ESG – a holistic concept that has roots dating back to the 1960s, has evolved over the decades gaining more traction in recent years within the corporate sustainability context.
Referring to the environmental (‘E’), social (‘S’) and governance (‘G’) pillars within the sustainability framework, they are key to addressing the impacts of corporate activities and investments on people and the planet.
With the current lack of unified reporting standards, definition and many frameworks influencing the ESG space, we gathered a network of experts and an all-star panel from different industries, contexts and trajectories to discuss the challenges and highlight opportunities around ESG reporting – from regulation and standardization to quality data collection and the measurement of impact.
This think tank was run by Goumbook in partnership with Emex and hosted by Jumeirah Group in their flagship hotel Burj Al Arab on 3rd of June, 2022. 
It included a presentation by Daniel Gribbin - VP of Sustainability and ESG at Emex, and a panel discussion that was moderated by Tatiana Antonelli Abella, featuring Mohamad El Khalil - Director of Prudential Supervision at DFSA, Mariam Alqubaisi - Head of Sustainability and Business Excellence at Etihad, Adrienne Doolan - CEO of Green Touches and Board Member of UN Global Compact Network UAE, and Ashraf Abdelkhalek - Sustainability, Health and Safety Leader for Gulf Countries at Schneider Electric.

Think Tank - Managing your ESG reporting

Tatiana is joined on this episode by Paul Newnham, Chair of the Public Engagement Task Force for the UN Food Systems Summit and Vice Chair of the Food System Champion Network. He is also Director of the SDG2 Advocacy Hub Secretariat and the Chefs’ Manifesto Coordinator. Paul heads up the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 Advocacy Hub as Director, an initiative bringing together NGOs, advocacy groups, civil society, the private sector and UN agencies to coordinate global campaigning and advocacy to achieve SDG2. To this end, the Hub has worked with a community of 240+ chefs from 38 countries to create a Chefs’ Manifesto–a framework outlining how chefs can contribute to the SDGs. Tatiana met him in Dubai when Paul came to release the Hub’s Chef Manifesto in Arabic alongside some powerhouse local chefs. 
Links:

SDG2 Advocacy Hub

Chef’s Manifesto

Good Food For All

The alliance to end hunger, with Paul Newnham

In this episode, Tatiana is joined by Tarek Al Khoury, Regional Coordinator for Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production at the West Asia Office of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). They talk about UNEP initiatives to promote the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, more precisely SDG12, and how we can all work together to reduce food waste. Recently Tarek was also part of a panel discussion moderated by Tatiana at the Food For Future Summit 2022 to discuss policies and legal frameworks to reduce food waste.
Food waste is a topic that needs our urgent attention, and this has come up a few times on the show with previous guests as well:

Rethinking food waste as a resource, with Ryan Ingram

Organic farming in the UAE, with Elena Kinane

Sustainable fine dining, with Luca Gagliardi

Pioneering sustainable solutions to tackle food security, with Abdulaziz AlMulla

The role of insects in the future of food, with Patrick Crowley

SDG12 and Food Waste, how can we make a difference? With Tarek AlKhoury

Philip Morris International's ongoing sustainability efforts include working to lower emissions, use energy more efficiently, and combat deforestation. In addition, PMI is determined to fight the environmental damage caused by plastic and post-consumer waste from their products - particularly cigarette butts. Around the globe, PMI teams have organized litter cleanups, launched awareness campaigns, and partnered with environmental NGOs and academics. 
In June 2020, Philip Morris International launched its first Integrated Report in which they announced their global commitment to achieve a 50% reduction of the plastic litter from their products by 2025 (vs. 2021). Accomplishing that goal will require a fundamental development of public education and awareness. Most essentially, adult smokers need to understand that it is unacceptable to dispose of their cigarette butts improperly. Therefore, PMI has launched a global initiative Our World is not an Ashtray with the aim of making cigarette butt littering a thing of the past.
Exemplary performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues is important, but it is equally clear that the biggest positive impact PMI can have on society and to be a truly sustainable company is to replace cigarettes with less-harmful alternatives.
The realization of this podcast was supported by Philip Morris Management Service (Middle East) Limited.

