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 17th August 2017
This is the fourth in a series of four six page editions.
There will be no edition of Sustainability Matters on 31st August, or 14th and 28th September – hence the expanded recent editions.
From the date of this message until Sunday 1st October inclusive I will be ‘out of office’, mainly out of NZ visiting family.
In this edition you can read about;
• Sustainability Group Events
• How Can New Zealand Transition To a Low Emissions Economy?
• ESG Reporting – Six Reasons Why
• Fraud – a [NZ] Perspective
• Extracting and Processing Iron Sand within the South Taranaki Bight: Marine Consent Application
• A New New Zealand First
• GRI Rises to Sustainability Standards Challenge
• How A Surge in Visitors is Overwhelming America’s National Parks
• Carbon Offset Schemes in NZ
• Fewer People Think Continued GDP Growth Necessary or Possible
• ‘World-first’ Lawsuit Against Bank Over Climate Change Risks
• Groundwater Fees Prompt Farmers to Slash Water Use by a Third
• Company Wants 10,000 Electric Bikes on Auckland Streets
• Technology and Morality in the Age of Climate Change, Overpopulation, and Biodiversity Loss
• How an Urban School’s Garden Project Healed a Community
• Air on Board Cruise Ships ‘is Twice as Bad as at Piccadilly Circus’
• Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
• How the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals can Quietly Change Global Business
• Mayors of 7,400 Cities Vow to Meet Obama’s Climate commitments
• The Carbon Majors Database
• The Three Skills Kids Need Most in the Age of Climate Change
• The Rise of the Food Barons
• The Status of Climate Change Litigation – A Global Review
• Why Can’t New Zealand Quit Supermarket Plastic Bags?
• A Message of Hope
• Net Zero New Zealand – Conclusion.
Sustainability Matters 3rd August 2017
This is the third in a series of four six page editions. The fourth in the series is scheduled for two days early i.e. Tuesday 15th August at which time the reason will ‘revealed’.
Meanwhile read about;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Action Plan for Sensible Climate Decision-Making
• I Know What You Did Last Summer: Risks and Opportunities for Big Data
• The Science, Business, and Education of Sustainable Infrastructure: Building Resilience in a Changing World
• Crush Tax Avoidance
• UK Green Roof Report 2017
• Not Green Enough: Local Government, the Resource Management Act & the Environment
• Nearly a Billion People Defecate Outdoors – Here’s Why
• A Tale of Two Countries: Why This Expert Thinks NZ Should Copy UK’s Climate Change Policy
• Sustainable Future Collective
• World Needs ‘Revolution’ in Mental Health Care – UN Rights Expert
• Consumer or Citizen? – New Citizenship Programme
• Supermarkets Under the Spotlight
• Social Enterprise World Forum Christchurch 2017
• Climate Change on the Corporate Governance Landscape
• Sustainability Key to Award-winning Design for Next Generation of Medium Density Housing
• Fortune 500 Companies Accelerating Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency Efforts
• 16th Australasian CSEAR Conference – CALL FOR PAPERS
• Why Your Grandchildren Hate Your Refrigerator
• Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
• Running Dry: Seeking Solutions to South Asia’s Looming Water Crisis
• Sick of Too Many Cows: How Intensive Livestock Farming Could be Endangering Our Health
• Webinar: How the Adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Informs Sustainability Disclosure
• 7th Annual European Biomass to Power
• Freshwater Rescue Plan
• Declare Ecolabel in New Zealand
Sustainability Matters 20th July 2017
This is another ‘massive’ six rather than four page edition. The reason will become apparent in mid-August! Meanwhile read about;
• Sustainability Group Events
• A4S Essential Guide to Social & Human Capital Accounting
• Insights into Integrated Reporting
• Essential Skills for Next-generation CSR Leaders
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• Helping World Leaders Become Green Leaders
• Climate Change Presents Business Risks and Opportunities
• What You Might Not Know About Oxfam
• Without Feathers: Life Without Hope May be Our Best Chance for Peace
• Towards Carbon Neutrality Workshop
• If Trump Can’t Handle the Paris Accord, He’ll Hate This Bold Idea
• Best of: Winnie Byanyima
• The Regenerators: A Better Way to Farm
• Can We Avoid Collapse?
• Adding Sustainable Value Course
• Smart Office Guide
• Two Home Related Events On the Same Day!
• New Philanthropy Capital (NPC)
• Warehoused
• Festival for the Future
• Webinar: How the Adoption of Financial Accounting Standards Informs Sustainability Disclosure
• Conservation Land Can’t be Destroyed for Dam – Supreme Court
• Did You Know? – U.S. Dairy
• Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2016-18
• Governance and Climate Change Risk
• Listen to Naomi Klein on Her New Book No is Not Enough
• Creating Living Buildings & Integrative Design Short Course
• Plastic Straws Usage Becomes a Public Debate Issue
• Climatologists Deny Existence Donald Trump
Sustainability Matters 6th July 2017
This edition is a ‘massive’ six pages rather than four. The reason will become apparent in mid-August! Meanwhile read about;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Sarah Thomson’s High Court Case
• Investing in People and the Planet
• Cities, The Social Economy and Inclusive Growth
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• Bridges Both Ways –Transforming the Openness of the New Zealand Government
• Extended External Reporting User Survey
• A Call to Action: Walk the Talk on Integrated Reporting
• Climate Change Presents Business Risks and Opportunities
• Does This Look Natural to You?
