State of Sustainability

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 audiencesEffective content formats that resonateBalancing data and narratives for a compelling business casePrioritising upskilling, and training programs for key teamsLink to event: https://www.altruistiq.com/events/women-in-sustainability-summer-garden-mixer

The complex structure of supply chains can make tracking the impact of sustainability-related interventions a challenge. Supplier-specific information is often lacking and/or hard to come by. However, a lack of traceability shouldn’t deter companies from efforts to drive progress. There's a solution: supply sheds.This episode dives deep into:What is a supply shed, and how can it help you overcome challenges in reduction trackingThe 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?

Does the world on-pack green claims make you nervous? We get it. Green claims are a minefield. Today, we're bringing in a veteran of bold sustainability messaging to help us navigate the dark and somewhat dangerous world of sustainability comms. Shaunagh Duncan, Head of Sustainability at Oatly EU & I walks us through making strategic green claims, teaching us when to push boundaries and when to play it safe.We cover how to :Define a bold and impactful communication styleWalk the line between “greenwashing” and “green hushing”Approach on-pack PCFsCapitalise on the commercial opportunities of carbon labellingShow notes: According to a recent study, Oatly Barista sold in the UK has a 58% lower climate impact than comparable cow’s milk.From: Blonk Consultants (2022), LCA of Oatly Barista, and comparison with cow's milk. Gouda, the Netherlands. Stages include raw material to the point of sale and packaging waste management for average L *produced in the Netherlands and sold in the UK. Findings are subject to assumptions, limitations, conclusions, and critical review statements. See full report here.

We bust the 3 of the biggest sustainability myths in the industry:Myth 1: We should be fazing out plasticMyth 2: Feed supplements are the silver bullet to methane reductionMyth 3: The future of ‘green transportation’ should be electrified.P.S. Don't forget to rate and review our podcast to help others discover tactics for corporate sustainability change transformation.

This episode dives into the 20+ year career of Saif Hameed, an activist, government official, NGO co-founder, flower farm owner, and now CEO of Altruistiq, a sustainability data management platform.We explore how his experience equips sustainability professionals to engage stakeholders across sectors for change. We discuss:Saif's Journey: Lessons from activism, government work, NGO experience, and business ventures inform a robust approach to sustainabilityEngaging Stakeholders: Collaboration techniques across activists, government officials, NGOs, and suppliers to accelerate change.Why Altruistiq: The inspiration behind Altruistiq and what makes it different

Saif Hameed and Patrick Shewell, Global Director of Packaging at Mondelēz, discuss balancing an iconic brand image with bold sustainability packaging goals. In this episode, we dive into:Balancing trade-offs between product functionality and sustainabilityEPR policy inconsistencies and how to manage these across 150+ markets.Prioritising packaging initiatives: no brainer vs higher cost initiativesStrategies for collaboration with packaging suppliersInvesting in innovative packaging solutionsShow notes:Consumer Goods Forum Packaging Design GuidanceExtended Producer Guidance: All you need to know about EPR Policy Pulse

In this episode, Saif Hameed and Isobel Wild discuss: How different companies are approaching CSRDWhich team(s) should own the CSRD reporting processDouble materiality assessment best practicesWhat to do with all the data that you're not ready forHow to move beyond compliance and make CSRD impactful

In this episode, Saif Hameed and Isobel Wild discuss:Market Highlight: Sustainability Linked Bonuses: Company-wide vs leadership (learnings from LEGO Group) Topic Deep Dive: Internal Sustainability Training ProgramSuccess 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 prioritiseCreating 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.Show notesTim Brooks, VP and Head of Sustainability at The LEGO Group. Lessons from setting up Sustainability Linked Bonuses.Internal Sustainability Education: How Kerry Achieved 91% Engagement

In this episode, we cover:QUIZ: guess the lowest emitting ingredientStrategic Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) generationThe trends catalysing supplier asks for PCFsUsing PCFs to re-engineer your productHow to pitch your PCF internally to R&D, Marketing, and commercial teamsHow to pitch your PCF externally to customers and consumers

In this episode, we discuss: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.

Saif Hameed and Audrey Leduc, North American Director for Planet Friendly Practices at McCain Foods unpack how to scale regenerative agriculture. They discuss:Measuring impact: the key indicators and data points needed to track and demonstrate progress against regenerative agricultureBuilding strategic partnerships: principles for identifying and developing partnerships (that will last)Farmer engagement toolbox: how to successfully engage farmers and make regenerative agriculture attractiveFinancial solutions: innovative financing solutions to tackle upfront costsCommunication strategy: compelling B2B and B2C communication techniques to drive engagement and commercial value.*Please note that the activation initiatives mentioned (time stamp: 34:12) in the franchises in Canada are with A&W, not Burger King.

