Innovation Forum Podcast

Aid Environment’s Tim Steinweg talks to Toby Webb about the new report from Chain Reaction Research that highlights the use of shadow companies in the palm oil sector. Steinweg argues that a number of large players in the palm oil sector work with associated companies, frequently owned by members of the same family. These shadow companies have allegations of deforestation levelled at their palm plantations – hence the big companies are able to be able to service the ‘no deforestation’ markets while subsidiary companies continue to cut down trees.

IDH Indonesia’s Fitrian Ardiansyah speaks to Toby Webb about how companies can best work with smallholders to boost farm livelihoods and counter deforestation. Ardiansyah argues that helping smallholder farmers to gain land ownership certificates is crucial, helping them unlock finance options and access to markets. Getting from pilot projects to real impact at scale is, as ever, a major challenge.

Laura Houghton, manager, global customer success and marketing for Segura and Simon Nicholls, managing partner, Weir T-S, talk with Ian Welsh about how new technology can enable retailers to have confidence that their suppliers are sourcing from where they say they are, and to help mitigate modern slavery risks in supply chains. They discuss the challenges of interacting with some suppliers, such as smallholder farmers, who may have no access themselves to technology, and how better data processing can help make auditing processes more valuable. Segura and Weir T-S were sponsors of the recent Innovation Forum conference on business and modern slavery in New York. 

This week: Mark Gough from the Natural Capital Coalition explains to Ian Welsh the real benefits for companies to include natural capital calculations in their business planning. At the recent RSPO meeting in Paris Toby Webb met with Elisabeth Hipeau from BNP Paribas, who described how the finance sector can help support sustainable palm oil and combat deforestation. And in New York at Innovation Forum’s conference on business and modern slavery recently Ulula founder Antoine Heuty spoke to Ian Welsh about how companies can identify vulnerable people in their supply chains and engage with them. Plus: new Adidas pledges, California and the UK emissions success, and why respecting indigenous rights will help preserve essential landscapes. Hosted by Ian Welsh.

Kilian Moote, project director for Know the Chain, takes Ian Welsh through his organisation’s latest research benchmarking the world’s 40 largest hi-tech companies and what they are doing about the human rights and forced labour risks in their supply chains. Typically, consumer facing brands score well – with Intel, HP and Apple leading the way – and the more anonymous not so well.

Susanne Stormer, vice-president corporate sustainability, Novo Nordisk explains to Ian Welsh why the sustainable development goals seem to have caught the imagination, arguing that they provide the roadmap that business require to establish their corporate purpose. While they are no panacea, the SDGs provide a framework that all actors can use to collaborate to develop effective sustainability. The fact that business was involved in their creation is a key point in their effectiveness.

Richa Bajpai, founder of Goodera, talks with Ian Welsh about the challenges companies face measuring the impact of their sustainability functions and programmes. Bajpai outlines some trends in how businesses are tracking and measuring performance, as well as identifying the right partners on-the-ground for project implementation. Goodera was a sponsor of Innovation Forum's recent impact and measurement conference in London.

In this webinar, the expert panel discuss examples of partnership in action to end commodity-driven deforestation, something that is particularly pressing given how close we are getting to 2020 – a deadline for the implementation of many corporate commitments on supply chain deforestation. The panel also reflect on the work of TFA2020 and in particular its new annual report – titled the Sprint to 2020. Panel: Marco Albani, TFA 2020; Samuel Avaala, Benso Oil Palm Plantation; Gita Syahrani, Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari; amd Iván Darío Valencia, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Government of Colombia. Hosted by Ian Welsh.

This week: IDH Indonesia’s Fitrian Ardiansyah speaks with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb on how companies can best work with smallholders to boost farm livelihoods and countering deforestation. And Yousuf Aftab from human rights specialists Enodo Rights debates trends in how modern slavery risks are evolving for companies with Ian Welsh. Plus Starbucks new plastic pledges, Tesco’s new soy sourcing plan, why some retailers are dropping Nestlé products and mica supply risks. Hosted by Ian Welsh

Imperial College’s Josh Lyons-White discusses with Toby Webb a new study into barriers for palm oil sector companies to implement their zero deforestation commitments. While Lyons-White cautions against over-simplification of palm oil’s hugely challenging supply chains, the barriers can be summarised as relating to cost, complexity and collaboration. He argues that for brands with palm oil in their products, finding the necessary leverage to change the market is a real problem. Even at an EU level, the impact of a ban on palm oil would not be that significant when that market is compared with India.

