The Green MBA Podcast Tia Collings

In this episode, host Tia Collings sits down with Ellie Moss, the Managing Director of Focus Group. Ellie brings over 15 years of experience in marketing and a passion for sustainability to the table. She even gave a TED talk on how marketing can combat climate change. Ellie's main focus, however, is her latest research that unequivocally demonstrates that companies with an authentic sustainability strategy outperform their competitors in various aspects.


So if you’re a CFO or simply finding it hard to convince your company to take sustainability seriously, this piece of research may help tip the scales.


Show Notes


Ellie and her team believe that the critical difference to a successful sustainability strategy is if it is authentically embedded into an organisation, meaning that what a company says and does are in alignment. They have now successfully shown this hunch through crucial research conducted in partnership with McCrindle.   


Here are a few things we discuss in this great chat


The seven areas where companies with authentic sustainability excel: talent attraction, productivity, talent retention, resilience, profits, customer growth, and innovation.Ellie and Tia discuss talent attraction, resilience, and innovation as standout advantages of authentic sustainability.The appeal of companies with robust sustainability strategies for potential employees and the role of culture.Resilience exemplified by examples like COVID-related supply chain disruptions.The idea of resilience replacing efficiency as a business focus for sustainability.Innovation as another advantage of authentic sustainability strategies.Ellie shares insights on cultivating an innovative culture within businesses.Real-world examples of companies reaping the benefits of these advantages.Focus Group's strategies to assist businesses on their sustainability journey.Relevant Links


The Authentic Sustainable Advantage ReportEllie’s Top 3 Green MBA Topics


Commitment: set clear and measurable targets.Culture: how to build an employee value proposition.Communication: use emotive language to capture the imagination of your stakeholders How to connect with Ellie 


Linkedin 

Welcome to Episode 13, in this episode I chat with Tsung Xu, the founder of Materially Better and a serial entrepreneur. Tsung is passionate about exploring new performance materials that will play a big role in unlocking innovation and help solve big problems on a global scale. 
Show Notes
As you’ll hear Tsung is very positive about our future, he believes that now is the best time in history for a startup to build products made of atoms and to leverage todays incredible technology's including new materials, synthetic biology, batteries, real-world AI and more. 
Here are a few things we discuss in this great chat
The speed at which our global economies are charging toward a renewable energy future.Carbon and its use in materials.How cheap energy can drive growth in multiple industries.What are the pillars that are driving renewable energy globally. The growth in batteries. Profitability and margins for companies producing products in the new energy shift vs historical big tech companies.Relevant Links 
A Guide To The Energy TransitionHow Solar Energy Became So Cheap By Gregory NemetEnergy: A Human History By Richard RhodesEnergy Transitions: History, Requirements, Prospects by Vaclav SmilSlack Groups; My Climate Journey, Work On Climate, My Climate Journey - Visit this link to find more. Distributed Energy Resources. Tsung Top 3 Green MBA Topics
Assess emerging technologies, what is the current landscape, how have they scaled, what are the costs curves as they double capacity. Acknowledge the history of other energy transitions and that of your sector, having a birds eye view can lead to more innovative thinking and insights others may not be able to see. Critical thinking, be willing to look widely at resources and various sources of data including experts and then try and snythisis look at where data and ideas conflict and think through why they might conflict and what insights you might be able to get from that information. How to connect with Tsung
WebsiteJoin our community 
LinkedinInstagramThis episode is brought to you by Sixty7.Green a consultancy that helps you link sustainability to business prosperity.For organisations large and small, Sixty7.green uses data and purpose-driven insights to help businesses achieve corporate social responsibility ambitions. They provide strategic insights, a sign-post to good practice and help develop nature-based solutions.

Talking to Elizabeth it’s hard not to be inspired by her energy and vision for regenerative agriculture. Her deep understanding of the systemic issues around historical and current farming practices damaging our planet, degrading animal welfare, and the human rights issues within the farming industry are vast and fascinating. Tune in to hear how you and your company can get involved and help this important movement.  
Here are a few things we discuss in this great chat
The difference between an Organic Certification and a Regenerative Organic Certification and why it’s essential for people and the planet. The benefits of regenerative agriculture include; increased carbon sequestration, soil health, the ability to grow more nutrient-dense food, farms’ ability to be less impacted by draughts and flooding, and, a 40% reduction in inputs such as fertiliser.The controversial topic of hydroponic food growth GMO corn and soy used for animal feeds Integrated grazing to build healthy soil The importance of learning from indigenous people who have lived on the land for many years around the world to regenerate the earth and soil. Is the concept of cheap food broken? How long the Regenerative Agriculture Certification takes and how brands can get involved and support farmers in their supply chain. Surprising loopholes in the Organic Certification Relevant Links 
Regenerative Organic CertificationKiss The Ground DocumentaryThe Rodale InstituteElizabeth’s Top 3 Green MBA Topics
Transparency - Ensuring that companies are transparent in their reporting, and business operations. For example in the farming sector, it can often be challenging to pay a living wage, farmers need to be transparent about the pay gap (if one exists) and how they plan to pay a living wage over time.   Life Cycle Analysis - how do you reduce your waste and minimize your carbon emissions at every stage of your product’s life cycle.  Waste reduction - 30% of emissions from agriculture come from food waste, waste, in general, needs to be rethought, renamed, and, used to continue the nutrition cycle - ultimately, we shouldn’t have “waste'“. How to connect with ROC 
InstagramLinkedin Website Join our community 
LinkedinInstagramThis podcast was made in partnership with Ecologi, a subscription service that helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.
This podcast was made using SquadCast.
Ecologi Ecologi helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Where should your business focus its efforts to have the biggest environmental and social impact? As Christina points out in this interview, often the answer is not always obvious. Tune in as we discuss how to find areas to focus on to drive meaningful impact.

