Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum
Regular podcasts on sustainable business issues from Innovation Forum.
Episodes
Product carbon footprints at scale: Turning measurement into action to unlock business value
As regulatory pressure mounts and supply chain scrutiny intensifies, leading brands in food, beverage, and apparel are uncovering the business value by looking beyond high-level carbon inventories to understand and act on granular, product-level emissions data measurement.
At the same time, overlapping standards and fragmented data are leaving many sustainability teams unsure where to start and ho
What incoming super El Niño means for global food systems
Andrew Coburn, founder and chair at Risilience, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the coming super El Niño and agricultural and financial shocks it can bring to global food supply chains. They discuss latest findings on case studies, such as crop losses at $39-375 billion, with rice, wheat, coffee and palm oil all exposed.
Why nature-based solutions need a positive ROI story
This week: James Stokes, director of business development at Lestari Capital, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about financing nature-based solutions and ecosystem services. They discuss why nature-based investment cases lean on risk prevention rather than a positive return story, and why shifting that imbalance depends on making nature as investable as any other asset class.
And, food sy
Taking care – what do cosmetic sector supply chain emissions look like?
This week: Tory Hoffmeister, senior manager, sustainable sourcing, climate and water lead, Colgate-Palmolive, Matthias Maase, director global sustainability care chemicals, BASF, Francesco Davila Alotto, global environmental sustainability senior manager, Givaudan and Alexandra Florea, head of sustainability, Medik8, join Ian Welsh in an extract from a recent Innovation Forum webinar to talk about
Yield buffering: the data behind resilient supply chains
Anna Pierce, director of sustainability at Tate & Lyle, and Anastasia Volkova, co-founder and CEO at Regrow, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about building resilient agricultural supply chains. They discuss why Tate & Lyle brought its regenerative agriculture programme to France after drought disrupted its corn supply, and how data such as drops in yield variability, can be a cataly
Battery challenges: can critical mineral value chains meet EU regulation?
This week: From 2027, EV and industrial batteries will need verified data on carbon footprint, material composition and supply chain due diligence in the EU. To discuss the challenges, Anna Fleming from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Jeroen Hoff, Connect Bus, and Ilya Gasparishvili from Honeywell Technologies, joined Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh on a recent webinar. The panel discussed whether cr
Heatwaves, drought and the new risk to food business continuity
Charlotte Bande, managing director and global food and beverage sector lead at Quantis, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about climate risk in food supply chains following this summer's Northern Hemisphere heatwave. They discuss why extreme weather events are leaving less time for recovery, why low-volume commodities such as vanilla can carry high business risk, and how traceability and pro
From mine to passport: How can the critical minerals value chain deliver what the next phase of the EU Battery Regulation requires?
The EU Battery Regulation is raising the bar.
From 2027, battery passports will be mandatory for EV and industrial batteries, requiring verified data on carbon footprint, material composition and supply chain due diligence across the full value chain. For an industry where data is fragmented, supply chains span dozens of jurisdictions and transparency stops well short of the mine, the question is
Weekly podcast – Key commodities at risk: the impacts of super El Niño on food supply
This week: Andrew Coburn, chair and founder at climate experts Risilience, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the coming super El Niño and its threat to global food supply chains. They discuss new research putting crop losses at up to $375bn, with rice, wheat, coffee and palm oil among the commodities exposed, and why agri-sector companies need to be acting now.
And, fossil fuel emissi
Why suppliers are building a second product: data
Mobeen Chughtai, group head of ESG and corporate communications at Soorty Enterprises, talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell at the recent Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA, in a follow-up to their earlier conversation. Mobeen describes a simulation exercise he ran giving brands, regulators and vendors a supplier's real budget and legislative pressures to work through. They di
Weekly podcast – How yield buffering works, and why it matters
This week: Anna Pierce, chief sustainability officer at Tate & Lyle and Regrow's CEO and co-founder, Anastasia Volkova, talk with Ian Welsh about how to build properly dependable agricultural supply chains. They discuss Tate & Lyle's experiences in its Europe operations and how data can help build strong climate resilience.
