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Nithin Coca

Media, Campaign and Research Consultant

Nithin is a freelance writer who focuses on global economic, and environmental issues with an aim at building channels of communication and collaboration around common challenges.

Nithin is a freelance writer who focuses on global economic, and environmental issues with an aim at building channels of communication and collaboration around common challenges. Besides Sustainable Brands, he contributes regularly to Triple Pundit, The Diplomat, Daily Dot, Entelligent, and numerous other global and regional media outets.

Nithin Coca is tagged in 80 stories. Page 1 of 4.
Certification Not Enough to Uphold EU’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Laws
Certification Not Enough to Uphold EU’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Laws

Supply Chain / These laws have been several years in the making — enough time for proactive companies to develop mechanisms to ensure their supply chains are free of deforestation, human rights abuses and forced labor. And while Europe is leading, other markets are likely to follow. - 1 month ago

Could Lab-Grown, Hybrid Foods Be the Future of Sustainable Protein?
Could Lab-Grown, Hybrid Foods Be the Future of Sustainable Protein?

Innovation & Technology / While the plant-based protein industry deals with growing pains, cultivated meats — and even a combination of the two — are waiting in the wings to help future-proof our food system. - 6 months ago

Direct Sourcing, Community Development Paving Paths to Sustainable Chocolate
Direct Sourcing, Community Development Paving Paths to Sustainable Chocolate

Supply Chain / With major markets passing environmental and human rights due-diligence requirements, sustainable commodity sourcing may soon no longer be optional — and brands that have invested and built relationships with farmers will be the winners. - 6 months ago

AI Is Helping Brands Address Forced Labor in Supply Chains
AI Is Helping Brands Address Forced Labor in Supply Chains

Supply Chain / As companies have faced reputational risk due to the uncovering of labor abuses from suppliers that many did not even realize were supplying them, there’s been a push to better manage and ensure supply-chain transparency — with technology playing a key role. - 1 year ago

In Response to Uyghur Forced Labor Scrutiny, Supply Chains Are Becoming More Opaque
In Response to Uyghur Forced Labor Scrutiny, Supply Chains Are Becoming More Opaque

Supply Chain / Since the passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2022, which banned US imports from companies linked to it, solar-industry sourcing is becoming 'less transparent.' Now, the results of inaction are affecting suppliers for car batteries and printers. - 1 year ago

Is the Chocolate Industry Ready for Europe’s Strict Due Diligence Requirements?
Is the Chocolate Industry Ready for Europe’s Strict Due Diligence Requirements?

Supply Chain / The EU’s mandatory environmental and human rights due diligence laws will require companies, traders and farmers around the world to rethink how they source major commodities. But cacao may be the one to watch to see the impacts of these regulations. - 1 year ago

Community-Inclusive Supply Chain Helping Regenerate Ecosystems, Economies in South Asia
Community-Inclusive Supply Chain Helping Regenerate Ecosystems, Economies in South Asia

Circular Economy / By thinking of suppliers more as business partners, companies such as Tengri are creating new models for ethical, regenerative supply chains. - 1 year ago

How 2 Community-Focused Models Are Creating Value for Filipino Coconut Farmers
How 2 Community-Focused Models Are Creating Value for Filipino Coconut Farmers

Supply Chain / Creating truly sustainable models that benefit local communities is a serious and often challenging commitment. But the benefits can be tremendous — both for the business and those in impoverished rural farming regions. - 1 year ago

Data-Driven Tools Are Helping Brands Address Uyghur Forced Labor in Their Supply Chains
Data-Driven Tools Are Helping Brands Address Uyghur Forced Labor in Their Supply Chains

Supply Chain / Too many brands have long taken a lackadaisical approach to ensuring their supply chains are free of forced labor risk. That is no longer an option if they intend to walk their ethical talk. - 1 year ago

Recenter and Accelerate: Japanese Brands Discuss Future-Proofing the Country’s Economy
Recenter and Accelerate: Japanese Brands Discuss Future-Proofing the Country’s Economy

Circular Economy / “How is the world transforming itself, and how is that going to be linked to corporate activities? We need to achieve symbiosis with that.” — Akihiro Inatsugi, Bridgestone - 1 year ago

