Let’s Talk Sustainable Business

As Season Six draws to a close, the Conference Board's ESG Center Leader Anuj Saush joins host Barbara Mendes-Jorge to discuss the lessons learned and insights gained from our guests in this series. This season focused on a range of topics - including cities, circular economy, plastics, food, nature and e-waste - and our guests provided a lot of helpful advice for listeners. We'd like to thank our guests who contributed their time and expertise: Kruti Munot, Kara Fulcher, Marco Jansen, Marie Brueser, Sebastian Leape, Kenny McGee and Mel Blackmore.

Mel Blackmore is Founder & CEO of two companies: Blackmores (UK), an ISO Standards consultancy offering support with Integrated Management Systems implementation in Europe and Carbonology Ltd, which provides training and verification services in the carbon standards sector. Shealso hosts 'The ISO Show podcast', which aims to dispel myths and share tips for businesses to succeed with ISO Standards by asking business leaders to share their journeys. In the second part of our conversation, we discuss how attitudes to ISO Standards' adoption have changed over the years, the variety of clients Mel works with - "all kinds of businesses, from small start-ups to multinational corporations"- and how UK and EU policy has facilitated ISO Standards' adoption.

Mel Blackmore is Founder & CEO of two companies: Blackmores (UK), an ISO Standards consultancy offering support with Integrated Management Systems implementation in Europe and Carbonology Ltd, which provides training and verification services in the carbon standards sector. She also hosts 'The ISO Show podcast', which aims to dispel myths and share tips for businesses to succeed with ISO Standards by asking business leaders to share their journeys. In this episode, we discuss Mel's background in quality management and her inspiration to start two companies, the crucial role she feels ISO Standards play in a company's sustainability journey, and why she decided to create a separate company, Carbonology, to provide companies with assurance for carbon emissions.

Kenny McGee is Founder & CEO of Component Sense, a company which focuses on the redistribution of excess and obsolete electronic components and whose motto is to "empower sustainability in electronic manufacturing." In this episode, we discuss the EU's circular economy plan and its relation to e-waste, as well as other EU policy areas such as WEEE and RoHS, the advice Kenny would give to consumers and companies looking to reduce their e-waste footprint, as well as what he feels are the most important changes that need to happen to make the electronics sector more sustainable.

Kenny McGee is Founder & CEO of Component Sense, a company which focuses on the redistribution of excess and obsolete electronic components and whose motto is to "empower sustainability in electronic manufacturing." In this episode, we discuss the current state of the e-waste market, Component Sense's 'Electronic Waste Manifesto' and what he thinks stakeholders need to do to scale up e-waste solutions.

Sebastian Leape is the CEO of Natcap, a UK-based nature intelligence company. In the second part of our conversation, we discuss the evolution of the EU sustainability legislation landscape, how companies should report on issues such as pollution and biodiversity, and how Natcap helps businesses access nature-based data insights.

Sebastian Leape is the CEO of Natcap, a UK-based nature intelligence company which helps businesses measure, report and act on their nature-related impacts and dependencies. In this episode, we discuss why "nature intelligence should be integrated into business decisions", the role collaboration can play in helping companies develop a nature-based strategy, and why Sebastian decided to focus his career on nature-based solutions.

In this special crossover episode of Let's Talk Sustainable Business and Let's Talk Global Business, hosts Sara Murray and Barbara Mendez-Jorge delves into the complexities of ESG reporting with The Conference Board's Anuj Saush and Andrew Jones. The conversation highlights the challenges of managing complex ESG data, the role of ESG controllers, and the cultural differences in ESG adoption between the US and Europe. 

Marie Brueser is Senior Corporate Venture Manager at EIT Food, an organisation co-founded by the European Commission which is focused on driving innovation in the food and agricultural sectors. In the second part of our conversation, she outlines the EU's 'Farm to Fork Strategy', discusses how companies and policymakers can use EIT Food's Consumer Observatory as a database full of consumer insights, and talks about how food is at the heart of so many UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Marie Brueser is Senior Corporate Venture Manager at EIT Food, an organisation co-founded by the European Commission which is focused on driving innovation in the food and agricultural sectors. In this episode, we discuss EIT Food's focus areas, 'Healthier Lives Through Food', 'Net Zero Food System' and 'Reducing Risk for a Fair and Resilient Food System', Marie's work connecting start-ups with bigger corporates to help scale up solutions, and the impact EU policy is having on companies' approach to sustainability.