Plus: McKinsey's Global Farmer Insights report finds AI adoption r
The 80% packaging recycling rate nobody expected
Cory Connors, host of the Sustainable Packaging Podcast presented by Atlantic Packaging, and Matt Saunders, managing partner at New Earth Ventures, talk with Ian Welsh about what's actually moving the needle on packaging. They share a case study of how a brand's switch from plastic to paper blister packs doubled sales, and the potential of AI in changing packaging design and procurement.
Cory and
Weekly podcast – Can apparel brands ever understand supplier challenges?
This week: Pakistan-based denim garments manufacturer Soorty Enterprises’ head of ESG, Mobeen Chughtai, talks with Niamh Campbell, Innovation Forum's head of portfolio, apparel and textiles, about some of the challenges facing sector factories and suppliers that buyers at brands need to know about. They talk about digital product passports, development of renewably powered factories and what produ
58% aligned: what happens when a brand audits its own circularity claims
Julia Kirschner, impact and innovation director at ArmedAngels talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about where circularity actually begins: with brands' design decisions, not raw materials. They discuss how ArmedAngels audited its 2026 collection and found 58% alignment with its own circular design principles.
Weekly podcast – Why supply chain shocks no longer have a recovery period
This week: Charlotte Bande, managing director and global food and beverage sector lead at Quantis, talks with Ian Welsh about the mounting pressure on food supply chains from compounding climate shocks. They discuss why low-volume commodities like vanilla can carry outsized business risk, and why procurement teams still resist change when full traceability isn't in place.
And, new study finds litt
The QR code is the easy part: what digital product passports really demand
Pauline God, industry and policy expert at TrusTrace, talks with Ian Welsh about the state of play on digital product passports in apparel. They discuss the gap between mandatory infrastructure and still-voluntary product obligations and the four biggest lessons from DPP pilots running since 2021. They also talk about why choosing item-level serialisation over batch-level data determines whether a
Weekly podcast – Recycling is working better than you think
This week: Cory Connors, host of the Sustainable Packaging Podcast presented by Atlantic Packaging, and Matt Saunders, managing partner at New Earth Ventures, talk with Ian Welsh about where sustainable packaging is actually heading. They discuss the shift to monomaterials and paper-based formats under EPR and PPWR pressure, and how AI is starting to reshape packaging design, procurement and testi
When compliance and sustainability blur, suppliers pay the price
Mobeen Chughtai, group head of ESG and corporate communications at Soorty Enterprises, talks with Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell about how sustainability requirements are increasingly being reframed as non-negotiable compliance. They discuss why standardised brand guidance fails to account for supplier context, and the end-of-life emissions data brands ask suppliers to report but rarely share t
Weekly podcast – The critical minerals project finance challenge
This week: Highlights of webinar panel discussion when Olga Antonovskaya from BHP, Jessica Wan from Redwheel, Societe Generale’s Marie Gerbier and Eirini Konstantinou from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, joined Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh to talk about what it takes for finance to back critical minerals at scale.
Plus: Diageo plastic bottle safety concerns in India; SE Asia
Living wages: why measurement isn't the same as progress
Mari-Lou Dupont, senior vice president for social compliance at the Fair Labor Association, talks with Ian Welsh at Innovation Forum's Sustainable Apparel and Textiles event in Amsterdam about worker wellbeing in the apparel sector. They discuss why low unionisation remains the biggest underlying risk to wages and working conditions and why most brands are still stuck measuring living wage gaps ra
Weekly podcast: What drives circularity in apparel and packaging?
This week: Innovation Forum apparel portfolio lead Niamh Campbell spoke with Julia Kirschner, impact and innovation director at fashion brand Armedangels, in New York recently about how to enable a circular approach at scale in the sector. And Ian Welsh spoke with Eduardo Alvarez, plastics and packaging expert at Dow in Amsterdam earlier this year about what can drive circularity in packaging.
Pl
Farming's income problem: why one technology won't fix it
Marco Rosso, global head of sustainability and corporate affairs at Syngenta Biologicals and Seed Care, talks with Ian Welsh at Innovation Forum's food and beverage conference about the shifting economics of farming. They discuss why the number of farmers in the Netherlands has halved in 25 years, and the mix of income, land access and perception driving that decline. They also talk about why no s
Weekly podcast – Digital product passports: from voluntary pilot to mandatory infrastructure
This week: Pauline God, industry and policy expert at TrusTrace, talks with Ian Welsh about the state of play on digital product passports in apparel. They discuss the gap between mandatory infrastructure and still-voluntary product obligations, and the four biggest lessons from DPP pilots running since 2021.