Investors Can No Longer Ignore China’s Lagging ESG Performance
Investors Can No Longer Ignore China’s Lagging ESG Performance

Finance & Investment / For brands that pulled out of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, the cost was in the billions. But Russia is a tiny economy compared to China; and the costs of inaction on ESG issues could be multitudes of magnitude bigger. - 1 year ago

Basecamp Research Helping Expand Global Access to Safe, Natural Chemicals and Proteins
Basecamp Research Helping Expand Global Access to Safe, Natural Chemicals and Proteins

Materials & Packaging / With a goal of phasing out toxic and forever chemicals in consumer products, the UK-based biotech startup is spearheading the ethical, equitable discovery and utilization of the safe, effective chemicals and proteins waiting to be found in nature and developed for human use and benefit. - 1 year ago

‘Our Waters’ Documentary Highlights One Community’s Fight to Protect Its Coast from Commercial Exploitation
‘Our Waters’ Documentary Highlights One Community’s Fight to Protect Its Coast from Commercial Exploitation

Marketing & Communications / As salmon demand has grown, so too have large-scale, environmentally destructive aquaculture projects. The community of Frenchman Bay, Maine is fighting a plan to build North America’s largest industrialized, open-net fish farms in their backyard. - 1 year ago

‘WhatIF’ More Foods Were Made This Way? Meet the Company Feeding Both People and Soil
‘WhatIF’ More Foods Were Made This Way? Meet the Company Feeding Both People and Soil

Innovation & Technology / By creating supply chains around nutritionally dense, easy-to-grow but mostly overlooked ingredients that help restore soil health, WhatIF Foods envisions a more just, beneficial food system tailored to meet the needs of various regions. - 2 years ago

FTC Cashmere Models New Approach to a Truly Sustainable Supply Chain
FTC Cashmere Models New Approach to a Truly Sustainable Supply Chain

Supply Chain / The dire social and environmental consequences of opaque fashion supply chains have been laid bare; and consumers now demand that brands have clear, verifiable visibility throughout their supply chains. FTC shows that it can be done — but it requires a vastly different way of thinking. - 2 years ago

GoodSam Foods Out to Scale Regenerative, Farmer-Driven Model for Sustainable Snacks
GoodSam Foods Out to Scale Regenerative, Farmer-Driven Model for Sustainable Snacks

Supply Chain / The three-year-old maker of snacks, coffee and other ethically sourced foods is aiming to show that brands can source from regenerative ag systems; but it will require a real commitment to working with rural communities who, for too long, have been left behind by the modern food system. - 2 years ago

‘Changing Our DNA’: Brands Large and Small Illustrate New Models for Sustainability in Asia
‘Changing Our DNA’: Brands Large and Small Illustrate New Models for Sustainability in Asia

Innovation & Technology / On day two of SB’22 Kuala Lumpur, leaders in construction, eco-tourism, artisanal goods, marketing and more highlighted successes and challenges behind next-generation sustainability strategies — and the need for Malaysian brands to embrace collaboration for greater impact. - 2 years ago

Why, for Bumble Bee, Certification Matters for the Future of Sustainable Seafood
Why, for Bumble Bee, Certification Matters for the Future of Sustainable Seafood

Redefining Sustainable Seafood for the Future / As anyone who works on sustainable supply chains knows, getting transparency and/or certification on the final pieces can often be the most difficult. Bumble Bee’s goals will require ensuring better practices around catch reporting and verification of data, and working with and training consultants and vessel operators. - 2 years ago

To Build Back Better Post-Pandemic, We Must Re-Examine Lessons Learned from the Past
To Build Back Better Post-Pandemic, We Must Re-Examine Lessons Learned from the Past

Circular Economy / The pandemic has laid bare not only the many flaws in our global systems but also our capacity for resilience and ingenuity in the face of complex, immediate challenges — if we apply that thinking to those that lay ahead, we may yet save ourselves from ‘business as usual.’ - 2 years ago

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Mandates Supply Chain Due Diligence
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Mandates Supply Chain Due Diligence

Supply Chain / The law is a direct response to the widespread, well-documented reports of crimes against humanity in the Uyghur regions — and the fact that the reactions from most global brands to the issue have been, to put it lightly, disappointing. - 2 years ago