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 28th May 2020
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• The Economics of Ignoring Climate Change
• Insights on New Zealand Sustainability Professionals
• A Near Horizon: Seizing Opportunities and Managing Risks in the Transition to Net Zero
• Budget Too Weak on Climate – Commission
• Are Electric Cars Worse for the Environment? Myth Busted
• Car Powered by Salt Water: 760HP, Top Speed 186/Mph, 621 Miles/Tank
• Behavioural Change for Sustainability Success
• Future-Fit Business Benchmark
• Sustainability Professionals Must Shine Brighter than Their Peers – Here’s How
• Despite EU Guidelines 78% of Europe’s Largest Companies are Falling Short of Adequately Reporting Environmental and Climate-related Risks
• Two-pronged Approach Needed for Coronavirus Recovery
• The Big Dry: 18 Reasons Why an Auckland Drought Became a Water Crisis
• ‘We Need Radically Different Accountancy to Value Companies in a Post-Pandemic World’
• Investing in a Climate-Positive Future: Hanon Armstrong
• International
• The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes
• Coronavirus Could Disrupt Weather Forecasting
• S&P Launches ESG Scores Based on 20 Years of Corporate Sustainability Data
• The Economist’s Coverage of Climate Change.
Sustainability Matters 14th May 2020
In this 6 page edition of Sustainability Matters which has some longer than usual articles you can read about;
• University of Auckland Tops Global Sustainability Impact Second Year in a Row
• Tessa Meyer Named NZGBC Future Thinker of the Year
• Our Regenerative Future Launch
• John Houghton, Who Sounded Alarm on Climate Change, Dies at 88
• Research Opportunity into Finance Function
• Inequality and the Ecological Transition
• Climate Action 20/25: Accelerating Climate Action by New Zealand SME’s
• Improving Nature’s Visibility in Financial Accounting
• Covid-19 Has Nothing on What’s Coming
• A Satellite Lets Scientists See Antarctica’s Melting like Never Before
• Amsterdam to Embrace ‘Doughnut’ Model to Mend Post-coronavirus Economy
• Reviving the Economy
• Webinar: Small is Mighty! – SMEs, Science Based Targets and Systemic Carbon Shifts
• Unilever’s Alan Jope on Repairing Capitalism, Covid-19 and Sustainable Living Plans
• Is Asparagopsis Seaweed the Answer to NZ’s Methane Emissions?
• A ‘Feminist Economic Recovery Plan’
• General Mills Advance Regenerative Agriculture Practices on One Million Acres of Farmland by 2030
• Vietnam and the Indian State of Kerala Curbed Covid-19 on the Cheap
• Packaging: Rewriting the Narrative
• NZ Should Lead Move to Fossil-fuel Reduction Treaty
• How Noise Pollution Threatens Ocean Life
• The Sustainability Reporting and Communications Handbook 2020
• The Regenerative Farming Revolution
• ‘We Need a Radically Different Form of Leadership to Come Out the Other Side of Covid-19’
• How to Link the GRI Standards with the SDGs.
Sustainability Matters 30th April 2020
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Our Future on Earth 2020: Uncovering the Linkages Among Global Risks
• Climate Change Commission Recruiting for Three Senior Positions
• Citizens’ Assemblies on Climate Change Seek to Shape the Post-covid Recovery
• A Roadmap for Addressing the Climate and Post COVID-19 Economic Crises
• The Story of Plastic
• What’s the Point of Fashion Magazines Now?
• Before the Next Pandemic, an Ambitious Push to Catalogue Viruses in Wildlife
• Free New Guides to Being More Sustainable
• Ideas Worth Teaching Awards
• Sustainability Starts with Community Resilience
• Ticking Time Bomb of Rising Demand for Cooling
• Hyundai Country Calendar Season 2020, Episode 7
• The Need to GROW
• Select Committee Reports Back on Resource Management Amendment Bill 2019
• Principles for a Just Recovery from Covid-19
• Our Freshwater 2020 Notes the Poor State of NZ’s Lakes and Rivers
• We Still Don’t Know the Full Impacts of the BP Oil Spill, 10 years Later
• Debating Disclosure: The Pros and Cons of Corporate Transparency
• Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism
Sustainability Matters 16th April 2020
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• CFOs Take Lead on Climate Risk and Value Creation
• How Are We Helping the World Emerge From This Emergency?
• Another Splendid Selection of Timely Articles
• In the Face of a Pandemic, Climate Activists Re-evaluate Their Tactics
• What is Plastic Offsetting? And Can it Really Help to Fight the Plastic Crisis?
