Let's Talk Sustainable Business artwork

Let's Talk Sustainable Business

65 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago -

Let’s Talk Sustainable Business is a solutions-focused podcast which explores sustainability through a business lens. Expect to learn from leaders of global corporates and start up founders about sustainable business models and solutions. The podcast aims to help businesses of all sizes move closer to their sustainability goals by sharing actionable insights from industry leaders.

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Episodes

S5E10 - Reimagining an Industry Value Chain

March 21, 2024 11:25 - 20 minutes - 27.7 MB

Mari Granström from Origin by Ocean talks about scaling up and reimagining an algae processing value chain, how she feels about EU and global climate and oceans policy, developing collaborative partnerships, and the advice she would give to anyone thinking of setting up a company with a bio-based focus.

S5E9 - Transforming Harmful Algae Into Everyday Goods

March 07, 2024 09:40 - 20 minutes - 27.9 MB

Mari Granström is the CEO and Founder of Origin by Ocean, a Finnish start-up building a business ecosystem based on farmed and harvested algae, which is turned into ingredients used in the production of everyday consumer goods including in food, cosmetics, detergents, agriculture, textiles and packaging. In this episode we discuss why Mari decided to focus on the processed algae market, how Origin by Ocean uses biorefinery technology to tackle the problem of marine eutrophication and the com...

S5E8 - EU Greenwashing Legislation's Impact on Companies

February 12, 2024 10:12 - 26 minutes - 35.8 MB

The European Commission's Małgorzata Gołębiewska talks about how the EU Green Claims Directive aims to "level the playing field" for companies, the recent amendment to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the important role independent verification will play in the future, and also answers a question she often receives - what will the cost be for companies needing to adhere to the EU Green Claims Directive?

S5E7 - The EU Green Claims Directive: Tackling Greenwashing

February 08, 2024 10:17 - 17 minutes - 23.7 MB

Małgorzata Gołębiewska is Team Leader for Environmental Footprint & Green Claims, DG Environment, at the European Commission. She leads the preparation and negotiation for the EU Green Claims Directive, a proposal to help combat greenwashing which sets out requirements on how to substantiate environmental claims and introduces rules on environmental labelling schemes. In this episode, we discuss the extent of greenwashing in the EU, how important it is to rebuild consumer trust and help cons...

S5E6 - How to meaningfully communicate about sustainability

January 25, 2024 09:00 - 26 minutes - 36.7 MB

Radley Yeldar's Louise Ayling talks about how reporting standards such as the ESRS can help bridge the 'communications gap' prevalent in sustainability and how they provide an opportunity for companies to talk about their impact in a more transparent and compelling manner. We also discuss some of our favourite sustainability communications campaigns and whether 'greenwashing' remains a useful term.

S5E5 - Making Sustainability Communications More Credible

January 12, 2024 10:00 - 20 minutes - 28.6 MB

Louise Ayling is Director of Sustainability and a board member at Radley Yeldar, a creative consultancy specialising in brand, corporate and sustainability communications. In this episode, Louise talks in-depth about Radley Yeldar's practical guide 'Words that Work: Effective Language in Sustainability Communications", which reviewed the sustainability webpages from 50 of Forbes' '100 most valuable brands' and compared their communications style with ten leading 'sustainable brands'. We dis...

S5E4 - Raising awareness of greenwashing, advocating for change

December 14, 2023 09:00 - 22 minutes - 30.2 MB

Eco-Age's George Harding-Rolls talks about the greenwash.com website he helped set up and its aim to help consumers better identify greenwashing. We also discuss whether companies should become advocates for legislative change in sustainability to "change the rules of the game", rather than focus too much on creating "the perfect green product".

