Let's Talk Sustainable Business

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Simon Hombersley,  CEO of Xampla, a company that has developed natural alternatives to single-use plastics. Simon tells us about the importance of reaching price parity with traditional plastics, minimizing negative externalities and why business and policy are critical to achieving net-zero.

In this episode, Claudia Lee sits down with Simon Hombersley, CEO of Xampla, a company that has developed natural alternatives to single-use plastics. Simon shares Xampla's mission, the lengthy R&D process and the product's versatile applications.

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Olga Dubey, co-founder of Agrosustain, a company that manufactures natural coatings that can extend the shelf life of fresh produce. Olga explains the science behind Agrosustain's key product - 'breathable' coating that can be sprayed onto crops after harvest to keep crops fresh for longer.  The founder also shares challenges in R&D and certification that the sta...

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Olga Dubey, co-founder of Agrosustain, a company that manufactures natural coatings that can extend the shelf life of fresh produce. Olga explains the key challenges behind commercial farming and food supply chains. She also discusses the process of developing the product  and launching Agrosustain. 

Introducing a special season of Let's Talk Sustainable Business with host Claudia Lee, Sustainability and Governance Research Fellow at The Conference Board. Every week Claudia will speak to guests from global corporates and SMEs about how they integrate sustainability into their business models and company values. Tune in to the series upcoming episodes. 

Shamini Harrington Vice President: Climate Change at Sasol and Presidential Climate Change Commissioner for S outh Africa in discussion with Uwe Schulte explains what the challenges managing for a Just Transition imply. Moving away from the fossil fuel base requires helping employees to make the transition to new jobs by skills and capability building, working with suppliers to help them to adjust...

Shamini Harrington Vice President: Climate Change at Sasol in conversation with Uwe Schulte explains how a fossil-fuel based company plans to do their part towards the goals of the Paris agreement. Shamini explains how they are going to use their technology know-how to use sustainable sources of carbon and hydrogen to produce for example sustainable aviation fuel in the future. She shares the unce...

Jacob A. Sterling , s enior d irector and head of ocean decarbonisation and innovation at A.P. Moller- Maersk joins Uwe Schulte to discuss the existing challenge of convert ing sea freight from fossil fuels to e.g., green methanol , and how this fuel choice provides the necessary flexibility. They explore why without having secured the supply, yet Maersk has chosen to go ahead with ordering 12 new...

Jacob A. Sterling, senior director and head of ocean decarbonisation and innovation at A.P. Moller-Maersk, shares his experience of moving from an NGO, the WWF Denmark, to work for a multinational company. He explains their ambitions for sustainability, and how being family owned, and implicitly looking for a basis for a long-term striving existence has helped the organization decide to take the r...

In this episode Thomas Udesen, Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer, explains how Bayer Procurement is supporting the company's sustainability efforts.  Small hold farmers are an important partner for Bayer and the procurement team has developed an engagement process to help farmers to adopt sustainable farming methods. Another important issue is the reduction of Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissio...

Continuing the conversation Cyril Giraud, Senior Vice President Performance Minerals, APAC gives examples of minerals helping customers to improve their sustainability performance. Imerys is for example providing a coating for paper to replace laminating with Polyethylene film and making products recyclable. IMERYS is also providing vital components for batteries for electric vehicles in form for...

Cyril Giraud, Senior Vice President Performance Minerals, APAC at Imerys in conversation with Uwe G. Schulte explains how IMERYS is approaching the consequences of their impact by quarrying. They approach it in three phases preparation, exploitation, and rehabilitation with minimizing biodiversity losses at every stage. Imerys is engaging with external partners to join forces for ecosystem restora...

Thomas Udesen , Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer talks about the role of procurement in the large merger / demerger transition Bayer went through in the last years.   

In this episode Ken Bowles, Chief Financial Officer at Smurfit Kappa Group talks to Uwe Schulte about collaborating for Sustainability. Ken explains several amazing achievements e.g., replacing polystyrene in thermal packaging and helping customer to reduce their carbon footprint significantly. As a CFO Ken is convinced that companies not addressing the social aspects of ESG inside their own opera...

Ken Bowles , Chief Financial Officer at Smurfit Kappa Group in conversation with Uwe Schulte explains how Smurfit Kappa can provide all their packaging solutions with 75 % recycled material content . Ken expands how the virgin fibre material required for the reliable strength of the packaging is coming from sustainable forestry . Safeguarding biodiversity and the care for the well being of local c...

Guest speaker, Chever Voltmer, Plastics Initiative Director for Ocean Conservancy continues discussing the ocean pollution challenge, especially that of plastic waste contamination. She explains that the first approach we all should take is to avoid using and make sure that we recycle plastic. Building a good recycling structure and aiming for circularity are actions that companies can play an imp...

Chever Voltmer, Plastics Initiative Director for Ocean Conservancy joins Uwe Schulte to explore the organization's extensive activities to fight negative influences threatening the ocean's ability to stabilise climate change and support marine life. Chever, discusses their annual Ocean Clean-up efforts and the useful database 'Tides' which has resulted from these initiatives. Sustainable fishing a...

Continuing the discussion with Uwe Schulte, David Hone, Chief Climate Change Adviser at Shell, now describes the implications of the three climate change scenarios. They discuss the need to find alternative pathways out of the global economy's heavy dependency on fossil resources as well as the timing challenges involved. David expresses the need not just for the oil and gas industry to change but...

In this podcast David Hone, Chief Climate Change Adviser at Shell explains the principles of Scenario Analysis Methodology and how this can help businesses prepare for the future. The Pandemic has caused major disruptions, the Shell Scenario Team have analysed three pathways out of this crisis and their implications on climate. Waves:  Countries focus on repairing the economy –with an emphasis on...

Following on from her previous conversation with Uwe Schulte, Kim Dabbs, Global Director Social Innovation at Steelcase explores how the company is profiting from the multitude of social innovation projects they are currently running both in the mid and longer term. All employees have a right to participate and suggest initiatives. Driving communal education improvement projects and equity initiat...

In this podcast, Kim Dabbs, Global Director Social Innovation at Steelcase, discusses the objective and application of social innovation. For Steelcase, reducing inequality, improving education, and creating a positive environmental impact are the core elements that help build the company purpose.  Kim gives examples of community engagement and shows how the United Nations Sustainable Development...

In this episode Geraldine Matchett Co-CEO and CFO at Royal DSM discusses how the company is putting the focus on UN SDGs where they can have the most impact. DSM started managing their innovation pipeline many years ago to address for example, the nutrition needs they saw developing at the time. Today they are a key contributor in the global fight against malnutrition. Geraldine emphasizes that it...

Geraldine Matchett Co-CEO and CFO at Royal DSM states why ' you cannot be a successful company in a world that fails. Geraldine describes the transformation of DSM from a state mine to a company that sees its purpose 'to create brighter lives for all' with an emphasis on all – not leaving anybody behind and ensuring a healthy environment  for all to live in. Financial success and positive sustaina...

In this episode Gayle Schueller Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at 3M reveals how her company, despite a dauntingly complex product portfolio, manages to create transparency in their value chains, where it matters most. The examples of pulp and paper and conflict minerals exemplify the approach going beyond first tier suppliers to evaluate all social and environmental aspects until...

For Gayle Schueller Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability officer at 3M, science has always been an important part of her life. In this episode she explains how through pandemic, loss of biodiversity and the climate crisis, the importance of applying scientific principles has drastically increased. We learn what the 3M initiatives "Science for Climate, Circular and Community" means in pra...