Plus: Plus: fossil fuel divisions surface ahead of COP31; textile manufacturing's 92,000-
Beyond the checkbox: why forced labour hides in plain sight
Rachel Rigby, senior director, extended supply chains and responsible sourcing, and Quinn Kepes, senior regional lead Americas, at Verité, talk with Ian Welsh about the sharp rise in forced labour enforcement. They discuss the EU's new forced labour regulation and its reversed burden of proof, and the US Article 301 investigations threatening blanket tariffs on countries without effective import b
Weekly podcast – Why top-down sustainability guidance doesn't work for suppliers
Mobeen Chughtai, group head of ESG and corporate communications at Soorty Enterprises, talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about the brand-supplier relationship from the supplier's perspective. They discuss the compliance burden of conflicting regulatory frameworks and why sustainability requirements are increasingly being treated as non-negotiable mandates.
Plus: EU bans destruction of u
Show me the money: What will it take for finance to back critical minerals at scale?
The pipeline of critical minerals projects has never been longer. But the gap between a viable project and a financed one remains stubbornly wide.
Capital is available, it’s just not flowing fast enough, or to the right places. Early-stage mining projects carry a risk profile that most institutional investors are not set up to absorb. Infrastructure is absent, policy frameworks are inconsistent, a
9 million pieces and counting: scaling circular fashion at Puma
Cornelius Wolf, senior director development apparel at Puma, talks with Ian Welsh about the brand's progress on textile-to-textile recycling, now well beyond pilot stage at over 11% in 2025. They discuss the challenges of post-consumer feedstock, why World Cup shirts are putting circularity in the spotlight, and how Puma is managing the cost premium on recycled material.
Weekly podcast – The gap between measuring living wages and actually paying them
This week: Mari-lou Dupont, senior vice president for social compliance at the Fair Labour Association, talks with Ian Welsh about worker wellbeing challenges in the apparel sector. They discuss from persistently low wages and weak unionisation to what brands need to do to move beyond measuring wage gaps to actually closing them.
Plus: carbon-based hotel pricing nudges tourists towards greener cho
Why the voluntary layer of sustainability reporting is quietly collapsing
Danai Mangana, LCA consultant and consumer goods sector lead at SimaPro, PRé Sustainability, talks with Ian Welsh about current trends in corporate sustainability reporting. They discuss why a one-time lifecycle assessment no longer counts as substantiation, and how companies that treat sustainability data as business intelligence are building a genuine competitive edge.
Weekly podcast – From green premiums to real returns: what farmers actually need
Marco Rosso, global head of sustainability and corporate affairs at Syngenta Biologicals and Seed Care, talks with Ian Welsh about the shifting economics of farming. They discuss the psychology putting young people off agricultural careers and why sustainability has to deliver a real return on investment for farmers to adopt it.
Plus: lab-grown cocoa as a hedge against cocoa price volatility; US c
The uncomfortable truth about clothing prices and decarbonisation
Jimmy Summers, vice president of environment, health and safety, and chief sustainability officer at Elevate Textiles, talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about the financial barriers to decarbonising the apparel sector. They discuss why decades of falling clothing prices have made sustainability harder to fund, and what systemic solutions could create a genuine race to the top.
Weekly podcast – Forced labour enforcement is here: what companies and suppliers need to know
This week: As the long-awaited guidance for the new EU forced labour regulation is published, Ian Welsh speaks with Rachel Rigby, lead, extended supply chains and responsible sourcing, and Quinn Kepes, regional lead, Americas, at Verité. They discuss some of the potential opportunities and impacts for business.
Plus: Seed technology that enhances resilience and yield; business action to drive ele
Challenges and opportunities associated with the energy transition
Tanja Lischka, senior director for government affairs at Siemens Energy, talks with Ian Welsh about the power grid evolution required as electrification continues to be rolled out, and the challenges and opportunities this represents.
Strengthening coffee supply chains: advancing climate resilience through regenerative agriculture (webinar recording)
Climate change is rapidly reshaping the future of coffee. Rising temperatures, shifting growing regions and increased pressure on yields are creating significant risks for producers, livelihoods, and supply chain stability.
