Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with Maia Reed, Global Climate Data Lead at Mars Petcare, to explore how one of the world's largest companies is tackling carbon reduction within agriculture supply chains.

What you’ll learn:

• Setting Up Carbon Reduction Projects: Insights into leveraging supplier relationships to overcome implementation challenges.
• Bridging Data Gaps: Tackling data scarcity with tailored management approaches and grassroots solutions.
• Balancing Compliance vs. Impact: Navigating the trade-offs between inventory and intervention strategies.
• Empowering Farmers: Using carbon insights to improve livelihoods and inform sustainable sourcing.
• Innovation in Action: Embedding sustainability into R&D, with a focus on alternative proteins.

Saif Hameed explores the biggest announcements, trends, successes and failures of 2024. He breaks down:

• The explosive growth of Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) and their impact on supply chains
• Why PCF exchange is lagging behind PCF generation and what this means for businesses
• The return of secondary data in emissions reporting and how to balance it with primary data
• Packaging as the new zone of collaboration for emissions reductions
• Why procurement teams need more support to meet increasing sustainability requirements

Tune in to get to grips with these trends and learn how to get ahead for 2025

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In this episode, Saif Hameed explores how businesses can credibly deploy and account for Scope 3 emission reductions. He breaks this down into five key steps:

1. Setting up data
2. Identifying interventions
3. Implementing projects
4. Measuring and tracking progress
5. Validating and verifying results

Along the way, we tackle challenges like mass balance measurement, avoiding double counting, and preparing for frameworks like Land Sector Removals Guidance (LSRG). Tune in for actionable insights to navigate Scope 3 reductions with confidence.

Join Saif Hameed and John Lee, Director of Nature and Mission Sustainability at Danone, as they discuss the best approach to prioritising and scaling farm-level reductions for carbon and crucially, nature. In this episode, we explore:

• Empowering Procurement: How to effectively engage procurement teams and align behind shared sustainability initiatives
• Collaborating with Suppliers: The role of Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs) and supplier-centric emission sharing in fostering collaborative partnerships.
• Accelerating Innovation: The process of testing pilot programs and prioritising those with the greatest potential for scale-up.
• Leveraging Customer Demand: How to harness growing consumer interest in sustainability to reduce emissions through collaborative efforts.

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• Managing apparel supply chain complexities: How H&M manages the complexities of a global supply chain and what companies can learn from their approach
• Supply chain engagement: The key to successful supply chain engagement—what works for both H&M and their suppliers, and how to make these partnerships last
• Production decarbonisation: How to approach decarbonisation at the factory level and on a larger scale
• Digital tech: How H&M is using technology to increase supply chain transparency, improve traceability, and hold suppliers accountable for sustainability goals
• Innovation: How H&M prioritises finances and scales innovation to meet their sustainability goals

Where does the result of the US election leave corporate sustainability? In this episode, we cover:

• Big bets: How the Trump administration will impact corporate sustainability efforts

• Policy Shifts: Key policy changes to watch and their implications

• Budgets: Tips for managing sustainability budgets amidst shifting priorities

• Team Dynamics: Changing structure and priorities for corporate sustainability teams

• Global Perspectives: New emerging global hubs driving sustainability innovation
• Expert Advice: Strategies for maintaining ambition and commitment to sustainability goals despite political uncertainty.

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• The profile of the sustainable consumer
• How consumers prioritise what they put in the shopping basket
• What “sustainability” means to them
• The most trusted sustainable brands—and why they stand out

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• Strategy alignment: How to ensure your sustainability transformation aligns with the broader business objectives
• Sustainability team set-up: The high-priority skills and qualities to look for when recruiting and building your sustainability team.
• Leadership style: How to evolve your leadership style as your sustainability program matures.
• Budget management: Effective strategies for developing, securing and scaling a sustainability budget.

• Types of collaboration: Challenges and opportunities associated with within-value-chain collaboration, across-value-chain collaboration, and pre-competitive collaboration.
• When, where and who to collaborate with (and not): How to identify the right opportunities and partners—and when it’s best to go solo.
• Creating collaborative initiatives that scale: Key components for setting up partnerships that can scale (not just multiply).
• Who takes the credit? Innovative tools and accounting practices like differentiated product carbon footprints to verify reductions in collaborative efforts.
• Budgeting, resources and incentives: Monetary (price premiums, 3rd party financing) and non-monetary incentives (long off-take agreements) to sustain collaborations.

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In this episode, we discuss the surging popularity of Product Carbon Footprints (PCFs). We cover:

• The PCF Boom: The rapid growth of PCF generation
• PCF value: Where PCFs deliver value and where they fall short.
• PCF challenges: The key challenges to be aware of when generating and sharing PCFs.
• Data readiness: How to balance PCF demands with data accuracy and confidence
• PCF set up: Practical guidance on generating and sharing meaningful PCFs

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The majority of businesses calculating baselines use less than >10k emission factors (crazy).

What does this mean?

It means emission calculations aren't accurate and decarbonisation efforts remain invisible.

In this episode we get to the bottom of this and discuss:

• EF Recap: what is an EF and how is one developed
• Current State of Play: Understanding the current landscape of EF usage and challenges.
• The EF Dilemma: Balancing consistency and accuracy in EFs.
• EF Types: Deciphering the differences between supplier-specific and secondary EFs
• Primary Data: The role and need of primary data collection in EF development.
• Solutions and Trends: Discovering innovative approaches to accurate EF calculation and future trends in the field.