• A Movement Grows to Help Farmers Reduce Pollution and Turn a Profit
• Housing – Impacts of Governments Policies
• Research: Nearly US$640bn Coal Investments Undercut by Cheap Renewables
• Green COVID Response and Shovel Ready Projects – Tragedy and Opportunity for Change
• As Himalayas Warm, Nepal’s Climate Migrants Struggle to Survive
• Mike Hosking Sparks Surge in Sales of Eco – Apartments
• Just Grounded
• Coronavirus and Limits to Growth
• Think Resilience – Videos
• Experts Warned of a Pandemic Decades Ago. Why Weren’t we Ready?
• Environmental Justice Atlas
• Los Angeles Air ‘Cleanest in World’ Since COVID-19 Lockdown.
Sustainability Matters 2nd April 2020
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Don’t Waste Time
• Towards Transparency – Proxima’s Annual Guide
• Introducing the Forever Project: Lasting, Meaningful Coverage of the Climate Challenge
• Climate-related Risk Management and Modern Slavery Disclosure
• Donations – Are Welcome Here!
• Special Tribunal Recommend Springs be Protected by Order
• The Bankruptcy of Responsible Investment: How can We Invest Ethically?
• SBN Collaboration will Help Businesses Take Urgent Climate Action
• Developers ‘Must Go Beyond Biodiversity Net-gain Requirements’: Report
• Organic Products Bill
• The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore
• thinkEPD is here!
• Energise Ōtaki
• Glass, Metal, Plastic: The Story of New York’s Canners
• Insuring Fossil Fuels but Not Insuring Our Homes.
Sustainability Matters 19th March 2020
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Very Different yet Very Much the Same
• Jeanette Fitzsimons’ Poignant Piece on the Kauaeranga River
• Sir Rob Fenwick: The Fêted Environmentalist’s Urgent Last Message
• Donations – Are Welcome Here!
• Creating Climate Resilience for Farmers
• Whenua Ora Tangata Ora Partnership Leads the Way Forward in Regenerative Agriculture
• Is the Current Focus on Climate Change Misguided?
• How Hip Hop Can Bring Green Issues to Communities of Colour
• EcoFest North – 90+ Events
• You Are What You Wear – Moving away from Fast Fashion
• SBN Collaboration Will Help Businesses Take Urgent Climate Action
• David vs Goliath: The Man Taking Huge Corporates to Court over Climate Change
• Documentary “Fantastic Fungi”!
• Tesla Produces its 1 millionth Electric Car
• A Follow-through – Bjorn Lomborg
• Making Sustainability Happen – Blue Star’s NZ Sites Toitū Enviromark Gold Certified
• Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future
• Modernising Governance: Key Recommendations for Boards to Ensure Business Resilience
Sustainability Matters 5th March 2020
In this ‘supa’ edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Want People to Care About Climate Change? Skip the Jargon
• What I Do – Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist
• Net Zero Goal ‘Greatest Commercial Opportunity of Our Time’, says Mark Carney
• Donations – Are Welcome Here!
• Global Accounting Bodies Announce Climate Change Call to Action
• CA ANZ National Webcast Series –The Financial Impact of Environmental Risks
• Webinar: Using the Power of Data to Reduce Environmental Risk in Your Supply Chain in China
• Would EV Owners Buy Petrol Again?
• Plastic’s Long, Long Way from Fantastic
• Zespri Reveals Sustainability Commitments
• Cool Butterfly Effect: Insect Equipment Could Inspire Heat-Radiating Tech
• Tiny Agency in CA Achieves Environmental Justice by Taking on Polluters
• Responses to Australian Bush Fires are Just Plain Wrong
• Medium to High Density Housing Summit
• Rethinking Growth
• World’s Second Green School Opens in Taranaki
• Top Ten things You Need to Watch on Climate Change
• Auckland Climate Response Unconference
• Fire Fallout: How Ash and Debris Are Choking Australia’s Rivers
• NZ Uses Accounting Trick to Seem Climate-Friendly
• Earth Day 2020
• UK’s Heathrow Airport Expansion Ruled Unlawful over Climate Change
• Celebration 50 years since Successful Campaign ‘Save Manapouri & Te Anau Lakes’
• Design for Sustainability: A Sourcebook of Integrated, Eco-logical Solutions
• The NZ Tourism Industry Cannot Afford to Ignore the Elephant in the Room
• What’s Wrong With a Bit of Good Clean Dirt?
• The Horizon is on Fire (with Life).