The primary purposes of Sustainability Matters are to improve the performance of New Zealand organisations from a sustainability, or "triple bottom" line perspective, and to advocate sustainability thinking and action.
Frequently this requires a change from "business as usual" to a different approach which not only reduces costs and improves financial performance but also results in much needed improved outcomes for people and our planet. We owe this to our children and to at least the next six generations i.e. seven generations.
The traditional measure of organisation success - financial outcomes - is an incomplete method of measurement and excludes key elements. These exclusions result in an "unbalanced scorecard".
Is this thinking new? No, far from it. Rachel Carson via her 1962 book "Silent Spring" was perhaps the person who more than any other alerted us to the need for changed thinking.
The thinking can be applied to entities of any size, in any sector, located anywhere.
Newsletters
As part of what we do a newsletter is published (usually) once very two weeks. It is four pages and is intended especially for chartered accountants** and those who use their services. It is distributed to subscribers by opt-in eMail. There is no ($) charge; donations are always welcome! By coincidence the newsletter is called Sustainability Matters.
** Because they have immense potential to influence others and to make huge positive differences to our world.
Sustainability Matters 19th December
In this final 2019 edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Greta Thunberg Is Time Person of the Year for 2019
• Madrid: More of a Failure than a Success
• The Art of Alignment: Sustainability & Financial Transparency
• Climate Commissioners Appointed
• A Chance for NZ to Lead the World in Cutting Back on Plastic
• Hit for Six Examines Threats to Cricketers
• Climate Lens to Examine Major Government Decisions
• CH4 Global Secures Provincial Growth Fund Grant for Seaweed Climate Change Solution
• Join Iwi, Hapu and Community Native Plant Nurseries Network
• IBM Hopes to Change Weather Forecasting Around the Globe Using Big Data and a New Supercomputer
• Could Abandoned Agricultural Lands Help Save the Planet?
• 2020 Future Thinker of the Year
• Resources from Tim for Summertime Reading and Listening
• Got eco Anxiety? Here are 10 Reasons for Climate Optimism
• A Film Festival by Activists for Activists
• Mental Health Benefits of Protected Areas
• Decades of Detailed Weather Reports Pulled from Old Sailor’s Logs
• Science Based Targets Initiative Releases First Ever Progress Assessment
• Insurance Made Riskier by Climate Change
Sustainability Matters 12th December
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• New Zealand’s 2019 Sustainability Heroes!
• Recent Climate Reports Underscore Genuine Emergency
• The Man Who Made Happiness Count
• Competition for Market Driven Sustainable Finance Business Models
• Leadership in Sustainable Business
• Tell Us What You’re Doing, Investors Tell Governments
• Freshwater – Controller and Auditor General’s Reports
• After a 40-year Struggle, Indigenous Guardians of Forest Gain Rights Over Land
• Climate Justice Report on Loss and Damage
• How to Change the World: A Practical Guide to Successful Environmental Training
• Should We Sacrifice Our Skies for 5G Service?
• Are Companies Facing Up To Climate Risk?
• What is Water Risk? And Why Should Investors Care?
• Group to Tackle the End-of-life Issue for NZ’s Lithium-ion Batteries
• Should I Ditch My Fossil-fueled Car?
• World Economic Forum Founder Suggests Natural Capital Could Replace GDP as Measure of a Countries Wealth
• Australia ‘Risks Being Dumping Ground’ for Cars with Greenhouse Gas 1,400 Times More Potent than CO2
Sustainability Matters 28th November
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Running the Risk: How Corporate Boards Can Oversee Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Issues
• Climate-related Financial Disclosures
• TCFD: Strengthening the Foundations of Sustainable Finance – Speech by Mark Carney
• A Little Humour Might Help with Climate Change Gloom
• Is Capitalism Dysfunctional? This Former McKinsey Boss Says So
• Crown Minerals Act Review
• Business School Students Are Putting the Planet before Profits
• Impact Investor Insights 2019 Aotearoa New Zealand
• Aurora Organic Dairy Commits to 100% Carbon-Neutral Energy in Its Fourth Sustainability Report
• Supply Chains: Rights, Transparency and Collaboration
• Resource Management System – Comprehensive Review
• Asparagopsis – What’s that?
• The Massive Cost of Not Adapting to Climate Change
• Resource Management Act Amendments
• Hemp is the New Oak: America’s First Hemp ‘Wood’ Factory is Being Built
• Return to Now
• The New Climate Math: The Numbers Keep Getting More Frightening
• New Report Calls Out World’s Largest Banks on Climate Failures
• G20 Heads in the Wrong Direction on Climate Action
Sustainability Matters 14th November
In this “supa” edition of Sustainability Matters – yes so soon after the previous “supa” edition – you can read about;
• Zero Carbon Bill Passes with Almost Unanimous Support in Parliament
• Consultation Opens on Kiwi Businesses Assessing and Reporting Their Climate-Related Financial Risks
• Heat, Greed and Human Need: Climate Change, Capitalism and Sustainable Wellbeing
• Sorcha Carr’s Speech to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)
• Enviro-Mark Solutions Ltd Rebrands to ‘Toitū Envirocare’
• Climate Liability News
• Focusing Aotearoa New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting System
• Gen Less Campaign by EECA
• U.S. Gas Station Ditches Oil for 100% EV Charging
• Accounting for Sustainability
• Dear GRETA, GRETA, GRETA….