Off the back of our flagship sustainability event in Chicago, where we hosted 70+ F&B sustainability professionals working on sustainability data challenges in the agri value chain, a few key trends emerged. In this episode, we dig into: - “Action first - reporting second”. - Qualities of the “best” kind of decarbonisation initiatives - Data transparency is very different between B2B vs B2C

How to make sure your circularity initiative is revenue-generatingHow to set a carbon costHow do you utilise carbon pricing when data in the supply chain at the product level is sparse?When is a carbon price most defensibleCarbon pricing success storiesWe have an upcoming webinar on Carbon Pricing (June 26th at 3pm BST), register here: https://www.altruistiq.com/events/setting-up-a-successful-carbon-price

Saif Hameed and Pedro Lafargue, Global Climate Action Manager at OFI discuss:The principles for a successful insetting projectThe level of data accuracy needed for compliance vs actionHow to track and account for carbon removals (when standardisation is lacking)Best practices for monetising carbon insetting projects

Market highlight:How the SEC’s climate disclosure ruling impacts your businessTopic deep dive: A playbook on how to: Build a strong business case for sustainabilityOptimise team set up to unlock resourcesBoost company-wide sustainability literacy and buy-in

NEW SEASON LAUNCH.This season will include the latest corporate sustainability market highlights followed by problem-solving deep dives on all flavours of challenges that sustainability practitioners face.In this episode, we cover:Market highlights:Corporate black sliding on climate pledgesThe Greenwashing clamp down and how to make water-tight claimsTopic deep dive: Effective sustainability data commsInternal communication and engagement tactics for sustainability data buy-inExternal comms: how to demonstrate progress to stakeholdersAny challenges that we've missed? Get in touch with content suggestions and we'll cover them off in our next episode.

In this episode, we discuss how to:Launch effective Farmer Reduction Plans: Lessons from McCain and InnocentPrepare for supply chain disruptions, drawing learnings from the recent cocoa crisisNavigate insetting challenges, specifically how to avoid competitors ‘free riding’ off your reduction initiativesMaximise the value of your insetsMake reductions work at farm level (multi year contracts)

We cover:The latest market highlights:They key themes across corporate sustainability reportsThe U-turn on CSDDD - is this even a bad thing?The Upskilling Procurement Playbook:How to embed sustainability into procurement BAUThe tools and training to enable procurementThe incentives on the tableResources:Webinar: How to Scale a Successful Supply Chain Program - www.altruistiq.com/events/how-to-scale-a-successful-supply-chain-program

We cover:Mission build fundamentalsHow to tailor your mission across a global marketThe big tech innovations to look out forThe benefits of building a meaningful mission.Recommendations:Book: The Long and Short of It, John KayeVideo: EV or Gas: What Pollutes More?

Description:This episode aims to set listeners up with a credible and sensible approach to sustainable data transformation, covering how to:- Prioritise data sets and manage against targets- Solve for digitisation, granularity, flexibility, and usability in your infrastructure build- Streamline interactions with other systems and organisations- Establish optimal relationships with tech teams and third-party providers.

Supplier engagement more often than not results in low response rates and unusable data. Sound familiar? This podcast sets to solve this by breaking down:What’s happening today: Mass surveying, “one platform rules them all” and an unrealistic push for “universal primary data”.Where we want to get to: Data you can actually use.How to get there: Supplier contracts, blended procurement models, strategic upskilling, secure supplier data exchange (PACT)Key learnings from the transition

A conversation with Henry Dimbleby and Saif Hameed at COP28, covering:Regenerative agriculture: what exactly regenerative agriculture means, how to fund it and how to implement itOptimising for supplier engagement and primary data useHow far corporate influence goes when it comes to on sustainability regulations, frameworks and standardsA roaming COP28 megaphone kicks in halfway through - bear with us.

Live from COP28. We unpack our key takeaways from COP28, specifically:Who’s here (and who’s not)What everyone is thinking, but not sayingWhere the real progress was madeReasons for optimismTune in to form your own opinion on COP28.

There’s a growing number of people in the corporate sustainability space that believe universal primary data (ie data gathered from every supplier) is the best way to accurately understand your emissions. After a few debates we wanted to unpack why we don't think this is the case. In this episode, we cover:Primary vs secondary data collection strategiesWhat primary and secondary data isWhy we believe the "hybrid approach" is most effectiveHow to implement a hybrid approach at scale

We cover how to build an effective sustainability team. We break this into two key areas:1. Team designCreate a clear strategy and visionIdentify the optimal structure and organisational set-up for your teamWhere to resource and unlock budget2. Roles and responsibilitiesDefine the different roles and responsibilities neededIdentify the skills and experience required for each roleFind and recruit the best talent

