Sustainability Solved

In this episode, we will be answering the question: does food have the power to save the world? 

We are joined by Ed Ayton and Stef Sahmel from Abel & Cole, an organic food delivery service who are on a mission to simplify shopping sustainably. They are a fellow B Corporation who have been working with us to measuring and reduce their carbon footprint since 2019.  

Highlights:  

• Abel and Cole are constantly looking for opportunities to reduce their environmental and social impact, from volunteering and charitable giving, to educating their consumers, to having as little packaging as possible.  
• Ed and Stef talk about the benefits of working for as B Corporation, and how Abel and Cole’s culture and purpose make it a fantastic place to work.  
• Abel & Cole have implemented a Climate Emergency project to cut their emissions in half by 2030. This involves assessing their carbon footprint, identifying carbon hotspots, and taking action to drive down those emissions.  
• Stef talks about working with Green Element to measure, report, and reduce their carbon footprint, and how they identified the 3 carbon hotspots of meat, dairy, and transport.  
• Stef and Ed describe the process of conducting a life cycle analysis on their fruit and veg boxes, with the help of Green Element.  
• By setting science-based targets, Abel and Cole can identify and reduce emissions across their scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions.  
• Ed discusses regenerative farming that focuses on soil health; over 70% of Abel & Cole’s products are certified by the Soil Association.  
• Stef and Ed talk about the different ways that they engage their customers in their sustainability journey and highlight the importance of storytelling and finding something that people can relate to.  

Resources:  

Abel and Cole: Organic food delivery. Organic vegetable boxes, fruit, meat & more | Abel & Cole (abelandcole.co.uk) 

B Corp: The UK B Corporation Movement 

Science-based targets initiative: Ambitious corporate climate action - Science Based Targets  

The Soil Association: Soil Association  

This episode is all about the circular economy, explaining what it means, how it differs from the standard linear economy, and how adopting circularity benefits your organisation and the world in general. Our host Will Richardson is joined by Naomi Cohen, Senior Manager at Green Element, who specialises in resource and waste management.  

Naomi and Will are joined by inspiring individuals from organisations that are already making the change to circularity: Sam Coggin from The Coggin Group, Sylvia Garvin from The Juice Round, and Brendon Rowan from Cradle to Cradle.   

Highlights:  

• Naomi describes the ‘take make waste’ approach to products and materials, and how the circular economy eliminates waste by keeping products in circulation.  
• Slyvia Garvin became very aware of the amount of packaging used within her organisation and decided to start focusing on reuse as a solution.  
• The Juice Round produces hand-make drinks in reusable glass bottles; they also offer a financial incentive for consumers to return and refill their bottles. 
• The Cradle-to-Cradle methodology allows designers to look at 5 key elements: material health, material reutilisation, renewable energy, water and soil stewardship, and social fairness.  
• Brendon talks about the Wonder Wean, a portable food processor for weaning, designed using the Cradle-to-Cradle methodology. 
• Naomi talks about her time in the waste and resource management sector, and how she has seen first-hand the amount of perfectly serviceable office furniture and other products that are thrown away unnecessarily. 
• Sam Coggin from The Coggin Group discusses how they provide sustainable office furnishing and furniture recycling solutions.  
• Sam discusses the importance and benefits of upcycling, and how his ultimate goal is to be known for remanufacturing in a commercial scale.  
• Naomi touches on the importance of servitisation, the idea that when we buy things, we often don’t need the item itself as opposed to the service it provides.  

Resources: 

The Coggin Group: Sustainable Office Furniture & Recycling Solutions | The Coggin Group 

Cradle to Cradle Design Consultancy: 

The Juice Round: Sustainable drinks - Zero waste and Plastic free drinks - The Juice Round 

Ellen Macarthur Foundation: How to build a circular economy | Ellen MacArthur Foundation 

Dame Ellen's 2015 TED Talk: Dame Ellen MacArthur: The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world | TED Talk  

Toast Ale: Toast Ale - Raise a toast. Save the world. Cheers  

The Wonder Wean: The Imagination Factory | Design For Manufacture - Wonder Wean  

WRAP: WRAP - Circular Economy & Resource Efficiency Experts  

The Good Goods: Good Goods - Reusable Wine Bottle (thegoodgoods.co) 

Zach Lawless podcast: Zach Lawless, co-founder of Good Goods | Sustainable Business Podcast (greenelement.co.uk) 

Louisa Ziane podcast: Louisa Ziane of Toast Ale | Sustainable Business Podcast (greenelement.co.uk)  

Story

This episode focuses on what being a B Corp means, what makes the B Corp certification a unique standard, and how becoming a certified B Corp transforms businesses’ operations to do better for people and the planet.

