Happy New Year, some recent sustainability analysis, and what’s coming up

Happy New Year to all readers, and I hope you had a restful festive break.

I was in rural Somerset with the family, where it rained a lot, but the local food and (mostly imported) wines were superb.

Part of my New Year resolutions (along with more gym, fewer carbs and glasses of wine in the usual way) is to blog more.

The blog has fallen a bit flat in recent times, so I plan to re-invigorate it with more interviews, posts and opinion pieces. Let me know if you have ideas for any of those by emailing me here.

I’ve not written a “predictions for 2018” blog post this year. But if you want one of those, here’s a good one on trends from Mike Barry at M&S. If you are in a reflective mood personally, then this essay from Peter Drucker, which I read every year at this time, is a good one.

Meanwhile, here’s what we at Innovation Forum are up to for the first six months of 2018, below.

But so you don’t think this is a thinly veiled marketing post/email, there’s a lot of other useful articles and podcast interviews below, on subjects from human rights management, to tackling deforestation and sustainable agriculture and how brands can re-think plastics use. Just scroll down and have a look/listen.

Here’s the conference plan (all debate, no PPT, no speeches, no velvet covered tables, we promise)

How business can tackle modern slavery and forced labour – 7-8 March 2018 – London
From legislation to real practice: How to manage risk and eradicate slavery from operations and supply chains
7th-8th March 2018, London

How business can make smallholder supply chains resilient – 13-14 March 2018 – London
Practical ways to use the Sustainable Development Goals

Can innovation and technology make agriculture sustainable? – 5-6 April 2018 – Washington DC
How to scale solutions that win for farmers, food and the planet

How business can tackle deforestation – 18-19 April 2018 – Washington DC
Build relationships, develop targets, and drive positive impact

How apparel brands can transform supply chains (contact us for more information, details will be published soon)
24th-25th April 2018, Amsterdam

How business can tackle forced labor and human trafficking (contact us for more information)
12th-13th June 2018, New York

Corporate sustainability measurement, impact and technology (contact us for more information)
June 2018, London

Lot’s more of these are here on our website. We spend quite a bit of time and money on all this, and it’s all free, so the site is worth a look, just click here.