Ashley Allen, climate and land senior manager, Mars, talks with Toby Webb about the company’s stretching commitments on climate change. To achieve its ‘sustainable in a generation’ plan, Mars has set ambitious targets for its operations and supply chains. This includes analysing the ingredients – and from where they are sourced – in its branded products for greenhouse gas impacts, to find the best ingredients at the lowest impact.

This week Aid Environment’s Tim Steinweg talks with Toby Webb about the work of Chain Reaction Research and its new report into shadow companies in palm oil supply chains to allegedly conceal deforestation. Should brands be concerned about fresh deforestation risks in their supply chains? And Erb Institute managing director Terry Nelidov and Ian Welsh discuss trends in how companies approach their social licence to operate, and why it is increasingly regarded as essential. Plus depressing deforestation data, new allegations about palm oil giant Wilmar from Greenpeace, Nestlé’s row with the RSPO and Australia’s modern slavery bill revealed, in the news roundup. Hosted by Ian Welsh.

Speaking in Accra, Ghana, the World Cocoa Foundation’s Ethan Budiansky and Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb discuss progress in the cocoa sector, particularly through the Cocoa and Forests Initiative in west Africa. The WCF works to achieve more sustainability in cocoa production, both in terms of dealing with climate change impacts and deforestation as well as farm productivity and livelihoods. Budiansky explains how the federation promotes climate-smart cocoa – and why now, finally, the sector as a whole seems to be developing more joined-up thinking than it had perhaps in the past.

Supply Shift’s Jamie Barsimantov talks with Ian Welsh about trends in how companies are engaging on data with their supply chains in the pulp and paper, and food and beverage sectors. Barsimantov argues that while everyone seems to want more information, there has been debate about how this should be presented – should it all be homogenised or entirely bespoke for each company. He identifies a trend that there is a general set of supplier information that companies generally want that can be standardised, but it’s in the detail that each business needs more specific data – as all companies are different.

This week Know the Chain director Kilian Moote takes Ian Welsh through his organisation’s new benchmark research into what the ICT sector is doing to engage on forced labour risks in supply chains. The top 40 companies are benchmarked on their performance, with Intel, Apple, HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprises among the leading performers. Plus tobacco supply chain child labour uncovered, Mumbai bans plastics and UK retail chain Morrisons switches to paper bags in store, and Unilever tops corporate ranking, again, in this week’s news roundup.

Nusa Urbancic, campaigns director, Changing Markets, debates the challenges for certification schemes and the findings of the NGO’s recent report – False Promise of Certification – with Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb. In the report Changing Markets focused on schemes in the textiles, seafood and palm oil sectors and found, Urbancic argues, that some scheme provide too much cover for companies rather than concentrating on pushing for environmental improvements.

Nicole Rycroft, director, Canopy, outlines the links between the apparel sector and forest destruction for the production of viscose fabrics. Over 150m trees a year – including from high conservation value forests – are felled to provide fibres going into garments, a number set to double in the coming years. Rycroft explains how Canopy is working with 150 brand partners to make the significant supply chain changes necessary ease the pressure on forests.

Jon Samuel, group head of social performance and engagement talks with Ian Welsh about AngloAmerican’s new sustainability strategy, designed to create value for shareholders and the company’s wider stakeholders. The FutureSmart Mining programme is, Samuel says, AngloAmerican’s response to emerging external expectations, inspired in part by the interest in the sustainable development goals. What’s important is to develop meaningful targets that inspire better performance.

In this week’s podcast, Susanne Stormer, vice-president for sustainability at Novo Nordisk, talks with Ian Welsh about development of the sustainable development goals and how companies can leverage them for better impact. And Toby Webb debates palm oil supply chain complexity and its impact on deforestation with Imperial College’s Joss Lyons-White. Plus Intel tops new IT sector benchmarking from Know the Chain, child labour traceability challenges for cocoa and why incentivising customers to switch to re-usable cups is good business for Pret. Hosted by Ian Welsh

Francesca New, global sustainability manager at Mars, explains to Ian Welsh how the company engages with smallholder farmers through a Farmer Income Lab and other initiatives. New highlights the challenges in actually reaching suppliers that are several tiers up the supply chain, and also how land use changes link into Mars’ science-based targets.