Battery challenges: can critical mineral value chains meet EU regulation?

This week: From 2027, EV and industrial batteries will need verified data on carbon footprint, material composition and supply chain due diligence in the EU. To discuss the challenges, Anna Fleming from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Jeroen Hoff, Connect Bus, and Ilya Gasparishvili from Honeywell Technologies, joined Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh on a recent webinar. The panel discussed whether critical mineral value chains are ready to deliver. Plus: consumer concern about sustainability rises for the first time in three years, according to Bain & Company; dry weather in Côte d'Ivoire threatens cocoa supply; El Niño could push 50 million more people into acute hunger; MacroCycle signs a deal with Meta to fund its first PET recycling plant; and, adaptation finance still trails mitigation despite better ways to measure resilience, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Ian Welsh 

Charlotte Bande, managing director and global food and beverage sector lead at Quantis, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about climate risk in food supply chains following this summer's Northern Hemisphere heatwave. They discuss why extreme weather events are leaving less time for recovery, why low-volume commodities such as vanilla can carry high business risk, and how traceability and procurement involvement can support supply chain resilience.

The EU Battery Regulation is raising the bar. From 2027, battery passports will be mandatory for EV and industrial batteries, requiring verified data on carbon footprint, material composition and supply chain due diligence across the full value chain. For an industry where data is fragmented, supply chains span dozens of jurisdictions and transparency stops well short of the mine, the question is no longer whether to comply. It is whether compliance is actually possible. The challenge is structural. Miners, processors, traders, manufacturers and buyers all hold different pieces of the data puzzle, with limited incentive to share it and significant barriers to doing so. Meeting the regulation's requirements demands a level of cross-chain coordination that the sector has never achieved at scale. This webinar brought together voices from across the value chain to explore what it will actually take to get there. What we discussed: What the next phase of the EU Battery Regulation requires and where the sector currently falls short The data gaps and coordination challenges that sit between the mine and a compliant battery passport How companies across the value chain are building the systems and partnerships to meet their obligations Where the battery passport creates genuine supply chain value beyond compliance

This week: Andrew Coburn, chair and founder at climate experts Risilience, talks with Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh about the coming super El Niño and its threat to global food supply chains. They discuss new research putting crop losses at up to $375bn, with rice, wheat, coffee and palm oil among the commodities exposed, and why agri-sector companies need to be acting now. And, fossil fuel emissions set to fall in 2026 amid Hormuz crisis; PaperFlex consortium launched for paper-based packaging; Avantium and Klöckner Pentaplast partner on plant-based polymer; and, plastic pollution costs Vietnamese fishers a fifth of revenue, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh Join Risilience, Innovation Forum and industry peers in London on 20 October to explore how market leaders are leveraging advanced analytics to translate complex climate and nature risks into the metrics that matter most: ROI, capital allocation, and value protection. Register your interest here.

Mobeen Chughtai, group head of ESG and corporate communications at Soorty Enterprises, talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell at the recent Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA, in a follow-up to their earlier conversation. Mobeen describes a simulation exercise he ran giving brands, regulators and vendors a supplier's real budget and legislative pressures to work through. They discuss what it revealed including how a 'sustainability premium' is really just an unfunded cost shift. They also talk about how suppliers are now managing a second product that is compliance data, with no shared system to plug into.

This week: Anna Pierce, chief sustainability officer at Tate & Lyle and Regrow's CEO and co-founder, Anastasia Volkova, talk with Ian Welsh about how to build properly dependable agricultural supply chains. They discuss Tate & Lyle's experiences in its Europe operations and how data can help build strong climate resilience. Plus: McKinsey's Global Farmer Insights report finds AI adoption rising among farmers but few willing to pay for it; Spain calls for an EU-wide climate adaptation fund funded by a windfall tax on fossil fuel companies; and, the Philippines opens up 9 million hectares for critical minerals exploration, raising concerns for indigenous land rights, in the news digest. Host: Ian Welsh

Cory Connors, host of the Sustainable Packaging Podcast presented by Atlantic Packaging, and Matt Saunders, managing partner at New Earth Ventures, talk with Ian Welsh about what's actually moving the needle on packaging. They share a case study of how a brand's switch from plastic to paper blister packs doubled sales, and the potential of AI in changing packaging design and procurement. Cory and Matt will be at the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA on 27-28 October in Chicago. Click here to continue the conversation in-person.

This week: Pakistan-based denim garments manufacturer Soorty Enterprises’ head of ESG, Mobeen Chughtai, talks with Niamh Campbell, Innovation Forum's head of portfolio, apparel and textiles, about some of the challenges facing sector factories and suppliers that buyers at brands need to know about. They talk about digital product passports, development of renewably powered factories and what productive relationships can look like. Plus: Amazon deforestation slows, again; New Zealand’s modern slavery regulation on track; and, who pays for climate change impacts, including Nepal’s catastrophic flooding, in the news digest.  Host: Ian Welsh

Julia Kirschner, impact and innovation director at ArmedAngels talks with Innovation Forum's Niamh Campbell about where circularity actually begins: with brands' design decisions, not raw materials. They discuss how ArmedAngels audited its 2026 collection and found 58% alignment with its own circular design principles.

This week: Charlotte Bande, managing director and global food and beverage sector lead at Quantis, talks with Ian Welsh about the mounting pressure on food supply chains from compounding climate shocks. They discuss why low-volume commodities like vanilla can carry outsized business risk, and why procurement teams still resist change when full traceability isn't in place. And, new study finds little measurable forest benefit from corporate zero-deforestation pledges; a Vietnamese cocoa processor turns waste pods into biochar and clean energy, halving drying time; and, Egypt develops a $278 million project to turn sugarcane waste into bioethanol, in the news digest with Babette Pagès. Host: Diana Kim Click here for more information on the Climate Resilience Innovation Forum (2-3 December 2026, New York City).