S5E3 - How greenwashing can impact your company's reputation

November 30, 2023 14:09 - 22 minutes - 31.4 MB

Experienced corporate campaigner and sustainability professional George Harding-Rolls is Fossil Fuel Fashion Campaign Lead and Director of Policy & Advocacy at Eco-Age, having previously worked on Fashion, Plastics & Circular Economy at the Changing Markets Foundation. In this episode, George joins host Bárbara Mendes-Jorge to discuss the need for improved greenwashing regulation, whether greenwashing should be seen as anti-competitive and how important it is for different departments with...

S5E2 - Developments in EU ESG Reporting

November 16, 2023 10:03 - 20 minutes - 27.9 MB

The Climate Fund's Managing Director Marilyn Waite talks about the European Commission's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the related European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and how this will impact companies with more than 50,000 employees on sustainability reporting. Marilyn also talks about her book 'Sustainability at Work: Careers that Make a Difference' and outlines how individuals can balance having a successful career with a more sustainable professi...

S5E1 - What is ESG and why should companies prioritise it?

November 02, 2023 12:31 - 21 minutes - 29.4 MB

Sustainable finance and investment expert Marilyn Waite leads The Climate Finance Fund, a philanthropic platform which helps mobilize capital for climate solutions, focusing on capital domiciled in the US, Europe and China.   In this episode, Marilyn sits down with host Bárbara Mendes-Jorge to talk about how the ESG sector is developing, what regulators should consider when designing climate-friendly policies and the importance of addressing the intersections of justice, equity, diversit...

S5EO - Teaser

October 31, 2023 12:35 - 3 minutes - 5.39 MB

ESG Center Leader Anuj Saush introduces the new host of ESG-focused Season 5: Brussels-based sustainability communications expert Bárbara Mendes-Jorge.  The ESG Center continues to experience remarkable expansion as companies are increasingly interested in prioritising corporate responsibility and integrating ESG strategies within their organizations.  This season provides advice on how companies can prioritise ESG and avoid greenwashing, helps demystify and break down confusing sustai...

Building Effective Corporate Sustainability Strategies

September 28, 2023 08:40 - 12 minutes - 17.6 MB

For the last episode of Season 4, guest host Claudia Lee reflects on the key insights she learnt from her guests about how to implement and execute corporate sustainability strategies effectively. The episode is broken down into two parts 1) building a strategy 2) implementing and executing the strategy.  Special thanks to our guests this season, including: Agrosustain, Xampla, Lush, Ikea, Maersk and Danone  Note: Maersk accelerated their goal to reach net-zero by 2050 by a decade. The...

Danone’s Sustainability Strategy

September 07, 2023 07:46 - 19 minutes - 26.4 MB

In this episode, Danone’s Vice President of Public Affairs and Regenerative Agriculture Policy, Chris Adamo, shares examples of the firm’s sustainability strategy in practice. We get insights on their keystone regenerative agriculture program and how Danone works with dairy farmers to track and mitigate climate impact. We also hear about the firm’s efforts to reduce GHG in their operations via their Methane emissions initiative. 

Danone: The Three Key Pillars of its Impact Journey

August 30, 2023 09:16 - 35 minutes - 48.6 MB

During this episode, Claudia speaks to Chris Adamo, Danone’s Vice President of Public Affairs and Regenerative Agriculture Policy. Danone is a multi-national food corporation headquartered in Paris. The firm’s North American branch recently became one of the largest certified b-corps in the world. Chris shares the three key pillars of Danone’s impact journey. This includes the firm’s sustainable business operations, its vision of nutrition and health and how they collaborate with value cha...

Maersk - How Sustainability Can Drive Strategic Value

August 10, 2023 09:36 - 21 minutes - 30.1 MB

Head of Corporate Sustainability & ESG at A.P Moller-Maersk Lene Serpa discusses how sustainability is ingrained into the shipping firm’s business model. She talks about how to implement an ESG strategy that ensures accountability and shared vision in their 95,000-employee strong company. Lene also reveals key insights learnt as a sustainability leader, including how risk, responsibility and opportunity can be balanced to create strategic value.