As a result, incorporating regenerative agriculture practices into coffee supply chains is no longer a distant sustainability goal, but a core business imperative. From farm-le
Weekly podcast – Beyond the football shirt: Puma on the real state of textile-to-textile recycling
This week: Cornelius Wolf, senior director development apparel at Puma, talks with Ian Welsh about the brand's progress on textile-to-textile recycling. They discuss the challenges of sourcing post-consumer waste, why World Cup shirts are putting circularity in the spotlight, and how Puma is managing the cost premium on recycled material.
Plus: UK invests £50m in critical minerals to cut import re
3% trust marketing claims, so where does supply chain trust actually live?
Paul Bentham, chief product and technology officer at Oritain, talks with Ian Welsh about the findings of the company's first annual supply chain intelligence report, including the surprise rise in prohibited-origin products on shelves. They also discuss the growing gap between brands' traceability claims and the physical reality of their products, and how tariffs and converging regulation are cre
Weekly podcast – How sustainability reporting went from storytelling to evidence
This week: Danai Mangana, LCA consultant and consumer goods sector lead at SimaPro, PRé Sustainability, talks with Ian Welsh about how corporate sustainability reporting has evolved from communications exercise to evidence-based intelligence. They discuss why companies retreating to compliance-only mode risk falling behind.
Plus: a new global symbol to identify reusable packaging; German consumers
Nestlé Dairy Plan in Action: Better for farmers, cows, the planet and people (virtual event recording)
Listen to the unveiling the first global progress report from the Nestlé Dairy Plan — a holistic approach to dairy transformation that brings together climate action, regenerative agriculture, animal welfare, farmer resilience and innovation across the value chain.
We heard practical solutions are already delivering results at scale: helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, supporting productivity
What the cotton industry can learn from a Mississippi farmer
Liz Hirshfield, executive director at COTTON USA™ and US Cotton Trust Protocol, and Sledge Taylor, a cotton farmer in Mississippi, talk with Ian Welsh about regenerative agriculture in the US cotton sector. They discuss from the practices Sledge has been using since the 1970s to how COTTON USA™ is building traceability and economic incentives to help other farmers make the transition.
Nestlé Income Accelerator 2026 Annual Progress Report Webinar: Accelerating change at scale
Launched in 2022, the Nestlé Income Accelerator is a family centred approach designed to help close the living income gap for cocoa farming families and reduce child labour risks. The program encourages change at household and farm level and rewards practices that contribute to improved livelihoods, environmental stewardship and community resilience.
During this webinar, Nestlé shared the latest r
Apparel sector net zero: no shortage of ambition
This week: While in New York for this year’s Sustainable Apparel and Textiles USA, Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell spoke with Jimmy Summers, vice-president for EHS and sustainability at Elevate Textiles. They talked about net zero ambitions in the apparel sector and why it’s necessary to get away from the race-to-the-bottom approach that has become the norm.
Plus: World Cup emissions set to so
The myth that's holding frozen food back
Lauren Woodley, head of nutrition and sensory science at Nomad Foods, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how Europe's largest frozen food company balances consumer demand for health, taste and affordability. They discuss from tackling persistent myths about frozen food to navigating the trade-offs in reformulation and segmenting products by their role in the diet.
Innovation beyond compliance: The commercial case for sustainable packaging
Packaging is gaining increasing boardroom attention, driven by extended producer responsibility fees, legal exposure around environmental claims, and rising material costs from recycled content requirements. This webinar explored how these regulatory pressures interact with consumer demand to influence packaging strategy. We looked at how to build a business case that connects sustainable packagin
Weekly podcast – Grid revolution: powering the future
This week: Tanja Lischka, senior director for government affairs at Siemens Energy, talks with Ian Welsh about the power grid evolution required as electrification continues to be rolled out, and the challenges and opportunities this represents.
And, Ian also speaks with Ginny Maceda senior manager for mission and stability at Danone about regenerative agriculture and climate strategy.
Plus: how
The business case for AI in fashion: hit rates, waste and profit
Daniel Di Benedetto, geo lead for northern Europe at Centric Software, talks with Ian Welsh about how predictive intelligence can help the apparel sector reduce waste and improve margins. They discuss from AI-driven trend forecasting and shorter decision cycles to repurposing surplus materials before they reach landfill.