Christina Lampert is the Director of Growth & Innovation at HowGood, the world's largest product and ingredient sustainability database. In her spare time, she manages her social channel, The Sustennial Network, which celebrates the sustainable millennial lifestyle and business strategies on a variety of platforms. 
Show Notes 
Here are a few things we discuss in this great chat:
Business environmental impacts are not always obvious, so it’s important to do the work to understand where your largest sources of emissions are coming from, so you can have the biggest impact.For the food industry, most sources of environmental impacts come from the ingredients, not from packaging, despite the focus on plastics globally. The first educator advantage is how to use it to drive real change, both from an environmental impact point of view and to drive loyalty and trust from the consumer. Small changes in ingredients can have a bigger impact than you thinkWhere you source ingredients throughout your supply chain matters, is it better to get product A from Spain or Brazil? Christina talks about using HowGood's database helps to easily uncover the answer to these questions. Farm-to-gate stage and considerations around Regenerative Agriculture.How retailers are using these insights on the HowGood platform and using them to drive consumer behaviour toward more sustainable products. Relevant Links 
HowGoodSustennial Network @thesustennial on Instagram / sustennialnetwork.comChristina’s Top 3 Green MBA Topics
Enhance business sustainability storytelling around meaningful impact initiatives to increase loyalty and drive sales from your customers. How to calculate a carbon footprint via lifecycle assessment Learning how to conduct a greenhouse inventory for your business Keen to make an impact in this space with your business? Connect with Christina via Linkedin
Join our community 
LinkedinInstagramEcologi
Ecologi helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.

Jack is a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Sustainability & Climate Change team, based in Sydney. Jack works with organizations of all shapes and sizes to develop and embed sustainability strategies in order to improve their social and environmental impact. This covers everything from developing ESG targets, sustainability reporting and disclosure, emissions reduction strategies, responsible supply chain, circular economy, and diversity & inclusion. 
Show Notes 
Jack has a wealth of knowledge in this space having worked with many different companies across multiple industries spanning Australia and the United Kingdom. 
In this episode, Jack touches on so many areas, for those just getting started in this space this is a must-listen! 
Here are a few things we discuss in this great chat
Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) reporting 101 - Jack gives a fantastic overview of what this is and how to get started.Decarbonization - how businesses can start to think about lowering their carbon footprint, and a quick guide to the different carbon emission scope 1, 2 & 3. ESG remuneration - How do you embed environmental and social goals into long-term incentive plans to drive performance. The benefits of ESG reporting to companies and consumers. How does Australia compare to the United Kingdom when it comes to ESG reports. Examples of how companies are successfully embedding these strategies in different ways.How to figure out what you should be measuring and how you should set your own company goals. How strong ESG performance can drive up employee value propositions and the ability to employ talent. The challenges and risks in supply chain analysis for example for something as simple as a banana. Jack’s number one action he recommends for everyone to have an impact right now.Relevant Links 
Deloitte Climate Change and Sustainability InsightsMeasuring Stakeholder Capitalism: Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation.  Vivobarefoot has one of the best sustainability reports. All Birds Jack’s Top 3 Green MBA Topics
Impact - Teaching how to measure impact, for example understanding how to prove a product is better socially or environmentally.Alternative Business Models - We seem to be stuck in the idea and concept of private shareholders capitalism, however, there are many other business models that have ESG frameworks baked in from the start such as social enterprises and co-operatives.Learn how to build sustainability into how you solve strategic problems - for example in a traditional MBA you learn how to increase revenue or reduce costs, learning how to build sustainability into solutions from the beginning instead of retrofitting sustainability can be powerful.Join our community 
LinkedinInstagramWebsite

Ecologi Ecologi helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Andrew Davies is the current CEO of B Lab in Australia and New Zealand. B Lab is the not-for-profit that supports B Corporation Certification. 
Their mission is to help transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. 

As Andrew shares in this episode, businesses today are facing three challenges, the pandemic, a climate crisis, and a social crisis. He believes that wealth creation for businesses cannot and should not, be the only goal, and sees a way to use the capitalist high growth model of today whilst still rewarding innovators. 
Andrew believes we’re seeing a shift in the definition of success for businesses today. During this chat, we discuss the micro and macro impacts of this shift, and how businesses can learn from those already getting this right. 
Here are a few things we discuss in this great chat 
What it means to be a B Corporation What kind of companies can apply The goal of B Lab and its vision for businesses of the future The areas of the B Corporation certification The changing landscape for businesses as we redefine what success looks like Adding “so that” to your vision statement to articulate an impact you want to haveRelevant links 
B Impact Assessment B Corporation DirectoryIntroduction to B Corps - Free Course The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek B Corporation Impact Business Models (IBMs)Cult Status By Tim DugganAndrews Top 3 Green MBA Topics
The business governance model. How you build a model that allows you to consider your impact on all stakeholders. Empathy. Especially how you build an empathetic business and consider your impact on others. Environmental Societal Governance (ESG) frameworks. There are other models like B Corporation that can really help founders build better businesses.Join our community 
LinkedinInstagramWebsiteThis podcast was made using SquadCast.
Ecologi Ecologi helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.