Maersk - How to Decarbonize the Shipping Industry

July 27, 2023 10:51 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Lene Serpa, Head of Corporate Sustainability & ESG at A.P Moller-Maersk. Lene breaks down Maersk’s plan to reach net-zero by 2040, explaining how the firm can decarbonize shipping by leveraging tech and offering low-carbon solutions to clients. Their conversation covers green fuel use-cases in the shipping industry and the importance of a global carbon price for the shipping industry.

IKEA - Becoming Climate Positive and Circular by 2030

June 29, 2023 08:17 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MB

In this episode, Claudia continues her conversation with Karen Pflug, the Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Ingka Group. She discusses Ikea’s goal to reach zero-emission deliveries by 2025. She also highlights their efforts to bridge consumers’ ‘worry-to-action’ gap through pop-ups, take-back schemes and education. As CSO, Pflug offers some valuable advice to sustainability leaders on the same journey, reminding leaders to act with ‘optimism, driven by action and empowerment’. Rele...

IKEA - Selling ‘Democratic Design’

June 15, 2023 07:59 - 36 minutes - 50.5 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Karen Pflug, the Group Chief Sustainability Officer at Ingka Group. Karen introduces Ikea’s People and Planet Positive Strategy and shares how it’s implemented throughout the company. She highlights Ikea’s ‘democratic design principles’, plus how traceability is observed in the value chain. Pflug also discusses their transition to renewable energy and the plan to become fully renewable by 2030. Relevant links: Sustainability | Ingka Group Clima...

LUSH - What Do Regenerative Business Models Look Like?

June 06, 2023 07:42 - 24 minutes - 33 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Ruth Andrade, who leads the Giving, Regenerative Impact and Organizational Development team at LUSH. Ruth shares LUSH’s regenerative business model via three case studies:  Sumatra Patchouli Project  Bring Back Scheme  The Cork Pot project

LUSH - Building a 'Giving Strategy'

May 17, 2023 08:43 - 29 minutes - 40.6 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Ruth Andrade, who leads the Giving, Regenerative Impact and Organizational Development team at LUSH. Ruth breaks down the ‘giving strategy’ at LUSH, which includes change campaigns and grassroots initiatives. She also shares key pieces of advice for businesses wanting to transition to a regenerative supply chain.

Xampla - Disrupting the plastics industry

April 27, 2023 12:45 - 31 minutes - 42.9 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Simon Hombersley,  CEO of Xampla, a company that has developed natural alternatives to single-use plastics. Simon tells us about the importance of reaching price parity with traditional plastics, minimizing negative externalities and why business and policy are critical to achieving net-zero.

Xampla - Taking inspiration from the natural world

April 13, 2023 11:47 - 33 minutes - 45.5 MB

In this episode, Claudia Lee sits down with Simon Hombersley, CEO of Xampla, a company that has developed natural alternatives to single-use plastics. Simon shares Xampla’s mission, the lengthy R&D process and the product’s versatile applications.

Agrosustain - The Science Behind the Product

March 30, 2023 13:00 - 23 minutes - 32.4 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Olga Dubey, co-founder of Agrosustain, a company that manufactures natural coatings that can extend the shelf life of fresh produce. Olga explains the science behind Agrosustain's key product - ‘breathable’ coating that can be sprayed onto crops after harvest to keep crops fresh for longer.  The founder also shares challenges in R&D and certification that the startup has faced. 

Agrosustain - The Journey and Challenges so far

March 09, 2023 10:30 - 28 minutes - 39.5 MB

In this episode, Claudia speaks to Olga Dubey, co-founder of Agrosustain, a company that manufactures natural coatings that can extend the shelf life of fresh produce. Olga explains the key challenges behind commercial farming and food supply chains. She also discusses the process of developing the product  and launching Agrosustain. 

Season 4 Trailer

March 07, 2023 14:26 - 1 minute - 5.34 MB

Introducing a special season of Let’s Talk Sustainable Business with host Claudia Lee, Sustainability and Governance Research Fellow at The Conference Board. Every week Claudia will speak to guests from global corporates and SMEs about how they integrate sustainability into their business models and company values. Tune in to the series upcoming episodes. 