'Our world is not an ashtray’, with Monica Barten, Director Communications at Philip Morris Middle East

This week, digging into the National Pavilion of the UAE for the Biennale Architettura 2021 Wetland, which is curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto. The prototype is created from recycled industrial waste brine, handcast into organic shapes to recall the UAE’s traditional coral-built houses and spans 7m by 5m, with a height of 2.7 meters. We’re joined on the episode by Laila Binbrek who has served as the National Pavilion’s coordinating director since 2014, and Wael Al Awar, Founding Partner at WaiWai Design and one of the curators of the current edition of the Pavilion. 
The exhibit was also just awarded the Golden Lion award for Best National Participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition (Biennale Architettura 2021) will run from 22 May to 21 November 2021 with national Anti Covid-19 measures in place. You can find more information including a virtual tour here.

The UAE present a sustainable alternative to concrete at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021

We're back with a new episode, talking to Rasmus Astrup, a partner at SLA Architects, the company behind the Al Fey Park in Abu Dhabi. Al Fey Park is the first urban park in the UAE, spanning 27,000 square meters and with a focus on biodiversity featuring over 2,000 local flora.

Enhancing biodiversity through urban forests

A lot of people think of decluttering as merely cleaning up or getting rid of things but not many understand its link with living a low impact life. When someone else uses something we get rid of, it reduces their consumption and impact just as much as our own. And as we consume less, we need fewer cupboards, shelves, boxes and even smaller living spaces. This week, we're joined by Shelina Jokhiya, Founder of DeCluttr Me, the UAE's first licensed professional decluttering service, and the Host of the DeCluttr Me podcast. We talked about basic decluttering concepts, how to deal with e-waste and the harmful impacts if this is not disposed properly as well as the more emotional downsides of clutter that we should all be aware of.

Decluttering: the way to a low impact life, with Shelina Jokhiya

According to the The NY Researcher Market Watch, the electric 2-wheeler market is expected to grow at a compound rate of 4.6% to reach US$6.9 billion by 2024. This week, we're joined by Adam Ridgeway, the founder & CEO of One Moto here in Dubai, which finds itself at the forefront of this growth in the region. It is the first company in the UAE whose bikes have been approved by the local Roads & Transport Authority (RTA).

The future of commute, with Adam Ridgeway

This week, we're joined by Her Highness Sheikha Intisar Al Sabah, a princess of the royal AlSabah family of Kuwait. Sheikha Intisar is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, author and columnist. She believes in using her knowledge, experience and personal discoveries to inspire people to look, feel and do better and is now on a mission to empower one million Arab women. In 2013 she launched Alnowair, the first GCC non-profit working with schools to improve well-being among children through positive psychology. This year the program has covered 11,600 children so far. And in 2017 she launched the Intisar Foundation, which works with with NGOs in Jordan and Lebanon to offer drama therapy to women affected by war and female victims of violence.

On a mission to empower one million Arab women, with Sheikha Intisar Al Sabah

This week, we're joined by Sunil Lalvani, the founder of Project Maji which seeks to bring sustainable access to safe water across rural sub-Saharan Africa through solar-powered water kiosks. Sunil shares his experience on starting & operating a social enterprise in the region and the overall impact having safe drinking water has on the youth and their quality of life.

Clean water empowering future generations, with Sunil Lalvani

This week, we’re sharing a conversation from a few months ago when we attended (and had a live podcast station) the Global Forum on Innovations for Marginal Envionrments held by ICBA in Dubai; the opening address by Her Excellency Mariam Bint Mohammed Almheiri, the Minister of State for Food Security in the UAE. Our guest is Patrick Crowley who founded Chapul 8 years ago when he came across a water-efficient source of protein ... crickets. Since then the company has been producing energy bars & powders based on insect protein and envision a world in which insects can provide an efficient and alternate source of food worldwide.

The role of insects in the future of food, with Patrick Crowley

As we all continue to deal with the impacts of the restrictions in place to control the spread of the Novel Coronavirus, we’d like to encourage you to support your local businesses at this time in any way possible—whether it is ordering from them, donating to them, sharing their information to help spread the word, as some businesses are offering buying their services upfront at a discount for when they eventually open. One such business is Organic Glow, the UAE’s first organic and all-vegan salon that opened nearly 10 years ago. Listen in for how she got started as well as her advice on various harsh chemicals we are exposed to in our day-to-day lives. 
If you’d like to connect with us, you can find us on Instagram and listen to all of our episodes on our website.

