ESG Decoded Podcast

That small green leaf next to certain Amazon products may be doing more work than shoppers realize. 
Emma Cox is joined by Dr. Sherry He, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University, to unpack her research on Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly program. Her findings show that sustainability labels were associated with a 13–14% average increase in product demand—but the reason may not be what brands, retailers, or consumers expect. 
The lift did not come from Amazon’s search algorithm or from shoppers actively filtering for more sustainable products. Instead, Dr. He explains what may be happening at the point of purchase, when a credible sustainability signal appears alongside a product.
In this episode, learn:
Which sustainability labels showed no measurable demand lift—including one of Amazon’s own.

The two product characteristics associated with a stronger consumer response.

Why credible third-party certification could become even more important as AI increasingly shapes product discovery and purchasing decisions.

What brands, sellers, retailers, and certification organizations can take from the findings.

If you buy, make, sell, market, or certify products, this episode offers a practical look at when sustainability claims can influence demand—and when they may not.
Don't miss an episode—subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on social for the latest updates!
Episode Resources
Harvard Business Review - Research: Products Labeled as Sustainable Sell Better: https://hbr.org/2025/06/research-products-labeled-as-sustainable-sell-better 

Do Judge a Product by Its Sustainability Label: Evidence from the Amazon Marketplace: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5009666# 

Amazon Climate Pledge Friendly:  https://www.aboutamazon.com/planet/climate-pledge 

Stand Out on Amazon as ClimeCo Certified™ Product: https://www.climeco.com/stand-out-on-amazon-as-a-climeco-certified-product/ 

Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in May 2026. It references the Harvard Business Review article, “Research: Products Labeled as Sustainable Sell Better,” published in June 2025, and the paper “Do Judge a Product by Its Sustainability Label: Evidence from the Amazon Marketplace,” originally published in November 2024. Please note that findings, market conditions, and related developments may have changed since those publication dates. 
-
About ESG Decoded
ESG Decoded, powered by ClimeCo, is a podcast for business leaders navigating sustainability, innovation, and the evolving expectations shaping organizations today.
Hosted by Emma Cox, Erika Schiller, and Anna Stablum, the show features candid conversations with sustainability leaders and subject-matter experts across industries. Each episode cuts through the noise to explore the ideas, challenges, and actions moving sustainability forward—giving listeners practical insights to turn ambition into meaningful impact.
ESG Decoded Resource Links 
Site:  https://www.climeco.com/podcast-series/

Apple Podcasts: https://go.climeco.com/ApplePodcasts

Spotify: https://go.climeco.com/Spotify

YouTube Music: https://go.climeco.com/YouTube-Music

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esg-decoded/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/esgdecoded/
*This episode was produced by Singing Land Studio 

About ClimeCoClimeCo is an award-winning leader in decarbonization, empowering global organizations with customized sustainability pathways. Our respected scientists and industry experts collaborate with companies, governments, and capital markets to develop tailored ESG and decarbonization solutions. Recognized for creating high-quality, impactful projects, ClimeCo is committed to helping clients achieve their goals, maximize environmental assets, and enhance their brand.
ClimeCo Resource Links
Site: https://climeco.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climeco/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/climeco/

Ahead of Climate Week NYC and the UN General Assembly, we look at how the world's largest multilateral climate fund is deploying capital in a moment when government commitment to climate finance is wavering.
Host Anna Stablum is joined by Amer Baig, Chief Investment Officer of the Green Climate Fund —  a key financing mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Over ten years, the fund has invested just over $20 billion across 135 developing countries, and Amer explains how this money unlocks private capital and opens doors to various financing mechanisms. He walks through how the fund uses flexible, patient capital to stretch that $20 billion into roughly $80 billion in total project value. 
Anna and Amer also get into the distance between what institutions say publicly and what they're doing privately, why "climate" may be the most misleading shorthand in the sector, and what perceived versus real risk means for capital flowing into developing markets.
Don't miss an episode—subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on social for the latest updates!
Episode Resources
Green Climate Fund: https://www.greenclimate.fund/ 

GCF project database: https://www.greenclimate.fund/projects

GAIA blended finance platform: https://www.findevcanada.ca/en/what-we-do/our-portfolio/gaia

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change: https://unfccc.int/

New York Climate Week: https://www.climateweeknyc.org/

-
About ESG Decoded ESG Decoded, powered by ClimeCo, is a podcast for business leaders navigating sustainability, innovation, and the evolving expectations shaping organizations today.
Hosted by Emma Cox, Erika Schiller, and Anna Stablum, the show features candid conversations with sustainability leaders and subject-matter experts across industries. Each episode cuts through the noise to explore the ideas, challenges, and actions moving sustainability forward—giving listeners practical insights to turn ambition into meaningful impact.
ESG Decoded Resource Links 
Site:  https://www.climeco.com/podcast-series/