Just Transition: A Challenge for Sasol, Africa and Beyond

November 30, 2022 09:40 - 29 minutes - 40.7 MB

Shamini Harrington Vice President: Climate Change at Sasol and Presidential Climate Change Commissioner for South Africa in discussion with Uwe Schulte explains what the challenges managing for a Just Transition imply. Moving away from the fossil fuel base requires helping employees to make the transition to new jobs by skills and capability building, working with suppliers to help them to adjust their business model to the renewable energy conditions and more. Shamini explains how Sasol is ...

Transformation of a Coal Based Company: Sasol

October 25, 2022 12:24 - 29 minutes - 39.9 MB

Shamini Harrington Vice President: Climate Change at Sasol in conversation with Uwe Schulte explains how a fossil-fuel based company plans to do their part towards the goals of the Paris agreement. Shamini explains how they are going to use their technology know-how to use sustainable sources of carbon and hydrogen to produce for example sustainable aviation fuel in the future. She shares the uncertainties of the technological transition and how the company plans keep option open by working ...

Net-Zero – From Ambition to Action

October 12, 2022 06:41 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MB

Jacob A. Sterling, senior director and head of ocean decarbonisation and innovation at A.P. Moller-Maersk joins Uwe Schulte to discuss the existing challenge of converting sea freight from fossil fuels to e.g., green methanol, and how this fuel choice provides the necessary flexibility. They explore why without having secured the supply, yet Maersk has chosen to go ahead with ordering 12 new vessels running on green fuel. Together they explore what it takes to become a leader in the field of...

Decarbonising Container Transport - Maersk's Journey

September 28, 2022 08:46 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MB

Jacob A. Sterling, senior director and head of ocean decarbonisation and innovation at A.P. Moller-Maersk, shares his experience of moving from an NGO, the WWF Denmark, to work for a multinational company. He explains their ambitions for sustainability, and how being family owned, and implicitly looking for a basis for a long-term striving existence has helped the organization decide to take the risk of changing the business to net-zero by 2040.

Value Chain Collaboration for Sustainability – Bayer’s approach

September 01, 2022 11:58 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB

In this episode Thomas Udesen, Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer, explains how Bayer Procurement is supporting the company’s sustainability efforts.  Small hold farmers are an important partner for Bayer and the procurement team has developed an engagement process to help farmers to adopt sustainable farming methods. Another important issue is the reduction of Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. As for many companies 80% of the total GHG comes from scope 3 emissions. Bayer has started...

Minerals for Sustainable Solutions – what can be achieved?

July 13, 2022 09:47 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MB

Continuing the conversation Cyril Giraud, Senior Vice President Performance Minerals, APAC gives examples of minerals helping customers to improve their sustainability performance. Imerys is for example providing a coating for paper to replace laminating with Polyethylene film and making products recyclable. IMERYS is also providing vital components for batteries for electric vehicles in form for example of graphite improving conductivity. He explains how they achieve externally audited life...

Sustainable Mining and the Biodiversity Challenge

June 29, 2022 09:14 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MB

Cyril Giraud, Senior Vice President Performance Minerals, APAC at Imerys in conversation with Uwe G. Schulte explains how IMERYS is approaching the consequences of their impact by quarrying. They approach it in three phases preparation, exploitation, and rehabilitation with minimizing biodiversity losses at every stage. Imerys is engaging with external partners to join forces for ecosystem restoration.

Supporting a Sustainable Transition - Talking to the CPO of Bayer

June 13, 2022 13:04 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MB

Thomas Udesen, Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer talks about the role of procurement in the large merger / demerger transition Bayer went through in the last years.  

Sustainable Packaging – How can it be done?

