Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

This week, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the World Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi, which focuses on leadership for sustainable development and climate justice this year. They discuss the first Global Biodiversity Framework Fund meeting in Washington DC to develop and evaluate the operational policies and programmes of the fund.   Plus: Jonathan Sullivan, vi...

This week: Jonathan Schuldenfrei, managing director, risk and financial advisory practice at Deloitte, talks with Ian Welsh about regulated and voluntary carbon markets, how they are evolving and what companies can do take advantage of the opportunities presented.   Plus: research shows the potential yearly benefits of $10 trillion from a move to sustainable food systems; Ikea decouples emissions...

Bex Hall, head of consulting at Sedex, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about practical steps for business in developing a more sustainable apparel and fashion sector. She shares guidance on how to measure progress, legislations to look out for, and the importance of ensuring worker protection and production waste management.

This week, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about what to expect at the UN Economic and Social Council Partnership Forum held in New York City, to discuss building effective partnerships to advance the sustainability development agenda and the 17 sustainable development goals. They also discuss World Wetlands Day,  and the importance of wetlands to help combat the climate crisis...

This week: Matthew Hawthorne, a footprinting and circularity expert, and Luca Mosca, fashion and goods lead for Italy, both at Quantis, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about emerging circular economy models in the apparel sector. They discuss the sector-specific challenges and advice on the viable next steps to improve for businesses.   Plus: the next in our factory spotlight series, Innova...

Marco Albani, co-founder and CEO of Chloris Geospatial talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the shifting trends in impact measurement and carbon accounting. They discuss the unexpected impacts of being carbon-positive and why we need to get beyond thinking only in terms of zero deforestation.

On 18th January 2024, Innovation Forum hosted the webinar, 'The EUDR Debate: what's necessary to make it work effectively?' Listen to this podcast episode for the audio recording of the event.    The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has been designed to prevent deforestation-linked commodities and products from entering the EU market, and in doing so catalyse a much needed reduction in deforesta...

This week, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the Bern III conference, which continues discussions from 2019 and 2021 to contribute to the effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. And, they discuss the European Commission's strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the European Union to ensure a fair and inclusive green transit...

This week: Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh speaks with Renaka Ramachandran, chief financial officer at Sime Darby Plantation, about some of the challenges around interim and 2050 net zero target setting, and the importance of transparency on environmental and social impacts.    They also discuss the challenges of setting baselines, and waiting for the right technology to address hard-to-abate emissio...

This week, Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the sustainable business issues likely to be on the agenda at the 2024 World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos – in particular this year's focus on driving corporate transparency and accountability.    They also discuss this week’s Innovation Forum European Union Deforestation Regulation webinar, at 1pm CET on Thursday 18th January, with panel...

This week: Bex Hall, head of consulting at Sedex, talks with Ian Welsh about the development of a more sustainable apparel and fashion sector. They discuss the current trends within the sector and what to look out for in 2024.   Plus: 2023's temperatures likely to have exceeded any of the period of the past 100,000 years, say EU scientists; UK companies recognise the need for decarbonisation; the...

Francis Gassert, strategy and impact lead at Vizzuality, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the importance of corporate land, carbon and biodiversity impact measurement in the light of the incoming EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Deforestation Regulation. They discuss guidance on how to conduct impact measurement effectively and ensure data credibility.

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about some of what's coming up. They discuss the implementation of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, with large corporates the first to the impacted and new reporting requirements coming in from 2025. They also talk about the impact of Veganuary and...

Dominik Klauser, director of regenerative agriculture at SAI Platform, speaks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh on the challenges and opportunities for food system transformation, and how to overcome and develop them. They discuss the importance of farmer incentives and share best practices for achieving traceability and transparency through regenerative agriculture.

This week: Marco Albani, co-founder and CEO of Chloris Geospatial talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the trends in impact measurement and carbon accounting. They discuss the shift from an area-based approach to carbon accounting and share some unexpected carbon-positive impacts.   And, report reveals UK's lack of urgency on deforestation; EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Direct...

This week: another chance to hear our three most popular podcast interviews of 2023.   Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh talks with Rejane Souza, senior vice-president for global innovation at Norway-based fertiliser company Yara International, about the rise and rise of regenerative agriculture. They discuss the role of companies across the value chain in enabling technology and innovation, and the im...

Innovation Forum's Bea Stevenson has spoken to several farmers from across geographies and commodities, to find out how climate change is impacting their crops and their livelihoods. Hear from Deborah Osei-Mensah, a farmer with Asunafo Cocoa Cooperative in Ghana, Wakinya Samuel, a smallholder coffee farmer from Bushika Integrated Area Cooperative Enterprise in Uganda, Kamudiben Satishbhai Tadavi,...

During Innovation Forum's recent climate action on scope 3 emissions conference in Washington DC, Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson spoke with some of the participants to reflect on the key topics and conversations over the two days. These discussions focused in particular on shifting policy and guidance landscapes, and how companies are performing and communicating on scope 3 climate targets.   Hear fr...

In the final briefing of the year, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson take a look ahead to the key focal points for sustainable business in 2024. They discuss the legislation moving corporate climate disclosure from voluntary to mandatory, expected progress on supply chain due diligence, and the ever-increasing spotlight on nature and biodiversity strategy.

This week: Francis Gassert, strategy and impact lead at Vizzuality, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about measuring impact and how to ensure credibility when doing so. They discuss the importance of companies considering their land, carbon and biodiversity impacts and incoming regulatory changes driving this action.   And, at COP28, United Arab Emirates' $100m game changing loss and repara...

Rodrigue Kreilmann, corporate sustainability governance manager at Mars, and Veronique Bovee, deputy director for responsible sourcing at Proforest, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about Proforest and Tropical Forest Alliance's latest research on driving progress on nature, climate and social targets at a landscape level. They discuss how companies' landscape-scale actions fit into leading...

Speaking live from COP28 in Dubai, Owen Bethell, environmental impact lead, global public affairs, at Nestlé shares on-the-spot reflections with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the increasing focus on the global stocktake and lack of progress of agreement on fossil fuel phase-out. They discuss some progress so far, such as on food systems and methane, as ongoing negotiations take place.

In this week's briefing, Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Bea Stevenson talk about the latest at COP28 in Dubai, as final negotiations take place. They discuss the progress in fossil fuel phase-out and concerns in lack of progress in other areas such as nature and food systems. They also talk about potential updates from the European Commission on the EU deforestation regulation.   Plus: Bea Steve...

This week: Dominik Klauser, director of regenerative agriculture at SAI Platform, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the key risks and opportunities generated by the current shift towards regenerative agriculture. They discuss the growing importance of traceability and transparency in supply chains and share what best practice looks like in achieving these.   Plus: COP28’s Emirates Decl...

On 30th November at 2-3pm CET, Innovation Forum hosted a webinar on nature-positive business approaches in partnership with Golden Agri-Resources. This is an audio recording of the webinar.    Faced with what the United Nations calls an ‘unprecedented’ decline in biodiversity, businesses are taking action to find solutions to reduce and ultimately reverse human impacts on our ecosystems. Recent in...