Charles Conn (long serving Chair of Patagonia) and Saif Hameed (CEO of Altruistiq) discuss effective sustainability governance, focusing on how to build consistency around purpose and mission. Points covered: - How to build a mission that is consistently sustainable- How data can be used to prop up the mission and focus of the organisation-How Patagonia has reinforced its mission with appropriate governance (e.g., buy-in, managing incentives)-How to leverage data to reinforce these incentives-The best approach for walking the line between green hushing and greenwashing-Understanding when your environmental data is "good enough" to act upon

How can food manufacturers ensure they have the right data infrastructure in place to go beyond carbon and support more ambitious sustainability objectives? This session will address some of the data infrastructure challenges that food manufacturers face such as data silos, system compatibility, scalability, real-time data accessibility, quality assurance, and integration with external systems. We will also explore how to apply learnings from emissions data to water and biodiversity strategies. The session will equip food manufacturers with strategies to enhance market differentiation, foster innovation, create resilience within complex supply chains and mitigate against reputational risk.With:- Saif Hameed, CEO of Altruistiq- Steff Kulis, Head of ESG Digital Transformation, Kraft Heinz- Andy Griffiths, Head of Sustainable Procurement, Diageo- Chris Shearlock, Sustainability Director for Europe, Thai Union

Live Q&A with Saif Hameed. Questions covered: 1.What is the average quality of emissions data today? When should someone actually be worried about their data quality?2.I'm looking to add additional headcount to my small sustainability team. What strategic first hires should I make?3.Do you have any tips for making the business case internally for headcount?4.What is the best way to set up a sustainability team? Centralise the function? Or embed sustainability professionals within other functions?If you have any sustainability-related questions that need answering, get in touch: [email protected]

We cover how to generate value from better consumer engagement around sustainability. We break this into two pieces:Where to play: how to think about market segmentation and how to size the market opportunity.How to play: the strategies and approaches that work to effectively engage and generate value.

We’re going to talk about three closely related topics:- How to build a business case for sustainability change in your organisation.- The use of carbon pricing as a tool to prioritise business cases and align stakeholders.- Effective carbon pricing strategies, offering up a few shortcuts and insights to help sustainability professionals on this journey.

Live Q&A with Saif Hameed.Questions covered:1. ESG bonuses: Would you recommend a mix of qualitative and quantitative KPIs because some aspects will remain softer in their nature?2. We set an ambitious carbon target but had intended to meet a significant share of it through offsets. It now looks like that’s no longer popular. Do we need to change course?3. What is the benefit of insets vs. offsets?4. What do you think of the US government’s move into direct procurement of carbon credits?5. How should I amend my existing supplier agreements to promote the exchange of emissions data?6. For suppliers who aren't well informed on this agenda,, do you recommend beginning with value chain decarbonisation and risking a slow start? Or offsets? Or both?If you have a sustainability-related question that needs answering - get in touch: [email protected] readingInvestors warn ‘fluffy’ ESG metrics are being gamed to boost bonuses

We talk through how to maximise your budget and investments, covering:Optimal internal budget allocation to drive productivityMaximising External Spend: flagging the key watch-outs and learnings when prioritising strategic investmentsUnlocking project spend for scale-upsInfluencing internal budget

We run through the toolkit you need to be a successful CSO. If you're a CSO already, or it's on your career roadmap, this podcast will provide you with practical, boots-on-the-ground insights to maximise your success. We will cover 4 key areas:Understanding your responsibilities as a CSOHow to interface with the Board and CEOCSO Superpowers for SuccessHow you can expect your role as a CSO to evolve

Live Q&A with Saif Hameed.Questions covered:1.Our Head of Sustainability doesn’t report directly to the CEO. Do you think this is a problem?2.I am currently looking for an impact software solution and am in conversations with a variety of solution types. How would you compare ESG-wide platforms to carbon-specific platforms?3. We have multiple teams set up in our company to cover different sustainability topics (scope 1 & 2, supply chain, product LCAs). What’s the best way to help these teams work well together.4. We have just done our first manual carbon baseline however I’m aware that we had many data gaps and used v generalised assumptions and as such a bit apprehensive to make big investments on potentially incorrect hotspots. Do you have a rule of thumb on data maturity and when to act?If you have a sustainability-related question that needs answering - get in touch.

Practical tips on how to set up your sustainability data transformation for scalable success. We will cover how to use this as a positive force to drive alignment internally and externally while getting the most out of your time, energy and resources.This podcast will cover:1. Creating a sustainability data transformation strategy that aligns with your vision2.Setting up your data infrastructure for success3.Managing internal organisational alignment4.Optimising for external supplier alignmentIf you want more practical tips and tricks, follow Saif’s LinkedIn for daily updates: linkedin.com/in/saifhameed