May 06, 2022 09:39 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MB

In this episode Ken Bowles, Chief Financial Officer at Smurfit Kappa Group talks to Uwe Schulte about collaborating for Sustainability. Ken explains several amazing achievements e.g., replacing polystyrene in thermal packaging and helping customer to reduce their carbon footprint significantly. As a CFO Ken is convinced that companies not addressing the social aspects of ESG inside their own operation and their extended value chain, will face serious stakeholder (customers, communities etc.)...

Circular Business Model in the Packaging Industry - Talking to the CFO of Smurfit Kappa

April 11, 2022 11:10 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MB

Ken Bowles, Chief Financial Officer at Smurfit Kappa Group in conversation with Uwe Schulte explains how Smurfit Kappa can provide all their packaging solutions with 75 % recycled material content. Ken expands how the virgin fibre material required for the reliable strength of the packaging is coming from sustainable forestry. Safeguarding biodiversity and the care for the well being of local communities are important aspects of the overall Sustainability programme. The significant growth of ...

Ocean Plastic – What steps can companies take?

October 20, 2021 07:33 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MB

Guest speaker, Chever Voltmer, Plastics Initiative Director for Ocean Conservancy continues discussing the ocean pollution challenge, especially that of plastic waste contamination. She explains that the first approach we all should take is to avoid using and make sure that we recycle plastic. Building a good recycling structure and aiming for circularity are actions that companies can play an important role in. Chever, discusses how they help corporations to engage with the vast global reso...

The Threats To Our Oceans

October 06, 2021 10:37 - 28 minutes - 26 MB

Chever Voltmer, Plastics Initiative Director for Ocean Conservancy joins Uwe Schulte to explore the organization’s extensive activities to fight negative influences threatening the ocean’s ability to stabilise climate change and support marine life. Chever, discusses their annual Ocean Clean-up efforts and the useful database ‘Tides’ which has resulted from these initiatives. Sustainable fishing and the negative effects of ocean acidification are topics discussed as well as the looming threa...

Shell Scenarios: Energy Transition Implications for Business

September 22, 2021 07:16 - 31 minutes - 29.3 MB

Continuing the discussion with Uwe Schulte, David Hone, Chief Climate Change Adviser at Shell, now describes the implications of the three climate change scenarios. They discuss the need to find alternative pathways out of the global economy’s heavy dependency on fossil resources as well as the timing challenges involved. David expresses the need not just for the oil and gas industry to change but for all business sectors. The changes required cannot be limited to just the types of energy pu...

Shell’s Analysis of Climate Change Scenarios

September 08, 2021 07:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MB

In this podcast David Hone, Chief Climate Change Adviser at Shell explains the principles of Scenario Analysis Methodology and how this can help businesses prepare for the future. The Pandemic has caused major disruptions, the Shell Scenario Team have analysed three pathways out of this crisis and their implications on climate. Waves: Countries focus on repairing the economy –with an emphasis on immediate recovery and return to status quo.  Islands:Countries focus on the near-term recover...

Why does it make Business Sense to drive Social Innovation?

July 14, 2021 08:00 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MB

Following on from her previous conversation with Uwe Schulte, Kim Dabbs, Global Director Social Innovation at Steelcase explores how the company is profiting from the multitude of social innovation projects they are currently running both in the mid and longer term. All employees have a right to participate and suggest initiatives. Driving communal education improvement projects and equity initiatives, helps to improve the skills and competencies of future employees. Internal employee engage...

What is Social Innovation?

June 30, 2021 09:06 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MB

In this podcast, Kim Dabbs, Global Director Social Innovation at Steelcase, discusses the objective and application of social innovation. For Steelcase, reducing inequality, improving education, and creating a positive environmental impact are the core elements that help build the company purpose.  Kim gives examples of community engagement and shows how the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals guide their priority setting. Integration into everyday business life is essential to thei...

Business Success with a Purpose linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

June 16, 2021 09:22 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MB

In this episode Geraldine Matchett Co-CEO and CFO at Royal DSM discusses how the company is putting the focus on UN SDGs where they can have the most impact. DSM started managing their innovation pipeline many years ago to address for example, the nutrition needs they saw developing at the time. Today they are a key contributor in the global fight against malnutrition. Geraldine emphasizes that it is impossible to compensate a company’s negative impacts either socially, or on the environment...

