World Resources Institute Podcasts Plus

China’s impact on global supply chains is unparalleled, so decarbonizing the businesses that set up shop in that country — from fashion sector leaders like Decathlon to food & beverage behemoths like Budweiser – is paramount to meeting international energy targets.

In the third episode of this series, you’ll hear about the different strategies the CSP team in China is using to slash Scope 3 emissions, which typically make up a majority of a corporation’s carbon footprint. 

WRI China researchers laid out a sector-wide blueprint to begin their science-based decarbonization journey and partnered with major brands to model a new strategy for increasing renewable energy use up and down supply chains. Pairing the economic influence of big companies with the ambition of small businesses that make up their supply chain is a replicable recipe to reduce emissions... rapidly. 

Episode Host:

- Wenquan Zhang - WRI China Research Associate

Episode Guests:

- Mofan Zhang - WRI China Research Analyst

- Anthony Wei - Decathlon’s North Asia Zone Sustainability Director

- Terry Yao - Budweiser's Sustainability & Agriculture Development Director of Procurement APAC

Delivering healthcare is a 24/7 job. But what happens when the electricity supply – necessary for so many critical procedures and equipment, medications, and operating facilities – is unreliable? Hear how HSBC India partnered with WRI India to finance solar power and battery energy storage solutions for rural healthcare facilities across three Indian states of Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Assam.

Creating a consistent electrification plan has improved service for more than 400,000 patients. Ensuring reliable, renewable energy means that health facilities can focus on what they do best; serving their patients safely. Shivani Shah, Senior Communications Manager, talks about the successes and challenges of scaling solar-based healthcare to thousands of facilities across the country, with multiple WRI and non-WRI experts. Guests for the episode include:

- Dr. Rajni Gupta – Program Manager, Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI)

- Romit Sen – Senior Vice President, Corporate Sustainability, HSBC India

- Lanvin Concessao – Program Manager, WRI India Energy Program

- Rishikesh Mishra – Senior Program Associate, WRI India Energy Program

All eyes are on Asia as it attempts to complete a clean energy transition away from fossil fuels. National governments will have to work with the private sector to achieve their ambitious climate goals. That’s where the Climate Solutions Partnership (CSP) comes into play.

With financial support from HSBC, WRI researchers are innovating and implementing data-backed solutions to steer more private finance toward the scaling up of renewable energy across Asia. Hear from three experts at the forefront of the nexus between capital and clean energy to see how the Asian countries where the CSP operates in – China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam – are leading the way toward a decarbonized future, as well as the challenges they face in completing that journey.

Guests include:

- Justin Wu, Asia-Pacific Co-Head of Climate Change, HSBC

- Beni Suryadi, Acting Manager of Sustainable & Renewable Energy, ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE)

- Deepak Krishnan, Deputy Director, Energy Program, WRI India

Looking back on the Asian Development Bank’s Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF), WRI experts, Marlon Apanada and Jennie Chen explain the important role that WRI plays as a thought-leader, as well as convening stakeholders and implementing innovating solutions to help Asia achieve its clean energy transition goals.

Apanada and Chen explore pre-conference predictions and anticipate upcoming major regional agreements that will impact the future of renewable energy on the continent, as well as how WRI’s work aids Asia in meeting these goals while ensuring benefits for people, nature and climate.

As ACEF 2024 wraps up, WRI brings you a closer look at the innovative aspects of agrivoltaics that China is tapping into to reach its goal of tripling renewable energy by 2030. Looking beyond the clean energy conference, Shengnian Xu, a research associate in WRI China’s Energy program, sees WRI being well-positioned to help lead the global discussions around critical minerals...a topic that dominated the discussions at the Asian Development Bank’s week-long event.

Check out our full coverage of ACEF at: https://www.wri.org/podcasts

After the first couple of days at ACEF 2024, WRI experts talk about how their work ties into the forum’s overall goals – specifically about how India’s goal of installing 500 GW of clean energy capacity and Indonesia’s plan to decarbonizing difficult to abate industries can be achieved in a manner that doesn’t leave anyone behind.