How tariffs impact supply chain decisions
This week: Oritain’s chief product and technology officer Paul Bentham talks with Ian Welsh about some new apparel supply chain intelligence that highlights visibility gaps, and why risk management best practice is evolving from assurance to an evidence-based approach.
Plus: EUDR simplification measures explained, evidence that forests do promote well-being and Indonesia’s tighter state control
Soil as a tool for building climate-resilient supply chains (webinar recording)
Today, soil rarely appears on a balance sheet, a boardroom agenda, or even a climate strategy.
This webinar explored why that needs to change. Drawing on perspectives from leading food companies, we explored how regenerative agriculture is being put into practice, how soil health can become a credible part of climate and brand strategy, and what farmers want from these boardroom discussions.
We di
Weekly podcast – How regenerative agriculture is taking root in US cotton
This week: Ian Welsh speaks with Liz Hershfield, executive director of Cotton USA and the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, and Sledge Taylor, a cotton farmer from Mississippi, about the real-world benefits and challenges of regenerative agriculture in the US cotton sector.
And, global carbon pricing revenues top $107 billion; why circular economy interventions could transform the EU's environmental imp
Why your label choice is a sustainability decision
Monica Gross, ecosystem engagement manager at Avery Dennison, talks with Ian Welsh about the multiple functions of packaging and why labelling is central to all of them – from brand identity and operational efficiency to recyclability and regulatory compliance under PPWR and EPR frameworks. They also discuss connected packaging and the shift from paper to filmic labels.
Weekly podcast – Why perfect is the enemy of good in food reformulation
This week: Lauren Woodley, head of nutrition and sensory science at Nomad Foods, talks with Ian Welsh about how Europe's largest frozen food company balances consumer demand for health, taste and affordability. They discuss from tackling persistent myths about frozen food to navigating the trade-offs in reformulation and segmenting products by their role in the diet.
And, Ian talks with Aidan Davy
Design, waste and scale: breaking the circularity cycle
Eduardo Alvarez, associate director for packaging EMEA at Dow, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about what packaging circularity really means – from designing for recyclability and developing waste-to-feedstock pathways to the challenge of scaling monomaterial solutions. They discuss why collaboration and a willingness to take risk are as important as regulation in accelerating the transiti
Culture as a catalyst: Todd Corley on embedding people-first thinking into Carhartt's sustainability strategy
As sustainability conversations increasingly center on regulation, compliance deadlines and investment in new data systems, something risks getting lost: the need to invest in people who drive the change.
Todd Corley's perspective emphasizes the importance of inspiring and developing individuals across all levels of an organization. Rooted in a career shaping social, philanthropic, sustainability
Weekly podcast – Less waste, better margins: the case for AI in sustainable apparel
Daniel Di Benedetto, geo lead for northern Europe at Centric Software, talks with Ian Welsh about how predictive intelligence can help the apparel sector reduce waste and improve margins.
And, Ian talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about the key themes from the Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference in Amsterdam, including the desire for regulatory certainty, the push for inclusive
The science, the policy and the US food system
Anupama Joshi, vice president of programs at the Center for Science and the Public Interest, talks with Anamya Anurag about the realities on the ground, in comparison to the Make America Healthy Again programme and its policy actions. They uncover contradictions in guidelines, federal inaction and what business can do amid budget cuts.
Weekly podcast – Why hasn’t packaging circularity scaled?
This week: Eduardo Alvarez, a plastics and packaging expert at Dow, talks with Ian Welsh about waste-to-value challenges and the need to move at speed now to stay ahead of upcoming regulation. Cost is clearly a significant barrier, but there are potential solutions to the material problems.
And, at the 2025 Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA Ian spoke about extended producer responsibility
PPWR: why it always comes back to data
Leontien Hasselman-Plugge, CEO of Impact Buying, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how companies are preparing for the EU's packaging and packaging waste regulation. They discuss how PPWR and EPR are forcing internal collaboration across buying, sustainability and finance teams, and why getting packaging data in order before the August deadline is now a matter of financial urgency.
Weekly podcast – What will it take for offshore wind to scale?