• UK’s Treasury’s Net-Zero Minister: Climate Action will be a ‘Signature Theme’ of Next Government
• Inefficient Light Bulb Sales Halve
• Inequality and the Climate Crisis: Reflections on Gough’s Heat, Greed and Human Need
• Transition Engineering: Building a Sustainable Future
• How Green are New Zealand’s Supermarkets?
• The Aotearoa Circle’s Sustainable Finance Forum Names Three Top Priorities for Sustainable Finance System
• Should Directors Who Ignore Climate Change Risks Keep Their Jobs? [and 18 other stories]
• Hard Truths About the Green Economy: The Race to Clean Up Mineral Supply Chains
• Focusing on the Positive
• Italy to Become First Country to Make Studying Climate Change Compulsory in Schools
• How to Talk About Climate Change: A Toolkit for Encouraging Collective Action
• LCANZ 10th Anniversary Summit
www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/11/03/888404/reinvent-financial-system
Sustainability Matters 31st October 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Zero Carbon Bill Reported Back
• EDS: Second Working Paper in Phase 2 of Resource Management Reform Project
• A Framework for the National Climate Change Risk Assessment for Aotearoa New Zealand
• Interested in Good News? – Consider This
• Governance for Good; Developing the Capability of New Zealand’s $20 billion Not-for-profit Sector
• Climate and Business Conference Auckland: Key Takeaways
• Climate Risk and the Role of CFOs
• Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets
• Conference 4 Climate: Citizens Assembly
• Asda to Trial Refillable Packaging in Bid to Ditch Plastic
• Nissan Leaf Battery Upgrade Project
• How Do Policymakers Access and Use Evidence to Address Complex Problems?
• Doer, Thinker, Dreamer, Agitator – What Makes a Great Sustainability Leader?
• Flights of Fancy: 10 Ways to Imagine Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis
• Eliminate – Designing Out Problematic Packaging
• Former Exxon Scientists Tell Congress of Oil Giant’s Climate Research Before Exxon Turned to Denial
• Changing the Lives of Kiwis with Disabilities, One Cookie at a Time!
• Leading Australian Engineers Turn Their Backs on New Fossil Fuel Projects
Sustainability Matters 17th October 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Dr Rod Carr to Chair Climate Change Commission
• Leave ‘em Laughing Instead of Crying: Climate Humour Can Break Down Barriers and Find Common Ground
• Academic Director Sustainable Business (Professor/Associate Professor)
• The Fight for the World’s Largest Forest
• A Chat Leads to a Change of View on Climate
• Fashion is Costing the Earth
• Driving Alignment in Climate-related Reporting
• Swedish Newspaper Stops Taking Adverts from Fossil Fuel Firms
• The IMF and Ecuador – The People Prevail
• Webinar: TCFD Masterclass – Good Practice in Implementation
• Construction Procurement Guidelines – NZ
• Construction & Demolition Waste Services – New NZ Eco-label
• For Travellers, Sustainability is the Word – But there are Many Definitions of It
• Scotland Gets ‘Toughest Climate Change Laws in the World’ as Holyrood Vote Passed
• SBN Award Finalists
• State of Minnesota Launches Live State-Wide Sustainability Website
• A ‘How To’ for Responsible Businesses to Contribute to a Circular Economy
• BoE’s Carney Warns Companies Ignoring Climate Crisis Will Go Bankrupt
Sustainability Matters 3rd October 2019
In this ‘supa size’ 6 page edition of Sustainability Matters with no mention of climate marches and related events you can read about;
• Choices Made Now Are Critical for the Future of Our Ocean and Cryosphere
• What Love Looks Like
• The Climate Crisis: Justice, Emotion and Social Change
• Sustainability Matters
• Loophole Threatening Zero Carbon Bill
• Talking About Climate Change with Your Kids
• Five Ways UK Farmers are Tackling Climate Change
• Interim Climate Change Committee Calls for Evidence
• ESG Reporting Uptake in S&P/NZX 50 Index and Investor Perspective 2019
• Air Travel Emissions ‘Worse than Anyone Expected’, Vastly Outpace Predictions
• New Masters Degree Tackles Urgent Issue of Sustainability
• Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty in Earth’s Broken Places
• How to Lower Your Waste and Carbon Footprint
• The National Product Stewardship Roadshow
• TCFD Good Practice Handbook
• Air New Zealand 2019 Sustainability Report
• Legislation to Have Wellbeing ‘Enshrined in Law’ Introduced
• Bezos: Amazon Is ‘Done Being In the Middle of the Herd’ on Climate Issues
• Dreaming of Sustainability in a Material World
• Global Pumped Energy Storage
• Coalition of 10,000 Farmers and Ranchers Call on Congress to Pass Green New Deal
• Commit To Applying Natural Capital Thinking To Improve Organisational Decision Making
• A Circular Solution to Plastic Waste
• New Tools to Reduce Climate Impact of Freight
• Holland Turns Hundreds of Bus Stops into Bee Stops As Gift To Honeybees
• Trees and Land Use in NZ
• Spaceship to Earth – NZ has a Problem
• Loan of NZ$50m Tied to Environment, Social and Governance Measures
• The Hard Truths of Climate Change – By the Numbers