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 21st March 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• The Way Between and The Lost Heir
• In Focus: Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
• Reading List: The Tipping Point in Sustainable Finance
• As High-Tide Flooding Worsens, More Pollution Is Washing to the Sea
• Wide Interest in Waikato River Authority’s $100m Investment Plan
• Mindset Coaching Programme for Professional and Personal Growth
• Carbon Calculators – A Selection
• Historic Supreme Court Win: World Bank Group Is Not Above the Law
• The Political Economy of Sustainability
• Index Shows Money Does Not Equal Wellness
• When the Circular Economy Meets Aviation
• Rabbits More Destructive to Dunes than Climate Change
• Towards Zero Waste – Construction & Demolition Workshop
• Have a Million Dollar Electrifying Idea for Liveable Cities?
• Just Transition Summit to Spark Vital Conversation
• Green Expo and Better Food Fair
• Green Property Summit 2019
• ‘Divestment Isn’t a Badge of Honour – It’s a Failure of Engagement’
• Renewable Energy Won’t Make Bitcoin ‘Green,’ but Tweaking its Mining Mechanism Might
• Art with Impact.
Sustainability Matters 6th March 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Change the Conversation – Redefining How Companies Engage Investors on Sustainability
• How Much More Evidence Needed for Action?
• Melting Glaciers and Ice Sheets Threaten Extreme Weather
• Ministry for Environment Survey – Environment Aotearoa
• Update of Non-Binding Guidelines on Non-Financial Reporting
• Is this Law Firms Apparent Approach Ethical?
• Bernie’s Impact
• Law Change Could Support Organic Dairying and Revitalised Waterways
• Ecofest North
• The 0.01% Has Enormous Impact
• Ireland’s Democratic Experiment Lays the Ground for Stronger Climate Action [Democracy in Action]
• Stunning and Expensive Refrigerant Leaks
• New Zealand’s ‘Nude’ Produce Is Flying Off the Shelves
• Free Guide – Business Waste
• Bamboo: Nature’s Forgotten Solution for Green industry
• Renewables are Most Affordable Option
• Mr. Jones Tells the Story of the Man Who Exposed the Ukrainian Famine
• Blue the Film: A Call to Arms for Our Oceans
• Homes lose $15.8 billion in value as seas rise, Maine to Mississippi
Sustainability Matters 21st February 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Ambitious Danish Island Ends Fossil Fuel Use
• Ecolabel to Develop Construction Waste Specification
• Fixing the New Zealand Building Code
• Drought Turns Part of Iran Into a New Dust Bowl
• The Hidden Environmental Toll of Mining the World’s Sand
• World in Grip of ‘High Impact Weather’ as US Freezes, Australia Sizzles
• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert
• What is Important to You is More or Less Important to Me [OR, Perceptions of Fear Shaped by Where We Live]
• Manila’s Zero Waste Neighbourhoods
• The Rush for White Gold
• New Hunter Valley Coalmine Rejected on Climate Change Grounds
• What Could Other Countries Learn from Costa Rica?
• Philippines – 12M Houses Needed by 2030
• Australia Found a Way to Save Water From Plastic Pollution and We Can Start Doing the Same
• The Rosewood Trade: An Illicit Trail from Forest to Furniture
• World-first Water Quality Project Improves Tested Stream
• ‘If Not Us, Who?’ Failure of Representation Drives Youth Climate Strike
• Living Wood Fair
• Sooner or Later, We Have to Stop Economic Growth — and We’ll Be Better for It
• Striking for their Lives
Sustainability Matters 7th February 2019
In this the second 2019 edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• The UN Needs Your Help – Especially If You are a Chartered Accountant!
