Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

This week: CottonConnect's Alison Ward spoke with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh at the recent sustainable apparel and textiles conference in Amsterdam. They discussed what climate resilience looks like in cotton production and the unintended consequences of over-reliance on technology to tackle this. Plus: Innovation Forum's Hannah Oborne announces the scope 3 innovation forum USA, returning to Was...

On 18th June, IF hosted a virtual event for ofi’s sustainability strategy launch Increasing regulatory requirements are tasking food and beverage companies with more robust corporate reporting. Strengthening commitments to enhance the resilience of supply chains also remains a key imperative to deliver the change the law demands and farmers, rural communities and nature needs. Enabling better choi...

This week: Debbie Shakespeare, senior director, sustainability and compliance at Avery Dennison talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how fashion companies can become ESPR compliant, outlining the main requirements of the Eco Design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and its timelines, starting with the latest developments, and offers practical tips to help companies get started to...

Eastman's circular policy director, Christopher Layton, discusses current progress and trends in developing circular economy models for plastic and packaging with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh. They provide guidance on taking a regional approach for greater circularity, useful regulatory approaches, and progress indicators.

This week: Peter Bunce, vice president, head of cotton and microbials at Indigo Ag, talks with Ian Welsh about the importance of implementing regenerative agriculture and tackling scope 3 emissions. They discuss how companies can specifically address their cotton and grain scope 3 emissions, and best practices for collaboration.

On June 11th, IF hosted a webinar in partnership with Vayda. Advancing regenerative agriculture farming has become a priority for agri-food stakeholders in an effort to mitigate some of the most pressing challenges threatening the resilience of global food systems, whilst tackling climate change. While companies have experimented with regenerative farming practices, these often remain limited to t...

This week: At our recent Future of Food and Beverage conference in Minneapolis, a Kansas farmer, Dwane Roth, shared the farmer's perspective of what's crucial to drive sustainable agricultural practices on the ground. In conversation with Ian Welsh, Dwane highlighted the importance of collaboration across the food and agriculture sectors. Plus: Bayer Crop Science's EMEA digital solutions science m...

On 6th June, IF hosted a free webinar in partnership with CottonConnect. Regenerative sourcing has shown significant promise for the cotton industry; helping to regenerate soils, support ecosystems, and improve farmer livelihoods all whilst increasing yield. With initial pilots showing the potential for transformative impact, how can this approach now be implemented at scale? In this webinar, we u...

Patrick Mallet, director for innovations at ISEAL Alliance, and Rachel Wall, project manager for landscapes and collaborations at Proforest, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the importance of investing in landscape initiatives and what landscape actions can look like in practice. They discuss ISEAL Alliance's position papers that provides baseline expectations for companies on how to e...

KFC's chief sustainability officer Nira Johri and global chief development officer Nivera Wallani speak with Ian Welsh about the company's climate commitments across scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Hear how the brand's sustainability strategy is closely integrated with its overall development plans.   Also, Innovation Forum’s Natasha Bodnar discusses with Ian what to expect at the upcoming scope 3 em...

On 4th June, IF hosted a webinar in partnership with Bayer Crop Science.  In recent years, the agricultural industry has witnessed a significant shift towards sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Within this context, biologics – derived from natural resources such as microbes, plants, pheromones and other sources – are emerging as crucial agricultural tools in this transformation.  ...

This week: IFC’s senior industry specialist, Ahmad Slaibi and Tom Cumberlege, director at the Carbon Trust talk with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the development of their new food loss tool. They discuss how the tool can drive increased food availability and reduce significant food loss in developing countries, as well as further opportunities to collaborate with industry leaders to improve...

Niamh McCarthy, director for climate related risks at Climate Advisors, talks with Ian Welsh about the Brazilian soy sector’s risks from climate transition, including potential decreases in producer prices, and the opportunities that can arise from these risks. They discuss the projected rise in demand of plant-based proteins and share action points for companies within the sector to adapt to new...

This week: At the future of food and beverage conference in Amsterdam, Jason Archie-Acheampong, international commercial programmes manager at Producers Direct, spoke with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about value chain actor and next-generation engagement in farming. They discuss the importance of improving farmer incomes and how to implement new technologies on-the-ground with farmers in mind.  ...

This week: Christopher Layton, director of circular policy strategy at Eastman, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the development of circular economy models for plastics and packaging. They discussed the potential for regional circularity and the regulatory approach that might help. Plus: final approval for the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive; University of Cambri...

Vayda's CEO Mike Shoemaker talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh on the company's focus on designing and executing regenerative management plans to help growers protect yields while reducing input requirements. The buzz surrounding regenerative practices in the agriculture sector is seen as critical for addressing climate change. However, the industry is still in early stages, needing to transit...

US Farmers and Ranchers in Action's CEO Kevin Burkum talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the critical role USFRA plays in uniting stakeholders across the value chain to address major global challenges. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration, innovation, and sustainability in agriculture, and addresses the financial pressures on farmers and the need for profitability to ensure the...

On May 21st, IF hosted a free webinar in partnership with Cargill Food and agriculture industries are facing more pressing and interconnected challenges in their ability to feed the world. Advances in data and technology are one tool to help to transform how farmers grow and produce food through sustainable and regenerative practices.  Additionally, cross-commodity and cross-supplier sustainabilit...

This week: At the recent future of food and beverage forum in Amsterdam, Ian Welsh spoke with Unilever’s global food sustainability director Dorothy Shaver about how the company prioritises sustainability within its business strategy. They discussed some causes for optimism to deliver resilient food systems.   And Innovation Forum’s Emily Heslop talks about what to expect at the future of food and...

This week: Patrick Mallet, director for innovations at ISEAL Alliance, and Rachel Wall, project manager for landscapes and collaboration from Proforest, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how companies can put into practice landscape approaches to environmental and social challenges. They discuss why investing in landscape initiatives is important and how they can benefit from it.   Plus...

Raviv Turner, founding member of the Nature Tech Collective and member of the nature data working group at the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about current trends in nature-based disclosure and highlights best practices the transition from non-disclosure to disclosure. They discuss key regulation coming up such as the EU deforestation reg...

Lisa Spicka de Bevacqua, global director of sustainability consulting at auditor and certifiers NSF, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the rise in impact of sustainability-related regulation on business in Europe and globally. They discuss practical steps companies should take to engage on the new and increasingly due diligence-related legislation, and how quality assurance processes c...

This week: Mars Petcare's chief sustainability officer, Marika McCauley Sine, provides some reflection on the future of food and beverage, speaking at Innovation Forum’s recent conference in Amsterdam with Ian Welsh. They talk about the importance of absolute reduction and understanding carbon and biodiversity impacts as regenerative agriculture is put into practice.   Plus: Innovation Forum's Cat...

This week: Niamh McCarthy, director of climate-related risk at Orbitas, shares findings from a  recent report  on the impact of climate transitions on Brazil's soy sector with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh. They discuss the current state of Brazil's soy sector and the potential drivers of positive change in future.   Plus: Kevin Burkum, CEO of US Farmer and Ranchers in Action talks with Ian about t...

John Murphy, technical director for Europe at Hohenstein Laboratories, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the benefits of certification systems for the apparel sector and how they protect companies and consumers. They discuss the risks within the sector such as fraud, and the current trends in material certification amid incoming legislation.