Innovation Forum Podcast

CB Bhattacharya, professor of sustainability and ethics at the University of Pittsburgh and author of Small Actions, Big Difference, discusses with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh how companies are working hard to change how they approach sustainability and leverage greater value. They consider case study examples – including Unilever – where companies have engaged their employees around sustainable business and reaped the business benefits, and debate why some companies still struggle to set the right goals to ensure long term survival

Emily Kunen from Nestlé, Gotz Martin from Golden Agri-Resources and Róisín Mortimer from Earthworm Foundation debate with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh how business and partner organisations can really help smallholder palm oil farmers grow incomes without clearing new land. They discuss the challenges around developing traceability all the way to the farm level, land use planning and ownership, and indigenous land rights in particular. Involving and engaging local communities is an essential part of this.

This week: Anita Neville, senior vice president for corporate communications at Golden Agri-Resources, debates the state of play for the palm oil sector, why traceability in supply chains is vital and why the industry still attracts a bad press despite the best efforts of the most progressive companies. Plus: COP25 flops, Apple and Google threatened with court over cobalt child labour, meat alternative labelling, and four reasons to be upbeat about 2020, in the news digest. Hosted by Ian Welsh Golden Agri-Resources was a sponsor of Innovation Forum's recent sustainable landscapes and commodities conference.

Justin Adams, executive director of the Tropical Forest Alliance talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the urgency for collective action on deforestation and its associated social challenges. They discuss the tensions and tradeoffs necessary to deliver sustainable landscapes, and the partnerships locally and at a global level required. Adams describes how the Amazon Soy Moratorium has had successes and failures in protecting forests in Brazil – and the unintended consequences such approaches can have for biome clearance elsewhere.

At IFC’s manufacturing conference in Morocco, Irache Pardo, finance and treasury director for Spanish hi-tech business CIE Automotive and Ian Welsh discuss the impacts of sustainability and industry 4.0 technology on the manufacturing sector. They discuss how to link sustainability and profitability, and then target investment to bring about the best business impacts. And they debate how to get these impacts properly built into business planning.

Frédéric Garcia, advisor for industry to the head of staff of the president of Mexico, and formerly CEO of Airbus Mexico, and Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh discuss the importance of the manufacturing sector for the Mexican economy, and how Mexico has benefited from free trade with the US and Canada over the past few decades. They discuss what innovation can do for a developing economy, particularly in terms of access for business to technology, the challenges from a rapidly growing population, and how to make the Sustainable Development Goals relevant.

This week: CB Bhattacharya, professor of sustainability and ethics at the University of Pittsburgh and author of Small Actions, Big Difference, on how companies are working hard to change how they approach sustainability and leverage greater value. Plus Tesco’s new sustainable basket metric, how avocados with edible coatings can cut plastic use, Indian migrant workers human rights risks, ocean oxygen depletions discussed at COP25, and GRI’s new tax reporting standard, in the news digest. Hosted by Ian Welsh

In the first of a new podcast series about the Accountability Framework initiative, Rainforest Alliance director of global programmes Jeff Milder talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about why the framework has been established, what it is setting out to achieve and how it can specifically help companies with taking action and monitoring progress in their commodity supply chains. And, Ruth Nussbuam, co-founder and director of Proforest and David Cleary, director of global agriculture at The Nature Conservancy, share their hopes for what the AFi could achieve. This podcast series is supported by Rainforest Alliance.

In this webinar panellists from QIMA, Aldo, Twinings and BAT discuss how companies and suppliers can improve auditing practices. They assess how to leverage AI and data analytics to uncover potential human rights violations and debate the extent to which audits can assist and/or complement these processes. Panellists: Terri Olano, senior business development manager, QIMA Vera Galarza, senior director, ethics and compliance, Aldo Gabriella Wass, social impact manager – human rights specialist, Twinings Verity Lawson, senior international sustainability manager, British American Tobacco Introduced and hosted by Ian Welsh, Innovation Forum This webinar was sponsored by QIMA.  

This week: Emily Kunen from Nestlé, Gotz Martin from Golden Agri-Resources and Róisín Mortimer from Earthworm Foundation debate how business and partner organisations can really help smallholder farmers grow incomes without clearing new land. Plus: major international brands back extension of the Amazon soy moratorium, brands and climate progress, UN human rights action plans and H+M supports game-changing dyeing process, in the news digest. Hosted by Ian Welsh

Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, and managing director of Mohammadi Group, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges facing the apparel sector in Bangladesh. She highlights the progress made with the help of international cooperation, since the Rana Plaza disaster, through the building safety accord and the worker safety alliance, with the work being taken on by the Readymade Sustainability Council. They discuss why sustaining the progress is now the sector’s challenge as it keeps up with the global market’s expectations and trends. New technology and industry 4.0 automation can help maintain a crucial industry that supports 82% of the Bangladeshi economy.

Nathan Shuler, sustainability solutions architect at Schneider Electric Energy & Sustainability Services, and Ian Welsh debate the continued rise in importance of science-based targets for progressive business. They talk about how companies have had to change approach to switch to targets that are focused on making a proportionate difference to corporate impacts rather than just a PR-based number that looks good.

This week: Franco Costantini, managing director of Control Union UK on how and why certification can help companies rationalise their use of plastics in packaging. And Irache Pardo, finance and treasury director for Spanish hi-tech business CIE Automotive on the impacts of sustainability and industry 4.0 technology on the manufacturing sector. Plus: more work required to keep warming to 1.5C, Ikea’s “climate positive” programme, hotels and modern slavery risks, and $50m sustainability loan for Prada, in the news digest. Hosted by Ian Welsh Control Union was a sponsor of the recent Innovation Forum future for plastics conference.

Conference minipod: Justin Adams, executive director of the Tropical Forest Alliance, talks with Ian Welsh about some of the critical factors in developing a landscape approach, including multistakeholder collaboration, measuring progress, transparency and finding the right incentives for producers. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.

Conference minipod: Peter Stanbury-Davis, principal at the Frontier Practice, and Ian Welsh discuss some of the main talking points from a landscapes approach workshop. Main challenges include the complexity of the issues, the lack of local-level capacity, and finding the right way to simply get things started. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.

Conference minipod: Laurence Ruffieux, director of operations, sustainability, at Philip Morris International, tells Innovation Forum’s Tom Idle why she thinks smallholder farmers have a long-term future, and the role of big business in ensuring the viability of farm income streams. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.  

Conference minipod: Stephen Donofrio, director of Forest Trends’ Supply Chain Initiative, talks with Innovation Forum’s Tom Idle about the importance of business methodologies that engage with smallholder farmers and build long-term relationships. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.  

Conference minipod: Jonathan Horrell, director for sustainability at Mondelez International, explains to Innovation Forum’s Tom Idle how the multistakeholder Cocoa and Forests Initiative aims to reverse deforestation trends in Ghana and Côte D’Ivoire while protecting farmer livelihoods, and the lessons learned that can be implemented in other sectors. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.

Conference minipod: Frances Way, chief strategy officer at CDP, explains to Innovation Forum’s Tom Idle the extent she sees sustainability taking centre stage at financial institutions. She picks out green bonds, sustainability-linked loans and blended finance as the innovations to watch. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.

Conference minipod: Michael Gidney, CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation, and Helen Browning, chief executive of the Soil Association, talk with Ian Welsh about why smallholder farmers represent an enormous opportunity for global commodity supply chains. This one of a series of short podcasts summarising conference sessions recorded at Innovation Forum's sustainable landscapes and commodities event in London.