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 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.
Sustainability Matters 30th May 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• One Question to Ask Your Head of State
• ESG Reporting Guide: A Support Resource for Companies
• Zero Carbon Bill Open for Submissions
• Stop the Bickering
• Silos to Systems
• Why the Climate Change Message Isn’t Working
• Consider Non-financial Risks in the Reporting Season
• What is Sustainable Rubber?
• Sustainable Investing is the Best Job Ever
• Paul Polman: Courage and Collaboration will Help • Business Accomplish Mission Possible
• How One Woman Used Her Accounting Career to Drive Social Change
• NZ’s Fight Against Climate Change
• Climate Code Red: It’s Time We All Called a Spade a Spade
• New Zealand Estuaries and Habitats
• A4S Essential Guide to Debt Finance
• The Bug Eaters.
Sustainability Matters 16th May 2019
This last week or two there has been a substantial amount of publicity and discussion about the New Zealand government’s proposed Zero Carbon Bill. There is also the almost concurrent visit to NZ of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who while positing the proposal has much merit infers the barre has not been set sufficiently high – perhaps inferring the politicians being pragmatic to their constituencies rather than the science-led need.
For space reasons it has been decided not to canvas these issues in this edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• UK Labour Plan to Delist Companies to Force Action on Climate Change
• Sustainable Business Network Awards 2019
• How the World Got Hooked on Palm Oil
• Greta Thunberg to UK’s Parliament: Future Sold So Small Group of People Could Make Unimaginable Amounts of Money
• How a Boulder Startup’s Innovative Business Model is Fighting Climate Change, Preserving Land, and Improving Livestock Health
• Chernobyl: TV Exposé of the Catastrophic Meltdown
• Coastal Recovery: Bringing a Damaged Wetland Back to Life
• Homestar in Prefab and More
• Measuring Emissions: A Guide for Organisations
• Framework Launched to Deliver Net-zero Built Environment
• UK MPs Have Declared a Climate Emergency. Isn’t it Time for Business to Do the Same?
• Investing Prophet Jeremy Grantham Takes Aim at Climate Change
• Australia to Cull Over Two Million Feral Cats by 2020
• Australian University Pioneers Urban Mining ‘Micro-factories’
• Aiming Even Higher with EPDs
• Sexy Killers
• Grounding
• Can Recycling Help Overcome Homelessness