Sustainable Business Podcast by Innovation Forum

Hosted by Innovation Forum

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Episodes

999

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Innovation Forum hosts a weekly podcast along with regular interviews with business leaders in sustainability. Each week, we summarise the latest sustainability news and announcements, and get the views of leading experts on business critical issues. Widely regarded as one of the best sustainability podcasts around, stay tuned for regular insights, debate and analysis.

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60 recent

November 3, 2026Episode 125518 min

Why private capital is missing from nature finance

James Stokes, director of business development at Lestari Capital, talks with Innovation Forum’s Ian Welsh about why private capital remains a small share of nature finance. They discuss UNEP findings that around 30 times more money flows into activities harming nature than protecting it, with roughly 90% of nature-positive funding still coming from public sources. They also explore how consistent measurement and a positive return on investment case could put nature on a par with other asset classes.

November 3, 2026Episode 125427 min

Back from bankruptcy: can MUD Jeans make circular denim pay?

This week: Bert van Son, founder of MUD Jeans, talks with Innovation Forum’s Niamh Campbell, portfolio lead for apparel and textiles, about relaunching the circular denim brand under new owners weeks after it went bankrupt. They discuss why MUD is now putting profitability ahead of growth, and a planned deposit scheme that would let customers reclaim money on their jeans a decade after buying them. Plus: AI data centres could cancel out 15 years of US power sector emissions cuts; Norway debates the rise of data centres; Lego switches to e-methanol for more than 90 elements; heat stress harms garment workers supplying global brands in Pakistan; and, insects’ long history in human diets, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh Find out more about the 2027 Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Forum, 21-22 April in Amsterdam .

October 27, 2026Episode 125331 min

What Lula’s fourth term means for deforestation in Brazil

This week: Mauricio Voivodic, executive director of WWF Brazil, talks with Innovation Forum’s Tanya Richard immediately after Lula da Silva’s re-election. They discuss what a fourth term means for deforestation and the zero deforestation target, the outlook for soy and beef supply chains, and the concerns raised by the new Congress. Plus: Heske Verberg, managing director of Solidaridad Europe, on turning scope 3 commitments into action, and Hanna Halmari on Innovation Forum’s 2027 events. And, emissions must fall 6% a year to reverse overshoot; Shein outscores Australian retailers in ethics report; and, $10 million for renewable agriculture startups, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh Check out all of our 2027 conferences here.

October 20, 2026Episode 125248 min

Scope 3 in cosmetics: what “good enough” data actually means

Tori Hoffmeister of Colgate-Palmolive, Matthias Maase of BASF, Francesco Davila Alotto of Givaudan and Alexandra Florea of Medik8 talk with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about how the cosmetics and personal care sector is tackling scope 3 emissions. They discuss why full life-cycle assessments aren’t always necessary to make progress, how mass balance accounting is becoming a more workable path to real reductions, and why BASF estimates a 24 million tonne gap between its customers’ near-term targets and where they currently stand.

October 20, 2026Episode 125119 min

Value chain costs: share the data, share the risks

This week: Pia Lindqvist, head of supplier sustainability, raw material procurement at Finish metals business Outokumpu, talks with Ian Welsh at the Critical Mineral Innovation Forum in London. They discuss how upstream value chain due diligence checkpoints can help transparency and ease audit fatigue. Plus: Ian talks with Hanna Halmari, Innovation Forum’s head of conferences, about the key trends in packaging, from compliance under PPWR's incomplete framework, alongside the impact of EPR’s roll out, to the contrast between refill and reuse models in Europe and recycling-led innovation in the US. And, banks funding deforestation risks continue; priorities for European competitiveness to 2040; a UN programme to cut harmful pesticides and farm plastics expands to 15 countries; car battery supply chains linked to deforestation in Indonesia; and, waste app Too Good To Go expands beyond food, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh For more information about the 2027 Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum in Amsterdam, click here . For last minute details of the conference in Chicago on October 27th-28th click here .

October 14, 2026Episode 125046 min

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 how to prioritise action. This webinar unpacked what 'product footprinting at scale' really means in practice: how companies are overcoming data and methodology challenges, how different sectors are approaching standard-setting and data exchange, and what business value organisations are unlocking in moving from pilot programmes to enterprise-wide implementation. We discussed: How evolving product footprint frameworks and customer requirements are reshaping expectations for teams in sustainability, product, and procurement The practical bottlenecks: navigating uncertainty, making the business case, and systematising and scaling product-level emissions data and tools What’s needed in terms of governance, tools, and internal alignment to move from LCA and PCF pilots to portfolio‑wide implementation How companies are turning product-level emissions data into action – from PCF, and Scope 3 decarbonisation to regulatory readiness and product innovation.

October 12, 2026Episode 124913 min

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.

October 12, 2026Episode 124826 min

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 systems exploit more workers than any other sector globally; PepsiCo's farmers protect its potato supply; major fashion coalition to fund textile waste management in Ghana; and, Australia’s high court blocks coal mine expansion, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh

October 6, 2026Episode 124735 min

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 how the personal care sector is focusing on supply chain scope 3 emissions. Plus: critical minerals’ governance gaps; Türkiye’s climate COP31 ambitions; recycled polyester commitments from Primark; and, new UK food waste standards, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh For the full scope 3 webinar recording click here .

October 6, 2026Episode 124634 min

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 catalyst for scaling beyond pilot projects.