Last week, the 2025 Sustainability at a Crossroads survey was released, providing key insights into the views of nearly 850 sustainability professionals across the world, and building upon the survey’s decades-long research, the first results having been published back in 1997. With sustainability at a pivotal turning point, what do experts believe is the best route forward? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Chris Coulter , CEO of Globescan and Mark Lee , Gl...
Jul 23, 2025•34 min
Last year, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a leading alliance of trade unions, NGOS and businesses working to bring about the end of corporate human rights abuse, released its Corporate Transparency Framework detailing the reporting requirements for their company members. With the results of ETI’s member transparency assessment now out, how have companies performed against the standards? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Kate Lewis, ETI’s Head of Membe...
Jul 09, 2025•37 min
Central and Eastern European countries are often described as being the laggards in the EU’s sustainability transformation. But is this actually true? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Tsvetelina Kuzmanova , Sustainable Finance Policy Lead at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership , which gathers leaders and innovators across business, finance and government to work together for a sustainable future. Together they discussed how the Polish Pres...
Jul 02, 2025•36 min
How is the sustainability transformation unfolding in France? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Sébastien Mandron , Board Member of C3D , an association of more than 400 chief sustainability officers. Together they discussed Worldline Global’s experience of producing their first CSRD report, and the company’s reaction to French President Macron coming out against the CSDDD despite France having been the first European country to implement its own human right...
Jun 25, 2025•33 min
The history of corporate human rights abuse is as old as the history of corporations themselves, and yet our understanding of business and human rights has only evolved significantly over the last five decades. The concept of corporate accountability is now widely known, whereas only 20-30 years ago, companies often refused to accept responsibility for the inhumane conditions or practices found in factories producing their products. But how did this understanding evolve, and what progress remain...
Jun 18, 2025•40 min
At a time when there is so much uncertainty around sustainability and due diligence reporting with the ongoing Omnibus negotiations, it’s more important than ever to listen to the voice of business. How have companies in Germany been performing on sustainability reporting, and what does the future of the country’s green transition look like? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Fritz Putzhammer , Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung , an independent rese...
Jun 11, 2025•35 min
Last year, China issued its Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Standards, aligning its corporate sustainability reporting requirements to the ISSB and the EU’s CSRD with its double materiality approach. But with the EU’s own sustainability legislation in the process of being simplified, has China now become the world leader on sustainability? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Nana Li, Head of Sustainability and Stewardship of the Asia-Pacific region at Impa...
Jun 04, 2025•28 min
The European Commission says that EU sustainability legislation harms European business competitiveness. But does business really agree? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Ludovic Flandin , Vice-President and Founding Board Member of WeAreEurope , a new association of European sustainability professionals which was formed earlier this year. Together they discussed why Ludovic and his colleagues decided to set up WeAreEurope, and the main findings of their rec...
May 28, 2025•40 min
Last week, Microsoft signed one of the world’s largest carbon removal deals with carbon credit firm Rubicon Carbon, purchasing 18 million tonnes of carbon removal credits. But will investing in carbon markets necessarily reduce the urgency of reaching net zero emissions, and how large of a role should they play in the fight against climate change? In a special edition of the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Dr Daniel Klier , CEO of the climate consultancy South Pole , which...
May 21, 2025•35 min
Corporate sustainability is currently facing a significant setback due to recent shifts in the geopolitical landscape. But how should businesses best respond, and how can they gather the courage to keep going working towards becoming more sustainable? This week on the FranklySpeaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by author and speaker Andrew Winston , who has published multiple books on sustainability and was named as the third most influential management thinker in the world by Thinkers50....
May 14, 2025•36 min
Amidst this highly unpredictable global tariff war, there’s a new announcement each day on the latest round of tariffs being levied - or lifted - by and against the incumbent Trump administration. But what does this all mean for sustainability, and how will it impact companies on their green transition? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Joeri de Wilde , economist at Triodos Bank , which actively works towards creating a just and inclusive society with respec...
Apr 30, 2025•35 min•Ep. 1
With the CSRD reports of the first wave of EU companies due this year, what are the lessons practitioners have drawn from the experience? And in light of their experience, what do they think of the Omnibus proposals? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Ulrike Sapiro , Chief Sustainability Officer at Henkel , the German-based chemicals and consumer goods company which has already aligned its reporting to the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. Together...
Apr 16, 2025•34 min
With the departure of nearly a dozen US and Canadian banks from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in the past few months, is the future of sustainable finance hanging in balance? And what is the verdict on how far and well the green transition is advancing? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Antonio Ballabriga, Global Head for Sustainability Intelligence and Advocacy at BBVA, the Spanish multinational bank that has been working on sustainability and sustainable f...
Apr 02, 2025•33 min
With the Commission’s Omnibus package now being examined and debated in the European Parliament and the Council, the stakes are high for European businesses. How is industry reacting to the Omnibus proposals, and what should they do now? This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt is joined by Frank Bold’s Julia Otten and Maria Tymtsias , co-founder of the Palau Project and senior sustainability consultant. Together they discussed the findings of Palau’s recent survey of over 170 b...
Mar 19, 2025•36 min
Despite only being in office for less than 100 days, the Trump 2.0 administration has already passed several measures reversing the work of previous governments to fight climate change and embed ESG into the heart of American business practice. This week on the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt is joined by Anne Kelly, Vice President of Government Relations at Ceres , the NGO which has led advocacy for the sustainability transition in the US for more than 30 years. Together they discussed...
Mar 05, 2025•39 min
As the European Commission prepares to unveil its omnibus proposals to "simplify" the EU sustainability framework, we wonder if there are other ways to make green legislation easier for businesses besides dismantling the system. This week on the podcast, Richard Howitt is joined by Donato Calace , SVP Market Leader, Partnerships & Innovation at Datamaran as well as a member of EFRAG’s Expert Working Group on EU Sustainability Reporting Standard. Together they discuss ESG data and how to scal...