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In our latest podcast ep, we discuss essential leadership strategies to supercharge your sustainability team, namely:

- Team retention: How to retain and motivate top talent in a competitive market

- Skill development: Where and when to invest in upskilling

- Performance metrics: What metrics and bonus schemes are useful to track and implement

- Headcount budget and resource management: How to optimise team resources

- Team culture: Observed tactics for fostering team culture from the F&B industry

In part one (of a two-part mini-series), we discuss:

• Core characteristics: The key attributes contributing to a well-structured and effective sustainability team.
• Must-have roles: The indispensable positions that every sustainability team needs to function optimally.
• Internal vs. external: When to prioritise internal hiring and when to seek external expertise through consultants or software.
• Budgeting: How to secure the necessary headcount budget for your sustainability team.
• Attracting talent: The best strategies to attract top tale
  
  

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Saif Hameed and Piers Cooper, Senior Sustainability Research Manager (LCA) at Altruistiq discuss FLAG, what it is, if you should prioritise it, and if you do prioritise it, how to maximise your ROI. They cover:

• A recap: What is FLAG and the measurement requirements
• Strategic importance: When and why should a company prioritise FLAG over other sustainability initiatives
• Measurement challenges: The primary FLAG challenges and solutions to overcome them
• Commercial opportunities: How to leverage FLAG to create competitive advantages and unlock commercial opportunities
• Trend watch: The upcoming changes to FLAG and trends to be aware of.

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In this episode, we explore current agricultural supply chain risks and mitigation measures. We cover:

• Emerging threats: The macro and micro risks and  specific commodities most vulnerable to climate-related disruptions.
• Building resilience: Strategies to strengthen your supply chain.
• Environmental data impact: The impact on your environmental data and the role of technology to mitigate these risks.
• Business case: How to value and communicate risk to bolster your sustainability business case.

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Saif Hameed and Jesica Sansom, Sustainability Director at Huel discuss how to set up product carbon footprints (PCFs) to deliver real business value.

We cover:

• Data collection: The challenges and workarounds in collecting the granular data needed for reliable PCFs
• Actionable insights: Best practices for using PCF to inform sustainable product design
• Supplier collaboration: How Huel are fostering innovative solutions with suppliers e.g., rethinking ingredient production methods & running field trials with oat farmers
• Claims & comms: How to communicate and demonstrate sustainability progress and why product labelling is not the silver bullet solution.

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Camilla Riddiford, Head of Sustainability at Arla UK, shares her advice on how to turn colleagues from bystanders to sustainability champions (without breaking the bank or your sanity).

In this episode, we discuss:

• Tailored communication strategies for diverse audiences
• Effective content formats that resonate
• Balancing data and narratives for a compelling business case
• Prioritising upskilling, and training programs for key teams

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• What is a supply shed, and how can it help you overcome challenges in reduction tracking
• The benefits of using supply sheds include incentivising traceability and enabling collaboration.
• Challenges to consider, like changes in your supplier base and attribution of reductions.
• Recommendations for companies, from identifying key suppliers to monitoring interventions.
• Is the supply shed here to stay?

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How to: 

• Define a bold and impactful communication style
• Walk the line between “greenwashing” and “green hushing”
• Approach on-pack PCFs
• Capitalise on the commercial opportunities of carbon labelling

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• Myth 1: We should be fazing out plastic
• Myth 2: Feed supplements are the silver bullet to methane reduction
• Myth 3: The future of ‘green transportation’ should be electrified.

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• Saif's Journey: Lessons from activism, government work, NGO experience, and business ventures inform a robust approach to sustainability‍
• Engaging Stakeholders: Collaboration techniques across activists, government officials, NGOs, and suppliers to accelerate change,‍
• Why Altruistiq: The inspiration behind Altruistiq and what makes it different.

• Balancing trade-offs between product functionality and sustainability
• EPR policy inconsistencies and how to manage these across 150+ markets.
• Prioritising packaging initiatives: no brainer vs higher cost initiatives
• Strategies for collaboration with packaging suppliers
• Investing in innovative packaging solutions

• How different companies are approaching CSRD
• Which team(s) should own the CSRD reporting process
• Double materiality assessment best practices
• What to do with all the data that you're not ready for
• How to move beyond compliance and make CSRD impactful

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• Sustainability Linked Bonuses: Company-wide vs leadership (learnings from LEGO Group)
• Topic Deep Dive: Internal Sustainability Training Program
• Success Characteristics: The characteristics that distinguish a good training program from a transformative one
• Prioritising Teams: Which teams will benefit most from sustainability training and how to prioritise
• Creating Compelling Content: How to tailor content to resonate with specific team needs whilst making it scalable
• Engagement Levers: The most effective tools. initiatives and experiences to engage leadership teams and company-wide.

• Strategic Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) generation
• Trends catalysing supplier asks for PCFs
• How to use PCFs to re-engineer your product
• How to pitch your PCF internally (to R&D, Marketing, and commercial teams) and externally (to customers and consumers)

• Key regulatory reporting trends: the evolving landscape, AI and what it means for your business.
• How to optimise your reporting team: best practices for setting up a high-performing, reporting team.
• Collaboration tips: strategies for working effectively with finance and legal on reporting.
• How to streamline your approach: tools, data infrastructure and ways of working to improve your reporting process.

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• Measuring impact: the key indicators and data points needed to track and demonstrate progress against regenerative agriculture
• Building strategic partnerships: principles for identifying and developing partnerships (that will last)
• Farmer engagement toolbox: how to successfully engage farmers and make regenerative agriculture attractive
• Financial solutions: innovative financing solutions to tackle upfront costs
• Communication strategy: compelling B2B and B2c communication techniques to drive engagement and commercial value.

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