A regular blog about (un) sustainable business. A focus on practical stuff, not blue sky pretentious waffle. Around 6000 regular readers, surprisingly.
As the palm oil industry in Africa continues its expansion, how can companies operate in ways which both address local realities and ensure companies meet international compliance and ethical standards? Leading palm oil companies are very keen to do the right thing in Africa as elsewhere, in-line with their stated values, operating practices and the…
The Economist cover this week is titled “Deathwatch for the Amazon”. You may imagine what it says. For example: “In the tropics, which contain half of the world’s forest biomass, tree-cover loss has accelerated by two-thirds since 2015; if it were a country, the shrinkage would make the tropical rainforest the world’s third-biggest carbon-dioxide emitter,…
The Chain Reaction Research newsletter, published by Climate Advisors, recently highlighted deforestation as a financial risk. Their recent note makes for interesting and useful reading: The Chain: Deforestation as a Climate Risk for Investors Here’s a few choice excerpts which include some helpful framing numbers: “Approximately 70 percent of deforestation is connected to agricultural commodity…
The New York Times reports that: Citrus Farmers Facing Deadly Bacteria Turn to Antibiotics, Alarming Health Officials In its decision to approve two drugs for orange and grapefruit trees, the E.P.A. largely ignored objections from the C.D.C. and the F.D.A., which fear that expanding their use in cash crops could fuel antibiotic resistance in humans….
We’ve shifted over to our new website at Innovation Forum. It’s much easier to find your way around now. Check it out here. Now, you can browse and listen/read by a number of categories. For example: If you want to delve into some business innovation analysis, go here. But if its brand and other expert…
This is a key question for the future of food, some materials and even some fuels. According to at least one academic journal, the term is ill-defined, and lacks accepted guidelines. The recent Sainsbury’s funded report, on the future of food, quoted in the Guardian, claims that: “Jellyfish suppers washed down with algae milk and…
There’s no substitute to working closely with farmers on-the-ground for real and effective transformation in agriculture, argues Chris Wille Many well-intended companies will not meet their 2020 zero-deforestation targets. The cattle agreement and soy moratorium in Brazil, which were already porous, may be upended by the election of Jair Balsonaro. The Cerrado manifesto likely will…
After our recent modern slavery conference in London, I and the team decamped to Amsterdam last week for our sustainable apparel and textiles conference at the Planetarium. It’s a lovely venue. It’s not often you speak on a conference session and a heron flies past the window, as Alison Ward from Cotton Connect, who sponsored the…
I saw this excellent piece when it came out a few months back, and then forgot to mention it on the blog, as I should have. The stats and facts here were debated at our Sustainable Landscapes conference in early November in London, of course. But it’s worth putting this here on the blog, for…
From the recent Innovation Forum newsletter, written and edited by professional writers and editors with long experience in sustainability. There is huge potential value in transforming agriculture production, but more companies need to start developing climate-resilience now The recent EAT-Lancet review of the global food system has been widely welcomed. By connecting, for the first…
Toby Shillito, CEO of Sunshine Labs, a provider of legal Cannabis flowers and derivatives based in Europe, reflects on what it will take to make cannabis sustainable, as well as legal Prohibition has prevented the normal growth of corporate social responsibility issues in the Cannabis industry. With prohibition in retreat, there are emerging opportunities for…
I know I know, it’s the festive season, so who wants to get bogged down with serious sustainability stuff? But I know many of you, like me, get bored of less important things after a few days rest, and want to read more about our favourite subject, how to make the world (more) sustainable. So…
A couple of weeks ago we held our first sustainable landscapes conference in London. It was a combination of conferences and a culmination of four years work in some ways. We merged our smallholders, deforestation and elements of our agriculture conferences together and somehow it worked. Huge thanks to our many sponsors and supporters of…
A few months back, I facilitated a session with Goetz in Accra, Ghana, at the TFA 2020 conference, on rural sustainability initiatives that will scale. It was a fascinating 45 minutes or so, and his company, *Golden-Agri Resources, seems to me to be leading the way, with a few others, in this area. The evolution in…
Following my previous posts: “The ten most important issues in…business and plastic pollution/innovation“ and “The 13 most important issues in…business, modern slavery, forced labour and human rights” let’s move on to the topic of sustainable commodities sourcing and landscape approaches to sustainability. So here’s what our research came up with as some of the key issues…
I'm Toby Webb, founder of Innovation Forum, a sustainability focused research, publishing and events business. I've also been a lecturer on Corporate Responsibility at Kings College London and at Birkbeck, University of London for eight years. I work with large companies all over the world and sit on the sustainability advisory board for Walgreens Boots Alliance. From 2006-9 I lead the development of UK CSR policy, resulting in the Responsibility Deals framework. I can be contacted at Tobias DOT Webb AT innovation-forum.co.uk
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