This week: Joël Meggelaars, head of regulatory and public affairs for Benelux at Ørsted, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the state of the offshore wind sector in Europe. They discuss from project cancellations and rising capital costs to the role of contracts for difference in restoring the risk-reward balance and enabling offshore wind to scale.
Plus: at the previous future of food
The vicious cycle stopping sustainable fashion, and how it can be broken
Femke Jonkmans, senior innovation associate at Fashion for Good, talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about the Price Parity Toolkit, a financing mechanism designed to break the cycle of high prices and fragmented demands. They discuss how premium decoupling works in practice, supply chain alignment, traceability requirements and how the toolkit is evolving.
Weekly podcast – The label on the box: packaging's latest sustainability lever
This week: Monica Gross, ecosystem engagement manager at Avery Dennison, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the multiple functions of packaging and why labelling is central to all of them. They also discuss connected packaging and the shift from paper to film-based labels.
And, Ian talks with Innovation Forum's Lia Da Giau about how reuse, material innovation and waste management solu
Worker voices: how human rights monitoring can work
At the recent responsible sourcing and ethical trade forum, Thomas Radal, global worker engagement expert at Ulula, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about what effective worker voice platform looks like. They explore how companies can embed it into human rights due diligence, from risk mapping to farm-level monitoring.
What does good packaging R&D actually look like?
Caroline Elms, director, global packaging procurement at snack brands business Pladis Global, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about how companies can bring business functions together to deliver better packaging, why cost remains a core challenge and how this can best be addressed.
Weekly podcast – Make America healthy again: rhetoric versus reality
This week: Anupama Joshi, vice president of programs at the Center for Science and the Public Interest, talks with Innovation Forum's Anamya Anurag about the gap between the Make America Healthy Again movement's goals and its policy actions.
Plus: Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh and Hannah Oborne talk about emerging themes in the food sector, including how sustainability is being reframed around resi
Weekly podcast – Engaging on EU waste regulation? It’s all about the data
Leontien Hasselman-Plugge, CEO of ImpactBuying, talks with Ian Welsh about how companies are preparing for EU plastics waste regulation and why the challenges always seem to be about getting the right data.
And, Ian talks with Innovation Forum’s Lia Da Giau about emerging packaging sector trends and best practices more generally.
Plus: why electrical infrastructure shortfalls may impede data
Regenerative sourcing: Building resilient supply chains through system-level thinking (webinar recording)
Regenerative agriculture practices are proving their potential – delivering healthier soils, stronger farming communities, and more resilient supply chains – but regenerative agriculture isn’t just about improving sustainability scores; it’s about reshaping how supply chains create long-term value.
It’s a system-level approach that builds resilience from farm to brand and helps future-proof raw ma
Weekly podcast – How to scale next generation apparel materials
This week: Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell speaks with Femke Jonkmans, senior innovation associate at Fashion for Good, about some barriers impacting the development of new materials in the apparel sector.
Niamh also speaks with Ian Welsh about natural fibre use and innovation on water impacts in the apparel sector.
And, Nestlé's 410,000 KitKats heist; why language on climate change and busine
Is zero textile waste to landfill really achievable?
Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell talks with Esme Chiverton and Fiona Bretherton from Untouched World about how collaboration can make zero waste ambitions a reality for the apparel sector.
Why due diligence means embedding worker empowerment
This week: Thomas Radal, global worker engagement expert at Ulula, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how worker empowerment programmes can really deliver at scale. Moving beyond traditional audits, they explore how companies can gather direct feedback from workers using accessible technologies.
Plus: Innovation Forum's Ellen Atiyah chats with Liz Hershfield, executive director of COTTO
Why flexible packaging recycling isn’t scaling (yet)
Dana Mosora, senior consultant at CEFLEX, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about the push to make flexible packaging circular in Europe. They explore the key barriers to scaling recycling, from low collection rates and inconsistent quality to weak market demand, and the critical role of policy, particularly the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
Weekly podcast – How food brands can win today’s consumers
This week: highlights summary from a recent food webinar on how consumer expectations are reshaping the food sector. Moderated by Innovation Forum’s Ellen Atiyah, Dorothy Shaver from Unilever, Caroline Reid from Oatly and Griffith Foods’ Alex Skidmore explore how health, price and sustainability priorities differ across generations.
Plus: at the recent sustainable packaging innovation forum, Innov
Can commodity shipping overcome the green premium challenge?
Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill's ocean transport business, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the challenge of decarbonising global shipping. They discuss the role of alternative fuels and why scaling change depends on solving the "green premium" and clearer regulation from the International Maritime Organisation.
Consumers want nutritious, low-impact food: How can innovation deliver at scale?
From a growing focus on health and nutrition, to rising demand for lower-impact food, evolving consumer expectations are reshaping how value is created across the food sector.
This webinar explored how companies are responding to changing consumer demand and utilising innovation to deliver products that meet both sustainability and nutrition expectations. We looked at how organisations are adaptin
Weekly podcast – Can camelina help reshape climate-smart agriculture?
This week: a highlight from the recent webinar organised in partnership with Cargill. Anne Schwagerl from the Minnesota Farmers Union, University of Minnesota's Mitch Hunger and Cargill's Lyle DePauw and Anna Teeter, talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the promise of winter camelina as a climate-smart crop, and the barriers to delivering it at scale.
Plus: In conversion with Ian, Innovati
Why businesses are calling for stronger human rights due diligence
Ian Welsh speaks with Andrew Wallis, co-founder and CEO of Unseen, about the rapid rise of mandatory human rights due diligence and forced labour regulations around the world. They explore how evolving legislation, investor pressure and stronger enforcement are pushing businesses beyond transparency and reporting toward real action to identify and address exploitation in global supply chains.
Weekly podcast – Chasing the final 1% in textile waste
This week: Esme Chiverton and Fiona Bretherton, from Untouched World, talk with Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell about the brand’s drive to achieve zero textile waste to landfill. They discuss how they’re tackling the technical and economic challenge of the final 1% and how local collaboration and transparency are helping.
Plus: Talking with Ian Welsh, Niamh shares some of the key trends in the a
Circular textiles: infrastructure, innovation and collaboration
Karla MaGruder, founder and board chair of Accelerating Circularity, talks with Ian Welsh about scaling textile-to-textile recycling. They explore the system-level changes needed to connect collectors, sorters and recyclers, and the complementary roles of mechanical and chemical recycling. They discuss why collaboration, standardisation and commercial-scale infrastructure are critical to building
Advancing climate-smart crops: R&D driving on-farm change (webinar recording)
As the agriculture sector accelerates toward more resilient systems, the search for climate-smart crops continues to gather pace. Innovation in crop systems is key to unlocking solutions that deliver resilience, productivity, and lower carbon outcomes.
This webinar explores the potential of winter camelina, an oilseed crop advancing through research, innovation, and on-farm trial, as part of a br
Weekly podcast – Why responsible sourcing is good for growth
This week: Andrew Wallis, CEO of Unseen talks with Ian Welsh about the evolving landscape of mandatory human rights due diligence and forced labour legislation. They cover global regulatory developments and discuss the economic, operational and investor-driven benefits of enforcing human rights standards in supply chains.
Plus: Innovation Forum’s Emilia Colman shares emerging trends in responsib
Making tracks: Michelin’s scope 3 progress in action
Kara Fulcher, director of sustainability strategy for Michelin in North America, talks with Ian Welsh about corporate engagement on scope 3 emissions. They discuss the pace of supply chain decarbonisation and Michelin's approach across energy, materials and nature. They also highlight the challenges of making the business case for scope 3 action and how companies can communicate credible progress.
Leading the way for systems change: Helena Helmersson on making sustainability a core business imperative
Few leaders in the apparel and textiles industry bring as much hands-on experience across buying, production and CSR as Helena Helmersson did during her time at H&M Group. Her unique position as the only fashion industry executive to move from CSO to CEO gives her a rare, end-to-end view of how sustainability and commercial strategy intersect at scale.
Helmersson’s long-term vision at H&M
Avoiding double counting in agricultural scope 3
Kendra Tolly, chief product officer at Athian talks with Ian Welsh about how to ensure scope 3 agriculture projects are credible, scalable and defensible. They discuss methodology validation, third-party verification, liability, co-claiming, benefit sharing and the systems needed to prevent double counting while delivering real impact at farm level.
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