Apple Podcasts: https://go.climeco.com/ApplePodcasts

Spotify: https://go.climeco.com/Spotify

YouTube Music: https://go.climeco.com/YouTube-Music

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esg-decoded/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/esgdecoded/*This episode was produced by Singing Land Studio 

About ClimeCo
ClimeCo is an award-winning leader in decarbonization, empowering global organizations with customized sustainability pathways. Our respected scientists and industry experts collaborate with companies, governments, and capital markets to develop tailored ESG and decarbonization solutions. Recognized for creating high-quality, impactful projects, ClimeCo is committed to helping clients achieve their goals, maximize environmental assets, and enhance their brand.
ClimeCo Resource Links
Site: https://climeco.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climeco/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/climeco/

What if sustainability isn't a job title, but a skill set you already have? 
Emma Cox speaks with Kelsey Kates, founder of Playfully Works,about what it means to care deeply about the planet while working in a role not traditionally tied to sustainability. 
At the time of this recording, Kelsey led learning and development at Google. While sustainability was never part of her formal job description, she became a keynote speaker on the company's sustainability efforts by volunteering her time, sharing her expertise, and consistently showing up. 
Bringing a learning-science lens to a question many of us have asked—how much can one person actually do? Kelsey explores how individual conviction can become meaningful to organizational impact. 
In this conversation, she shares insights on: 
Finding your own entry point into climate work through the expertise, influence, and passions you already have.

How small operational shifts, implemented at scale, can quietly change behaviors and norms.

Why explaining the why behind a change can matter just as much as the change itself.

Whether sustainability is best understood as a competitive advantage—or a competitive imperative.

Disclaimer: Since this conversation, Kelsey has concluded her decade-long tenure at Google and launched her own company, Playfully Works. It’s founding idea is one she shares in this episode, you don't have to be serious to do serious work.
Episode Resources
Google Sustainability: https://sustainability.google/

Google’s 2026 Environmental Report: https://sustainability.google/google-2026-environmental-report/

Climate Action Venn Diagram by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson: https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/climatevenn 

Playfully Works: https://kelseykates.com/ 

-
About ESG Decoded ESG Decoded is a podcast powered by ClimeCo to share updates related to business innovation and sustainability in a clear and actionable manner. Join Emma Cox, Erika Schiller, and Anna Stablum for thoughtful, nuanced conversations with industry leaders and subject matter experts that explore the complexities about the risks and opportunities connected to (E)nvironmental, (S)ocial and (G)overnance. We like to say that “ESG is everything that’s not on your balance sheet.” This leaves room for misunderstanding and oversimplification – two things that we’ll bust on this podcast.
ESG Decoded Resource Links 
Site:  https://www.climeco.com/podcast-series/

Apple Podcasts: https://go.climeco.com/ApplePodcasts

Spotify: https://go.climeco.com/Spotify

YouTube Music: https://go.climeco.com/YouTube-Music

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esg-decoded/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/esgdecoded/
*This episode was produced by Singing Land Studio 

About ClimeCo
ClimeCo is an award-winning leader in decarbonization, empowering global organizations with customized sustainability pathways. Our respected scientists and industry experts collaborate with companies, governments, and capital markets to develop tailored ESG and decarbonization solutions. Recognized for creating high-quality, impactful projects, ClimeCo is committed to helping clients achieve their goals, maximize environmental assets, and enhance their brand.
ClimeCo Resource Links
Site: https://climeco.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climeco/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/climeco/

Coastal Louisiana is losing a football field of land every hour. Restore the Earth Foundation (REF) is betting a million acres of restored forest can turn that around — and they're nearly halfway there. 
In this episode, host Erika Schiller is joined by Taylor Marshall, REF's Executive Director and a project manager for Ecometrics – a platform that quantifies the environmental, social, and economic impact of restoration projects. Together they talk about how native bald cypress reforestation delivers far more than carbon, from flood protection and cleaner water to the return of cultural practices that faded when the forests did. 
The conversation traces Restore the Earth's path from small post-Katrina tracts to full landscape-scale restoration, and the collaboration model that made that growth possible across federal agencies, state partners, local parishes, and corporate funders. Marshall shares what two decades of hard-won lessons have taught her about designing projects that endure, and the valuation work that finally gave funders a business case they could act on. 
Don’t miss an episode—subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on social for the latest updates!
Episode Resources
Restore the Earth Foundation - https://restoretheearth.org/

Climate-driven depopulation and adaptation realities in America's coastal ground zero (Nature Sustainability) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-026-01820-z

