Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Battery challenges: can critical mineral value chains meet EU regulation? 29.09.2026 30นาที

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 critical mineral value chains are ready to deliver. Plus: consumer concern about sustainability rises for the first time in three years, according to Bain & Company; dry weather in Côte d'Ivoire threatens cocoa supply; El Niño could push 50 million more people into acute hunger; MacroCycle signs a deal with Meta to fund its first PET recycling plant; and, adaptation finance still trails mitigation despite better ways to measure resilience, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh

Heatwaves, drought and the new risk to food business continuity 28.09.2026 18นาที

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 procurement involvement can support supply chain resilience.

From mine to passport: How can the critical minerals value chain deliver what the next phase of the EU Battery Regulation requires? 24.09.2026 46นาที

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 no longer whether to comply. It is whether compliance is actually possible. The challenge is structural. Miners, processors, traders, manufacturers and buyers all hold different pieces of the data puzzle, with limited incentive to share it and significant barriers to doing so. Meeting the regulation's requirements demands a level of cross-chain coordination that the sector has never achieved at scale. This webinar brought together voices from across the value chain to explore what it will actually take to get there. What we discussed: What the next phase of the EU Battery Regulation requires and where the sector currently falls short The data gaps and coordination challenges that sit between the mine and a compliant battery passport How companies across the value chain are building the systems and partnerships to meet their obligations Where the battery passport creates genuine supply chain value beyond compliance

Weekly podcast – Key commodities at risk: the impacts of super El Niño on food supply 22.09.2026 19นาที

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 emissions set to fall in 2026 amid Hormuz crisis; PaperFlex consortium launched for paper-based packaging; Avantium and Klöckner Pentaplast partner on plant-based polymer; and, plastic pollution costs Vietnamese fishers a fifth of revenue, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh Join Risilience, Innovation Forum and industry peers in London on 20 October to explore how market leaders are leveraging advanced analytics to translate complex climate and nature risks into the metrics that matter most: ROI, capital allocation, and value protection. Register your interest here.

Why suppliers are building a second product: data 22.09.2026 16นาที

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 discuss what it revealed including how a 'sustainability premium' is really just an unfunded cost shift. They also talk about how suppliers are now managing a second product that is compliance data, with no shared system to plug into.

Weekly podcast – How yield buffering works, and why it matters 15.09.2026 39นาที

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 rising among farmers but few willing to pay for it; Spain calls for an EU-wide climate adaptation fund funded by a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies; and, the Philippines opens up 9 million hectares for critical minerals exploration, raising concerns for indigenous land rights, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh

The 80% packaging recycling rate nobody expected 15.09.2026 18นาที

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 Matt will be at the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA on 27-28 October in Chicago. Click here to continue the conversation in-person.

Weekly podcast – Can apparel brands ever understand supplier challenges? 08.09.2026 20นาที

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 productive relationships can look like. Plus: Amazon deforestation slows, again; New Zealand’s modern slavery regulation on track; and, who pays for climate change impacts, including Nepal’s catastrophic flooding, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh

58% aligned: what happens when a brand audits its own circularity claims 08.09.2026 9นาที

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 01.09.2026 22นาที

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 little measurable forest benefit from corporate zero-deforestation pledges; a Vietnamese cocoa processor turns waste pods into biochar and clean energy, halving drying time; and, Egypt develops a $278 million project to turn sugarcane waste into bioethanol, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Diana Kim Click here for more information on the Climate Resilience Innovation Forum (2-3 December 2026, New York City).

The QR code is the easy part: what digital product passports really demand 01.09.2026 20นาที

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 brand can support resale, repair and other circular business models later.

Weekly podcast – Recycling is working better than you think 25.08.2026 24นาที

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 testing. Plus: West Africa's cocoa sector struggles to meet incoming EU deforestation rules; scientists and the timber industry clash over proposed changes to the GHG Protocol's forest carbon accounting; agrofuel production is squeezing food security in northern South America; and, the US pushes for exemptions from the EU's CSRD and CSDDD, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Diana Kim Secure your place to meet in Chicago for the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA (October 27-28, 2026).

When compliance and sustainability blur, suppliers pay the price 25.08.2026 10นาที

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 themselves.

Weekly podcast – The critical minerals project finance challenge 18.08.2026 30นาที

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’s electric grid ongoing fragility; seep IP protection tightened in China; land restoration focus at UN desertification COP; and, big brand cotton from Brazil linked with forced labour, in the news digest. If you want to listen to the full critical minerals webinar, click here.

Living wages: why measurement isn't the same as progress 18.08.2026 8นาที

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 rather than closing them. They also discuss what it will take to build the trust needed for suppliers to share real costing data.

Weekly podcast: What drives circularity in apparel and packaging? 11.08.2026 24นาที

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. Plus: UK's continued success in cutting single-use plastic bags, EU digital product passport roll-out continues, why off-shore wind farms could help develop new aquatic food supply chains, and new palm oil finance links with deforestation, in the news digest with Babette Pages. Host: Ian Welsh

Farming's income problem: why one technology won't fix it 11.08.2026 9นาที

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 single technology can substitute for a crop-by-crop, farmer-led approach.

Weekly podcast – Digital product passports: from voluntary pilot to mandatory infrastructure 04.08.2026 27นาที

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-tonne microfibre problem; integrated project delivery reshapes critical minerals financing; Japan backs Namibian rare earth project; and, China accelerates green energy financing amid Iran-driven oil disruption, in the news digest with Babette Pagès.Host: Ian Welsh

Beyond the checkbox: why forced labour hides in plain sight 04.08.2026 16นาที

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 bans. They also talk about what Verité's three decades of workplace assessments reveal about how forced labour actually shows up in garment and coffee supply chains.

Weekly podcast – Why top-down sustainability guidance doesn't work for suppliers 28.07.2026 15นาที

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 unsold apparel under ESPR; Amazon deforestation falls to its lowest level since monitoring began in 1985; consumers shift away from polyester towards natural fibres; and, eight global fashion capitals launch coalition to share sustainability best practice, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh