bn sustainability-linked loan facility, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh

Jessie Cato, natural resources and human rights programme manager at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, talks with Ian Welsh about the significant human rights risks that exist in the supply chains of low carbon technology manufacturers. As demonstrated by the BHRRC’s tracker of companies producing six transition minerals – lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, zinc and manganese – required for the manufacture of electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines, brands in the low-carbon sector need to take care to ensure transparency in their supply chains. A failure to do so could impact the speed at which their customers can reach their net-zero ambitions.

This week: Hear Musim Mas’s Olivier Tichet outline his ‘magic ingredients’ for landscape level solutions for agricultural commodity supply chains: everyone must be involved; all parties must be committed to change; and, there must be acceptance that change takes time. Plus: new commitments from BNP Paribas on Amazon soy and beef sourcing; a concerning increase in land grabs by the extractive and agriculture sectors from indigenous peoples says the Forest Peoples Programme; PwC says that listed companies out-perform privately-owned firms on sustainability commitments; Maersk’s ‘carbon neutral’ ship by 2023; and Jaguar all-electric by 2025, in the news digest.    Host: Ian Welsh

Sarah Rogerson and Emma Thomson from Global Canopy talk with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the conclusions of the latest Forest 500 report. 2020 no-deforestation targets were universally missed, and the new research highlights a lack of deforestation commitments from investors and the finance sector in general, particularly in North America. Forest 500 also shows that perhaps recent focus on palm oil has led to more commitments in that sector than, for example, soy and other commodity supply chains with significant deforestation risk.

This week: Alison Ward, CEO of CottonConnect, discusses how brand buyers can work with cotton producer communities to access markets and finance, and how to identify and mitigate some of the serious human rights risks in the broader apparel sector. Plus: Nestlé and Shell plot their routes to net zero emissions; H&M and others working on new circular fashion partnership in Bangladesh; and CDP uncovers $120bn of potential supply chain environmental risks, in the news digest.   Host: Ian Welsh

In this extended discussion, hear experts from Neste, Covestro, Unilever and the European Commission talk about scalable, affordable solutions to the sustainable materials challenge. The panel demonstrate progress, debate some difficult questions and highlight what is possible during 2021, a vitally important year, of course, for the climate. Hear about Neste’s views on scalable, lower-greenhouse-gas-impact innovative materials. And, how Unilever plans to change purchasing policy from fossil-based to circular materials through to 2025. Learn what Covestro is doing to develop scale in production and distribution of lower GHG materials. And hear how the European Commission believes smart policymaking can maximise the upside, and minimise the downside, whilst encouraging innovation, products at scale and sustainable growth. Panel: Lars Börger, vice president brand owner management, Neste Lynette Chung, chief sustainability officer, Covestro Marika Lindstrom, vice president, procurement – packaging, and beauty an

This week: Jessie Cato from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre talks about the latest tracker following the forced labour risks in the supply chains of the minerals necessary to transition global energy supply to renewables. Lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel are among the elements required for solar panels, batteries and wind turbines, and have significant supply chain human rights challenges. Plus: Chatham House and UNEP report says food supply is responsible for 86% extinction risks; WWF’s plan for dairy to get to net zero; PepsiCo joint venture with Beyond Meat; UK renewables supply beat fossil fuels in 2020; and GM to be zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh

ZSL’s Eleanor Spencer and Ian Welsh talk about the latest SPOTT survey into transparency and strength of corporate commitments on deforestation at the palm oil sector’s top 100 companies. As ever progress across the sector is mixed, with leading companies – particularly suppliers to big consumer-facing brands – continuing to drive best practice, but many others achieving a score of zero across the 180 indicators assessed.  

This week: Global Canopy’s Sarah Rogerson and Emma Thomson discuss the latest Forest 500 report, which highlights the lack of deforestation policies at financial institutions and the lack of consistency of approach across commodities for many sourcing companies. They discuss the need for a due diligence approach to deforestation for business, and what the legislation that can help looks like. Plus: BlackRock letter to CEOs calls for climate action; Ikea’s new 2030 forest positive agenda; and, how a circular economy can mitigate 39% of annual emissions, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh