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 5th September 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• The Eight Principles of a Regenerative Economy
• Changing the Narrative: Why Paying Tax Should Be a Badge of Pride for Companies
• Climate Change: 12 years to Save the Planet? Make that 18 months
• ZEALANDIA Named One of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Greatest Places of 2019
• Sustainability Matters
• Business Must Place Purpose before Profits, Top CEOs Urge
• Concrete Solutions to Cut CO2 Emissions
• Energy Efficiency Key Action to Meet Renewable Energy Goals
• Colorado’s Organic Farmland is Growing – and Boosting Incomes Along the Way
• A Dedicated Watchdog for Water Quality
• Sustainability Leadership in a Changing World
• A-CSEAR 2019 Conference
• What’s your 2040?
• SBN Leadership in Sustainable Business Course 2019
• A Zero Carbon Christchurch
• In Ecuador, One Man’s Mission to Restore a Piece of the Rainforest
• Biodiversity Risks and Opportunities: Corporate Sector Approaches
• Toitū te Ao – Sustainability Week
• Investor Water Toolkit
• A Northwest Passage Journey Finds Little Ice and Big Changes
Sustainability Matters 22nd August 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Environment Committee Confirms Upcoming ‘Zero Carbon’ Hearings
• It’s Farewell from TNS New Zealand
• Charity Severs Ties with Engineering Firm Over Adani Coal Mine
• Electric Scooters are Good for the Environment, Right? Here’s Why it’s Not So Simple
• Campaign to Increase ‘Product Take Back’
• Most Global Companies Have Modern Slavery in Their Supply Chains
• Making Manufacturers Responsible for Their Own Rubbish
• Who Will Pay for the Huge Costs of Holding Back Rising Seas?
• ‘Greta effect’ Leads to Boom in Children’s Environmental Books
• Michael Moore: ‘I Refuse to Let This Planet Die’
• Have Your Say on Auckland’s Climate Action
• Samsung Releases Pre-Installed App on Galaxy Note Series Touting SDGs
• Maybe the Next Great Human Achievement Will be Saving the World
• Businesses ‘Underestimating’ Speed of Low-Carbon Transition
• EDS Workshops – Reform of the RM System
• Nelson City Council – Climate Change Champion
• Social License to Operate: Lecture Series
• Climate Change & Business Conference 2019
• Under Construction: Hidden Emissions and Untapped Potential of Buildings for New Zealand’s 2050 Zero Carbon Goal
Sustainability Matters 8th August 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Zero Carbon Bill Hearings
• A Week of Major UK Green Policy Announcements
• Airport Expansion Stalled on Climate Grounds
• More than 350 million Trees Planted in a Day in Ethiopia
• Give us Hope. Show us More Solutions – Less Doom and Gloom
• Biking with Butterflies
• Research to Action: The Science of Drawdown
• Refusing to Give Up on Protecting the Environment: Sam Judd
• Eco-packaging Trials Reduce Event Waste
• Humans Will Never Colonise Mars
• The Bizarre, Peaty Science of Arctic Wildfires
• Following Up on Forget Shorter Showers
• Mint Innovation is Making e-Waste Less Wasteful
• Shaping Our [NZ] Low Emissions Future
• UK Lawmakers to Count Environmental Cost of Mass Tourism
• Defusing Southeast Asia’s e-waste Timebomb
• This Zero-waste Restaurant Generates Literally No Trash
• First Step is All about Mindset Shift
• Meridian Energy Releases Climate Change Risk Report
• TCFD- 2019 Status Report
• Tough Line on Plastics Taken at Airport
Sustainability Matters 25th July 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Interim Climate Change Committee – Two Reports Released
• Public Consultation: Earth Building Standards
• Senior Policy Advocate – Business reform
• Radical Action to Tackle a Radical Problem
• Fashion Produces More Emissions than All International Flights and Shipping Combined
• Training courses on The Natural Step and Future-Fit Business Benchmark
• Climate Emergency? Try Revolution
• Ensuring Wellbeing Falls Equitably Across New Zealand
• How Airplane Contrails Are Helping Make the Planet Warmer
• Superhome Tour Christchurch 2019
• UN Expert Warns World Faces ‘Climate Apartheid’ Risk
• Wave Energy, Bus Stops and Mattresses
• A Letter to the Future upon the Demise of a Glacier
• A Carbon Emission Reduction Toolkit for Cities
• How to Put Climate Change Financial Risks on the Books
• Adopting a Restorative Strategy
• Finance Culture Practical Examples
• Forget Shorter Showers
• Creating Our Living Future – Updates and Stories from Aotearoa and the World!
Sustainability Matters 11th July 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Zero Carbon – Submissions
• Essay Competition for Young People
• 1988 – “Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate”
• Saving Manapōuri: The Campaign That Changed a Nation
• Ireland’s World-leading Citizens’ Climate Assembly. What Worked? What Didn’t?
• How Nelson Businesses Can Take Climate Change Action
• 5 Reasons Why China is the World’s Sustainable Development Superpower
• Wellbeing and Public Policy
• Schools and Not-for-profits – Canon Grants Program
• Productivity Commission: Councils Need Government Help on Climate Change
• CEO Guide to Human Rights
• Credit System to Incentivise Plastic Recovery
• Guidance on Compostable Packaging
• Investing Mindfully
• UN Warns One Climate Crisis Disaster Happening Every Week
Sustainability Matters 27th June 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• !! New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Legislation !!
• Free Sustainability Webinars for CA ANZ Members
• The Conduct of Financial Institutions – Submission by Wise Response Society
• The Formula for Telling Sustainability Stories which Stick
• Auckland Council Declares Climate Emergency
• Two Worked Examples on Social and Human Capital Accounting
• Empowering NZ Business and Acting on Plastic
• NZ’s Second National Sustainable Development Goals Summit
• Keep NZ Earth Building Standards Up To Date
• Climate Change & Business Conference 2019
• Cutting Construction and Demolition Waste
• Sanfords Wins Australian Reporting Awards
• Shareholders Defy Bank Management
• ISO 50001 Explained
• Growing Well at Pūniu River Care
• Documentary: Fools and Dreamers
Sustainability Matters 13th June 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• An Alternative Measure of Progress to GDP
• No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
• The Fracking of Rachel Carson – Silent Spring’s Lost Legacy, Told in Fifty Parts
• What Next? Season 2, Episode 3
• Green Speak Waikato
• Survey: How Should Stuff Cover Climate Change?
• Sustainability Failed. The Future is Just Climate
• Tackling Climate Change? Governor Jay Inslee Has a Plan for That
• ISO Twenty-Four-Hundred
• Want to Read Up on Sustainability But Don’t Know Where to Start?
• From Fringe to Mainstream – Sustainable Business Council Celebrates 20th Anniversary
• EMBARK: Achieving Low Emissions Together
• There’s More to Seaweed than Just a Superfood
• Creating Healthy Communities and Ecosystems for a Resilient Future
• Crazy-Town – Band-Aid Town
• A Nod to NZ: What Can We Make of the Advice from the UK’s Committee on Climate Change?
• Businesses Say They Are Climate Resilient – but Most Don’t Actually Have a Plan
• The Guide to Going Circular.