Beauty without Cruelty, with Leena Al Abbas

This week, we're joined by David Ramos Álvarez, Senior Manager of Sustainability at HSBC and Keith Bradley, Founder & Managing Partner at Globally. The two companies have partnered together as part of the Living Business Programme which aims to help startups adopt more sustainable practices in their operations. Tune in to find out more about the partnership, how you can get involved as well as other initiatives at play in the region to promote sustainability programs. 
You can connect with us via Instagram and find all of our episodes in your favourite podcast player or on the web.

Sustainability in business: how local SMEs can get involved, with David Alvarez & Keith Bradley

This week, we're joined by Abdulaziz AlMulla, the founder & CEO of Madar Farms about the realities of water consumption and its effect on food security, how they’re handling this imbalance as well as helping educate the masses about the problem. The realities of just 1% of our land being farmland while more than 80% of our water consumption going towards agriculture is a terrifying imbalance. Madar Farms started out in 2017 to focus on using controlled-environment agriculture methods such as hydronics to conserve water while ensuring a healthy production of vegetables. We'd love to hear what you thought of our episode so let us know on Instagram and find all our previous episodes in your podcast players and on the web.
Stay safe and see you next week.

Pioneering sustainable solutions to tackle food security, with Abdulaziz AlMulla

This week, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, which killed 1,138 people and injured many more, we encourage millions of people to come together to campaign for systemic change in the fashion industry. We are living in a climate emergency and the fashion & textiles sector is one of the most polluting and wasteful industries. So why are we featuring a podcast about this industry today? It's because GoShopia sells fashion with a conscience by shying away from fast fashion trends towards more sustainable brands. Tune to listen to their co-founder Araceli Gallego to know about sustainable fashion and why we should all be thinking more consciously about what we buy and wear.

Fashion with a conscience, with Araceli Gallego

We're joined this week via web conference by Saeed Al Jabbar, founder & MD of AESG, a specialist consultancy firm focused on energy, sustainable development and urban improvement. We talk to Saeed about AESG's approach to better urban development, the impact of the current world situation on the construction industry & his take on a more circular approach to construction. 
We'd love to hear what you think of the episode. You can connect with us on Instagram and find all our episodes in your podcast players and on the web.

Moving towards net-zero carbon buildings, with Saeed Al Abbar

We hope you and your loved ones are safe, and that you're listening to this episode from the comfort of your home. 
This week, we're sharing our conversation with Maria Sillanpaa, founder of Sustainability Advisory. This was a conversation we did much before the restrictions were put in to control the spread of the Novel Coronavirus. Maria joins us to talk about the first-of-its-kind Conscious Consumer UAE State of Play 2019, where they surveyed 1,300 citizens and residents in the country to understand how sustainability conscious the average consumer is in the UAE. You'll find a link to the report (and its free summary) below. 
You can also reach out to us with your thoughts on our website, on LinkedIn and on Instagram. 

Conscious consumerism, with Maria Sillanpaa

This week, we're joined by Tanzeed Alam, MD of Earth Matters — they are a consultancy focusing on strategy & advisory services to help find practical solutions around climate crises and human development. Tanzeed shares his thought on climate change and how they're enabling the businesses they work with. We also talk about the current pandemic and what businesses can learn from its impacts worldwide. Over the next few weeks we hope to share more conversations about the various issues the pandemic has highlighted—from business practices that affect us to how we may look to rebuilt once its effect is contained. Connect with us on Instagram and find all our episodes in your podcast players and on the web.

Humans vs Nature, with Tanzeed Alam

With March 22 being World Water Day, we're joined on this episode by Adam Torrey from The Water Project, a non-profit focused on reliable water projects around clean water and sanitization in sub-Saharan Africa. Adam shares how The Water Project meets its goals as well as helps put various aspects around our water consumption into persepctive for us. Later this week, we'll be sharing our conversation with Tanzeed Alam from Earth Matters, where we talk about how the current Coronavirus pandemic should us cause to rethink the way we do business and some of its impacts. You can connect with on [Instagram](https://instagram.com/goumbook) and find all of our previous episodes on our [website](http://goumbook.com/podcasts) if you'd like to catch up on them.

The Water Project, with Adam Torrey

On this episode, we’re joined by Maggie Doyne, founder of Blink Now Foundation, which provides quality education & a safe environment for children in Nepal. With thanks to Dana Al Matrook, founder of the Kind Human Collective.

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