• First NZGBC Future Thinker of the Year
• Vulnerable: Local Government Infrastructure Exposed to Sea Level Rise
• The Microscopic Wonder of Herbs
• PhD Scholarships in Accounting – Manchester
• A Gift Received
• Enviro-Mark Solutions Now B Corp Certified
• Packaging Design Challenge
• $36 million Investment Approved to Tackle NZ Regional Erosion
• Charities Act Review – Community Meetings
• Putting Carbon Back Into Soil
• DiCaprio Study: Achieving Paris Targets Possible & Cheap
• United Nations Backs Seed Sovereignty in Landmark Small-scale Farmers’ Rights Declaration
• The Hauraki Gulf and You
• New International Standard for Accommodation Providers
• Consultation on Proposed Government Procurement Rules 4th Edition
• All It Took to Clean Up This Beach was a Fish Sculpture Named Goby
• Head of Sustainability
• Advisor – Sustainable Value
Sustainability Matters 24th January 2019
In this the first 2019 edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Wanted – An Economic Fairness Campaigner!
• The Worst Time in History to Be Alive, According to Science
• 7 People Who Stood Up for Our Planet in 2018
• A Novel Way of Offsetting Carbon
• Rising from the Earth
• ‘Paris to Pittsburgh’ Environmental Documentary
• New Report Confirms BlackRock’s Big Fossil Fuel Problem
• Radical Environmentalists are Fighting Climate Change – Why Are They Persecuted?
• How China’s Big Overseas Initiative Threatens Global Climate Progress
• How to Implement the TCFD Recommendations: A Step-By-Step Guide
• Global Warming of Oceans Equivalent to an Atomic Bomb per Second
• Climate Passport, Anyone?
• Waste of 70 billion Coconuts a Year is Not Waste at All
• Climate-related and Other Emerging Risk Disclosures: Assessing Financial Statement Materiality
• Seven Charts Show the World is Becoming a Better Place
• Tankulator
• What Do You Say When Young People Ask if There is Hope?
• Number to Know – 0.002
• Sustainable Procurement: SBC Quick Guide
• Report Warns Banks Increasing Exposure to Fossil Fuels Despite Climate Change Promise
You may notice some (subtle} changes have been made to the look ofSustainability Matters.
Feedback about these as well as suggestions for other possibilities – of which there are millions – are welcomed.
Sustainability Matters 13th December 2018
In this the final edition for 2018 – you can read about;
• Sustainability Working Group – December 2001 NZICA to establish a sustainability Task Force
• A4S Essential Guide to Finance Culture
• Financing our Future
• Tracking Progress of the One Billion Trees Programme
• ‘Smart’ Shipping Box Can Be Used a Thousand Times – Major Savings
• Time Capsule
• In Nigeria, a Green Stove Addresses Health, the Environment and Employment
• ‘Our Leaders are Like Children,’ School Strike Founder Tells Climate Summit
• Did You Know?
• Sightlines: A Conversation with the Natural World
• The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting
• From High Above, A New Way of Seeing Our Urban Planet
• Analysis: Which Countries Have Sent the Most Delegates to COP24?
• SBN’s 2018 in Numbers
• New Tool Helps NZ Farmers Gauge Carbon Footprint
• NZ Rowing a Sustainability Award Finalist
• Ports of Auckland Plans Hydrogen Plant to Cut Carbon Emissions.
Sustainability Matters 6th December 2018
In this the second to last edition for 2018 – the next will be 13th December – you can read about;
• Sustainability Working Group – December 2001 NZICA to establish a sustainability Task Force
• Marilyn Waring – Visionary Leader Award
• Finance Minister Welcomes Release of Living Standards Framework Dashboard
• Donation Opportunity!
• Doing the Doughnut at the G20?
• Celebrating NZ’s Sustainability Heroes!
• Amsterdam’s ‘Insect Hotels’ Help Save City’s Bees
• Think Resilience Guided Online Course
• Remarks at the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Summit 2018
• Natural Capital Coalition – Australia
• Work Started 15 years ago Comes to Fruition
• Patagonia is Donating Company’s Entire $10M Trump Tax Cut to Fight Climate Change
• How Often Should Bath Towels be Washed?
• EECA Consults on Energy Levy-funded Activities
• SuperHome Movement
• The Healthiest Hospital is the One Which Doesn’t Exist, Because it’s Not Needed
• Can 35-ton Bricks Help Solve Renewable Energy’s Biggest Problem?
• Australia’s Most Polluted Postcodes