Nada Zuhaira, a Net-Zero Research Analyst with WRI Indonesia’s Energy program and Sandhya Sundararagavan, the Energy Transition Program Head for WRI India’s Energy Program, take you behind the scenes of the Asia’s premier clean energy gathering and share some highlights about who WRI is keeping an eye on; from companies to countries, everyone has something valuable to bring to the discussion about the clean energy transition.

Ahead of the Asia Clean Energy Forum, or ACEF for short, WRI examines the purpose of the premier conference of clean energy stakeholders on the continent. Marlon Apanada, WRI’s Southeast Asia Engagement Lead, for Energy & Climate explains why the tripling of renewable energy and how Asia develops its critical mineral sector are the two key talking points for 2024.

Ultimately, the story of supply chains is a story about people. We spoke with a dozen different supply chain experts from around the world who guided us through the relationships between large corporations and the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that make up their supply chain.

As we wrap up this three-part series, our guests explain what companies stand to gain by working more intentionally and in partnership with small businesses in their supply chains. These partnerships may look different within a single supply chain or specific sector, but many share similar elements.

The experts we spoke with highlight the best partnership examples from the corporate world in Part 3 of Voices on Supply Chains.

The approach that many corporations take with their supply chains passes the environmental and monetary costs down to the small businesses and workers that rely on them. These workers are far more vulnerable to supply chain disruptions – which are becoming more frequent and more destructive as climate impacts worsen.

In part two of this three-part series, we discuss the ways that large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can establish partnerships founded on trust and transparency. The ripple effects of strong partnerships could improve supply chains and working conditions for workers around the globe.

Modern supply chains are global, complex, and touch nearly everyone in some way — you’re either part of the production process for a given commodity, a consumer of that product or service, or both. However, current supply chain practices fail to properly value our natural resources and the people working within them.

Over the course of three episodes, you'll hear from a dozen experts who will explain why centering people is an effective strategy for large corporations to meet their supply chain sustainability goals. This first episode is focused on a key missing ingredient in most corporate plans: the voices of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their workers.

Across any global supply chain, workers upstream and the small businesses they work for typically share one thing; a lack of representation and decision-making power when it comes to the buyers furthest downstream setting sustainability targets for the whole value chain.

In fact, as Dan Viederman from the Working Capital Fund points out, there are more than 1,000,000,000 workers who don't make enough money from their jobs to support their livelihoods. While supply chains are increasingly more complex, a simple solution to improve them is by treating the most vulnerable workers better.

This series — hosted, produced and edited by Daniel Baker — is funded by the Ares Charitable Foundation as part of their CREST Initiative; a 5-year career preparation and reskilling project that aims to close the gap between the demand for a skilled workforce for green jobs and the number of people prepared for these opportunities to build an equitable, low-carbon economy.

Episode 2 premiers on Wednesday, April 24. Episode 3 premiers on Wednesday, May 1. Make sure to subscribe to WRI's Big Ideas Into Action podcast to hear the rest of the series.

Episode 1 Featured Guests:

Adel Guitouni | Associate Professor of Business, University of Victoria

Andrew Olah | Founder, Ethical Denim Council

Becca Coughlan | Senior Advocacy Manager, Remake

Brian Lipinski | 10x20x30 Initiative Project Manager, WRI

Dan Viederman | Partner, Working Capital Fund 

Jacques Leslie | Yale Environment 360 & LA Times Writer

Jason Judd | Executive Director, Global Labor Institute & Professor, Cornell University

Lydia Elliott | Deputy Director of Supply Chain Decarbonization, We Mean Business Coalition's SME Climate Hub

Namit Agarwal | Social Transformation Lead, World Benchmarking Alliance

Rene Zamora | Restoration Policy Senior Manager, WRI

Sheri Hinish | Global Sustainable Supply Chain Leader, Ernst & Young (EY) & Podcast Host, Supply Chain Revolution

Taj Eldridge | Managing Director for Climate Innovations, Jobs for the Future (JFF) Labs