EcoMetrics: Measuring and Valuing the Impact of Nature-Based Solutions - https://www.ecos.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/EcoMetrics_WhitePaper_Jan2026.pdf

Restore the Earth Foundation Awarded Louisiana's First Water Quality Credits - https://restoretheearth.org/2025/05/06/restore-the-earth-foundation-awarded-louisianas-first-water-quality-credits/

Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan - https://coastal.la.gov/our-plan/

-

About ESG Decoded ESG Decoded is a podcast powered by ClimeCo to share updates related to business innovation and sustainability in a clear and actionable manner. Join Emma Cox, Erika Schiller, and Anna Stablum for thoughtful, nuanced conversations with industry leaders and subject matter experts that explore the complexities about the risks and opportunities connected to (E)nvironmental, (S)ocial and (G)overnance. We like to say that “ESG is everything that’s not on your balance sheet.” This leaves room for misunderstanding and oversimplification – two things that we’ll bust on this podcast.
ESG Decoded Resource Links 
Site:  https://www.climeco.com/podcast-series/

Apple Podcasts: https://go.climeco.com/ApplePodcasts

Spotify: https://go.climeco.com/Spotify

YouTube Music: https://go.climeco.com/YouTube-Music

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esg-decoded/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/esgdecoded/
*This episode was produced by Singing Land Studio 

About ClimeCoClimeCo is an award-winning leader in decarbonization, empowering global organizations with customized sustainability pathways. Our respected scientists and industry experts collaborate with companies, governments, and capital markets to develop tailored ESG and decarbonization solutions. Recognized for creating high-quality, impactful projects, ClimeCo is committed to helping clients achieve their goals, maximize environmental assets, and enhance their brand.
ClimeCo Resource Links
Site: https://climeco.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climeco/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/climeco/

In our new exclusive – ESG Decoded x Superpollutant Sessions, we’re shifting the climate conversation toward something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, but has the potential to drive some of the fastest, most meaningful climate impact available right now: superpollutants.
You’ve likely heard a lot about carbon dioxide, and for good reason. But gases like methane, nitrous oxide, and refrigerants are significantly more potent (hence the name superpollutants), and yet they remain underrepresented in mainstream climate discussions, business strategies, and public awareness.
So, the question is: why? And more importantly: what can we do about it?
In this multi-voice video episode, we’re bringing together a range of perspectives—from scientists and climate experts to industry leaders, corporate decision-makers, and policy experts, to connect the dots and challenge how we think.
You’ll hear a series of focused conversations, each offering a different lens on the same challenge: how do we accelerate practical, scalable solutions that already exist, and what it will take to move from conversation to action.

Meet the experts driving this conversation with our lovely host, Erika Schiller: 
Segment 1: Dr. Gabrielle Dreyfus (Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development) & Dr. Ilissa Ocko (Spark Climate Solutions)

Segment 2: Derek Six & Alison Tyndall (ClimeCo)

Segment 3: Michelle Jolly (Amazon)

Segment 4: Kristen Gorguinpour (Climate Action Reserve)

Don’t miss an episode—subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on social for the latest updates!
Episode Resources
UN Secretary-General's Call to Action on Methane - https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/methane 

IPCC Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) - https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar7/ 

Montreal Protocol & Kigali Amendment - https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol 

Climate Action Reserve - https://climateactionreserve.org/ 

ICVCM Core Carbon Principles - https://icvcm.org/ 

-
About ESG Decoded ESG Decoded is a podcast powered by ClimeCo to share updates related to business innovation and sustainability in a clear and actionable manner. Join Emma Cox, Erika Schiller, and Anna Stablum for thoughtful, nuanced conversations with industry leaders and subject matter experts that explore the complexities about the risks and opportunities connected to (E)nvironmental, (S)ocial and (G)overnance. We like to say that “ESG is everything that’s not on your balance sheet.” This leaves room for misunderstanding and oversimplification – two things that we’ll bust on this podcast.
ESG Decoded Resource Links 
Site:  https://www.climeco.com/podcast-series/

Apple Podcasts: https://go.climeco.com/ApplePodcasts

Spotify: https://go.climeco.com/Spotify

YouTube Music: https://go.climeco.com/YouTube-Music

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esg-decoded/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/esgdecoded/
*This episode was produced by Singing Land Studio 

About ClimeCoClimeCo is an award-winning leader in decarbonization, empowering global organizations with customized sustainability pathways. Our respected scientists and industry experts collaborate with companies, governments, and capital markets to develop tailored ESG and decarbonization solutions. Recognized for creating high-quality, impactful projects, ClimeCo is committed to helping clients achieve their goals, maximize environmental assets, and enhance their brand.
ClimeCo Resource Links
Site: https://climeco.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climeco/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/climeco/