Feb 19, 2025•32 min
On the podcast this week, we’re back with a full length conversation on the Omnibus proposal, which has been causing uncertainty over Europe’s sustainability reporting, due diligence and sustainable finance laws. Richard Howitt and Filip Gregor look back at our “Frankly Speaking on Sustainability and Competitiveness” organised in Brussels at the end of January. Some of the top policy makers, experts and practitioners engaged in a constructive conversation on what simplification should look like....
Feb 04, 2025•38 min
** Register to the Conference on Sustainability & Competitiveness! Seats are filling fast for this high-impact discussion! Join us in Brussels or online on January 30th. Reserve your spot now: https://www.eventbrite.be/e/frankly-speaking-on-sustainability-and-competitiveness-tickets-1104355540149?aff=oddtdtcreator In the podcast today, we tackle a very big issue in the sustainability world: data in supply chains. How can companies get the data which they need from suppliers, when and when no...
Jan 22, 2025•35 min
In this special edition of the podcast, Richard Howitt sits down with Filip Gregor, head of Responsible Companies at Frank Bold to invite you to our upcoming conference on Sustainability & Competitiveness that will highlight why the Omnibus, portrayed by some as a tidying up exercise to get rid of duplication, should be seen as something more serious than that. Omnibus regulation preparation is in the hot stage. The Commission is set to unveil its proposals in February, yet the negotiations ...
Jan 20, 2025•7 min
2025 starts the same way 2024 ended: with a shifting political landscape. While Trump was re-elected in the US, the new European Commission announced an Omnibus proposal that would serve its simplification agenda. These events raise concerns about the backlash against the environmental and sustainability policies adopted in the last 5 years to ensure the green transition of the economy. But what is really going on? How much do we have to worry and how should those committed to the sustainability...
Jan 08, 2025•42 min
Is China making its green stride forward? As the world faces the dual challenges of addressing climate change and navigating geopolitical tensions, cooperation on climate goals is under threat. China’s role in green technology has made it a vital player, but it is also increasingly seen as a rival, or even a threat, by other global powers. Electric vehicles (EVs) have become the latest flashpoint, with the United States and European Union imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese EV imports, intensif...
Dec 11, 2024•33 min
As the UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights wraps up today, we’re diving into a pressing question: What are companies really doing to respect human rights? More importantly, is this less about policies and performance metrics and more about company culture, shaping not just what a business does, but how it operates at its core? This week in Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt receives Anna Triponel , a human rights expert with experience of working with hundreds of companies worldwide. Anna...
Nov 27, 2024•32 min
40% of plastic produced is for one-time use packaging. Only 9% of all plastic ever made is recycled. A large portion of the rest, ends up littering our land and oceans, harming wildlife and human health through microplastics. Next week, the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee will be held in Busan, South Korea, to develop an internationally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. This treaty presents a crucial opportunity to radicall...
Nov 20, 2024•43 min
Are companies saying one thing about sustainability, but doing something in their political lobbying that is very different? A new report has just been published today by the sustainable finance pioneer, the Eiris Foundation , as part of a project called Social LobbyMap. It provides detailed and independent research on business lobbying on Europe's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The report is helping to provide the inside story of what was really going on in what was o...
Nov 13, 2024•35 min
Is the role of the corporate chief sustainability officer at a crossroads? According to the renowned Business for Social Responsibility’s latest report , it is. The report is based on detailed interviews with chief sustainability officers in 31 companies worldwide and represents 30 years of combined experience in responsible business from the report's authors. To discuss the future of companies’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Richard Howitt welcomes Laura Gitman , one of the report’s co-authors a...
Oct 30, 2024•32 min
How can and should you address entity-specific reporting? What does a company do when something it thinks is important for its sustainability doesn't fit into a standardised reporting framework in the language of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)? Today in Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt is joined by Piotr Biernacki who has been involved in the ESRS right from the beginning in 2020, first as a member of the Project Task Force and now as a member of EFRAG ’s Technical Expert...
Oct 16, 2024•36 min
Will there be a just transition? How far does the climate crisis affect workers and businesses and what needs to be done about it? Today in Frankly Speaking, Richard Howitt welcomes Jason Judd , executive director of Cornell's Global Labor Institute . They recently produced a set of 25 social indicators which it believes are measurable and impactful, and which can give certainty to social issues and corporate sustainability reporting. The Institute has also produced research on the impact of ext...
Oct 02, 2024•32 min
Do our ideas about what makes companies competitive actually hinder the shift toward sustainability? What role do share or stock buybacks have in this? And has the move towards sustainable finance actually succeeded in providing incentives for companies to change? As former ECB President Mario Draghi made his own proposals for returning Europe to competitiveness and President von der Leyen reveals her new proposed team, we ask if there is enough money for sustainability and competitiveness. If y...
Sep 18, 2024•38 min
Welcome to the third season of Frankly Speaking! We’re kicking it off strong with a crucial topic: trust and what can drive improving it in business? To discuss this, Richard Howitt welcomes Alison Taylor , author of Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World . Alison is a clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business, Executive Director of the organization Ethical Systems, and has been involved with some major consulting organizations, including Contr...
Sep 04, 2024•33 min
Today, Frankly Speaking welcomes Professor Michael H. Posner , director of the Centre for Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern School of Business. He also served in the Obama administration as assistant secretary of State. Throughout his career, Mike has played a key role in establishing some of the major global initiatives on responsible business, including the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the Fair Labor Association, and the Global Network Initiative, and he continues to...
Jul 31, 2024•42 min