March is B Corp month, and we are celebrating it by bringing back some of our greatest podcasts featuring B Corp certified businesses and their inspiring journeys: James Thornton from Intrepid Travel; Karli Hiscock from Bates Well; and Carolina Miranda CEO of Cultivating Capital.

Highlights

• Intrepid Travel offers sustainable travel experiences for its customers, an exemplary example of how businesses can balance purpose and profit.
• Intrepid went through a three-year journey to become a B Corp, in which they assessed the way they interacted with customers, the impact they had on the environment, and their relationships with shareholders.
• James highlights how B Corp helped Intrepid address their supplier issues and the lack of diversity within their organisation.
• “We’ve certainly found that the B Corp certification helps provide a point of distinction” - James Thornton.
• Bates Well was founded in 1970 with a set of core principles which had a clear purpose: “doing good for people”. They have always been a purpose-driven business but becoming a B Corp in 2015 hugely impacted their day-to-day operations.
• Through the B Corp certification, they have been driving staff and client engagement and improving their culture’s synergy.
• Carolina helps businesses to operate in ways that are more socially and environmentally sustainable, particularly for small businesses that want to make a difference.
• The most common issue that SMEs come across when embedding sustainability is the lack of support from management.
• Consumers are recognising what the B Corp certification means, and actively looking to do businesses with organisations who are more socially and environmentally sustainable. This is a big incentive for companies to become a B Corp and improve their social and environmental impact.

This episode looks under the environmental hood at Engine, a global media and marketing services company, and longstanding client of Green Element.

We speak to Rachel Boland, Head of Sustainability of Engine UK, about why and how the company has prioritised sustainability since 2008.

This episode investigates the rising cost of energy, the changing energy price cap, and what that means for organisations trying to reduce their environmental impact, while remaining in business. 

We are joined by Jon Fletcher from Big Clean Switch, a certified B-Corporation developing solutions for homes and businesses to help accelerate the transition to green energy, and Doug Johnson from Mesh Energy, a trusted provider of innovative sustainable energy services to property owners and architects.

The Juice Round is a specialist eco-friendly drinks service served in reusable glass bottles, which are collected, cleaned, and refilled for use. After 15 years of providing bespoke drinks for high profile events and business clients, Sylvia grew increasingly concerned with the amount of single-use packaging going to waste in the food and beverage sector. Sylvia felt responsible as a drinks producer to find a different way of handling packaging and started to focus on reuse as a solution.

In this episode, we interview Tom Gould, the Research Director and Head of Consumer at Impact Research. Impact Research work with their clients to understand what they're trying to find out and create research studies to improve their services for customers.

Anna Murphy is a freelance consultant who supports companies to establish a systems-based approach to sustainability, ensuring their strengths are utilised and equity is achieved. She uses the Future-Fit Business Benchmark methodology to achieve sustainability goals for her clients.

Ali Haji is the CEO and Director of ION Energy, an early-stage lithium brine explorer in Mongolia. Founded in 2017, ION Energy’s sole purpose was to obtain a lithium exploration license to pioneer this movement; they were issued an 81,000-hectare license in the southern Gobi region of Mongolia, the largest ever to be granted to a private company. 

Now, ION Energy is an advanced battery management and intelligence platform, focused on improving the performance of lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and energy storage systems.  

Ali takes us through the environmental impact of lithium in the Battery Metals Industry, and how ION Energy commitment to increasing sustainability.  

Highlights: 

Ali explains to us what Lithium is, what it is used for, how it is extracted, and its environmental impact. 

Lithium batteries are becoming increasingly more sustainable, with many having the ability to be recycled and reused.  

Ali discusses the environmental impacts of mining lithium, and how the process has become increasingly sustainable compared to historical practices.  

ION Energy has always put Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) Criteria at the top of their mandate, ensuring that they are protecting the populations near to the lithium mines, and employing people that are in close proximity to their assets.   

Ali tells us that ION Energy aim to enrich the education of their employees through training and ensure that they are an integral part of their growing company. 

Rachel Fowler is a sustainable interior designer and founder of Rachel Fowler Interiors, a design studio that has sustainability and animal-friendly design at the heart of its operations.

After travelling the world as a children’s intensive care nurse, Rachel decided to go back to university and start a career in design. She has also completed the Healthy Materials and Sustainable Building course by the New College University in New York, and a Circular Economy course with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Rachel is passionate about how the materials that we choose for our interiors effect our health and well-being, as well as the health of the planet. Her design studio aims to remove the long-winded task of researching materials and help you to create sustainable and humane interiors.

Rachel’s new book ‘My Happy Place’ acts as go-to guide for anyone looking to create healthy, humane, and sustainable working and living spaces.