• GRI Standards Seem to Be Rising to the Top
• The Global Management Accounting Principles©
• The Best Break-up Story EVER
• Green Infrastructure
• “We Are Still In”
• Air Pollution from Cars is Causing Nature to Change in Dramatic Ways
• Dairy Industry Lays Out Plan to Reduce Greenhouse Gases
• New Zealand a Leading Nation in IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards (SCAPA) 2017
• NZ Young Nats – “Its’ Time!”
• India to Make Every [new] Car Electric by 2030 in Bid to Tackle Pollution that Kills Millions
• Retrofitting Old Buildings Reduces Costs (Like 80% in a Month), Attracts Tenants, Achieves Longer Leases
• China’s New Environment Minister Urges ‘Protracted War’ on Pollution
• Sustainable Development Goals – Progress and Implications for Business – Webinar
• Climate-related Financial Disclosures – Task Force Recommendations
• Adani Pushes Ahead with Controversial Queensland Coal Mine
• UNESCO Puts Australia on Notice Over Great Barrier Reef
• Did You Know?
• The People’s Review of Renting
• Landmark Supreme Court Decision on Environmental Rights – Pennsylvania
• Nepal Earthquake: 2 Years On
Sustainability Matters 22nd June 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Our Climate Declaration
• Sustainable Development for All – Delivering the Sustainable Development Goals
• Agribusiness Agenda 2017: The Recipe for Action
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• GRI and Australian Government to Accelerate Investment in the Indo-Pacific
• 16th Australasian CSEAR Conference – CALL FOR PAPERS
• Yoga Pants, Fleece Jackets and the Microplastics Dilemma
• Cambodia. November. Build With Me
• How to Craft a Winning Sustainability Report
• TRANSPORT – Grand Coalition to Electrify New Zealand’s Company Car Fleets
• Can Corporate Reporting Help End Poverty?
• OECD (Again) Tells Us to Clean Up Our Climate Act
• Why Companies in the Chemicals Industry Are Mixing
• No More Business-as-Usual: Where to Now for International Trade?
• Stop Insuring Climate Disaster
• Enviro-Mark Solutions Awards Celebrate Massive Carbon Reductions
• e-Calc™ – ‘Know the Payback’
• World’s Largest Tidal Power Project Approved for Construction in Indonesia
Sustainability Matters 8th June 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• A Stunning Victory at Exxon Mobil
• End of Childhood?
• What Next?
• Climate Case: The Student vs the Minister
• PCE Report on Birds – 5 Things You Need to Know
• Why Don’t Green Buildings Live Up to Hype on Energy Efficiency?
• Entries Open for NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards 2017
• Interview with Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International Executive Director
• Why Business & Finance Must Understand their Impacts & Dependencies on Nature
• Decision of USA’s Leadership to ‘Go It Alone’
• Tiny Electric Motorbike with 40 Mile Range
• An Effective NZ ETS: Clear Price Signals to Guide Low-Emission Investment
• The Finance Sector Supplement to the Natural Capital Protocol Framework
• Extended External Reporting in New Zealand
• New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2015 – NZ 7th-worst on Emissions of 41 Nations
• Using Natural Capital Accounting to Understand the Trade-Off Between Greenhouse Gas Emissions & Local Air Pollution
• Are New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Falling?
Sustainability Matters 25th May 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Peter Goldsbury: 15th June 1945 – 13th May 2017
• Webinar: The Business Case for Reliable Data –What Do Investors Really Do with the Data You Report?
• Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
• A Father Writes: It is Difficult to Answer My Daughter When She Asks What We’re Doing to Ensure She Has a Future
• STRATEGY – Improve Your Office With the Smart Office Guide
• Smart People Have Done Really Stupid Things
• Bad Oil and the Animals
• Company Reports: The Surprising Reason Why Firms Must Account for the Six Capitals: PART 2
• Cluster Development Handbook; 2nd Edition
• East Africa – 25 Million People Are in Crisis
• Hydrofluorocarbon Phase Down Should Happen Sooner, Campaigners Say
• Consultation on New Zealand’s Phase Down of Hydrofluorocarbons – Montreal Protocol
• Riyadh Makes Progress on Massive Public Transit System
• Football Club Goes Vegan
• First Global Standard for Sustainable Procurement Hits the Market
• Domino Effect: The Myriad Impacts of Warming on an East Coast USA Estuary
• Very Sad News
• Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
• Toilet Receives First Ever 6-star WELS Rating
• In Napa Valley, Vineyards and Conservationists Battle for the Hills.