Sustainability - Why a Chief Financial Officer Cares

June 02, 2021 10:02 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB

Geraldine Matchett Co-CEO and CFO at Royal DSM states why ‘ you cannot be a successful company in a world that fails. Geraldine describes the transformation of DSM from a state mine to a company that sees its purpose ‘to create brighter lives for all’ with an emphasis on all – not leaving anybody behind and ensuring a healthy environment  for all to live in. Financial success and positive sustainable corporate impact are not contradicting each other. DSM have embraced the concept for more th...

Sustainability a Cornerstone of Value Chain Resilience

May 19, 2021 09:35 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MB

In this episode Gayle Schueller Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at 3M reveals how her company, despite a dauntingly complex product portfolio, manages to create transparency in their value chains, where it matters most. The examples of pulp and paper and conflict minerals exemplify the approach going beyond first tier suppliers to evaluate all social and environmental aspects until the very origin of the materials. Collaboration with suppliers, NGOs and peers are vital to cre...

Science a Key Component of Corporate Sustainability

May 05, 2021 10:48 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB

For Gayle Schueller Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability officer at 3M, science has always been an important part of her life. In this episode she explains how through pandemic, loss of biodiversity and the climate crisis, the importance of applying scientific principles has drastically increased. We learn what the 3M initiatives “Science for Climate, Circular and Community” means in practice. Gayle lays out the way forward in fostering large scale collaborations across organizatio...

The Plastic Waste Challenge – BASF’s Business Response

April 14, 2021 08:29 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MB

In this episode Lars Kissau, SVP Global Strategic Business Development at BASF’s Petrochemical division explains the business thinking behind their commitment to scale up chemical recycling in a with the aim of becoming a significant source recycled virgin plastic production. Lars and Uwe Schulte discuss how customer demand for chemically recycled materials is developing and how business collaboration is vital for achieving scale at the required speed.

Chemical Recycling – the Silver Bullet for our Plastic Waste Challenge?

April 01, 2021 06:35 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MB

Lars Kissau, SVP Global Strategic Business Development at BASF’s Petrochemical division joins The Conference Board’s Uwe Schulte in this latest episode of this podcast series. Lars and Uwe explore the pros and cons of converting mixed and possibly contaminated plastic waste back into original oil and then producing new virgin plastic materials from it. This emerging technology could help avoid dumping plastic waste or incineration. The ecological and commercial impacts of this emerging tec...

How to collaborate with Customers to achieve Sustainability Goals and Company Growth

March 17, 2021 07:54 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MB

In this episode Daniel Schmid, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP discusses with working together with customers to fulfill their purpose and sustainability ambitions. Sustainability is for SAP a critical component in connecting with their  customer base. The input and needs of customers integrating sustainability into their business and achieving full visibility of their performance in turn informs the priorities of product development for SAP. Daniel describes the internal processes align...

From Business Unit Manager to Chief Sustainability Officer an Integration Journey

March 03, 2021 10:30 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MB

In this podcast Daniel Schmid discusses his journey from Business Unit Manager to becoming Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP. Having had profit and loss accountability in his prior roles helped to engage his company peers.  In order to get support from business partners, it is important to be able to listen and connect their business needs with SAP’s sustainability goals. The organization’s purpose is geared towards achieving positive environmental and social impact in partnership with the...

Sustainable Innovation – Features of a Successful Approach

December 16, 2020 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.4 MB

In this episode, Scott Tew and Rasha Hasaneen from Trane Technologies, discuss their strategies for managing sustainable innovation. Starting with the setting of targets based on materiality analysis and scenario planning. This has led them to be a front runner in adopting science-based targets for their Green House Gas emissions. The rapidly evolving markets and increasing climate crisis require organizations to go beyond refining technologies towards full business model innovation. At the ...