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 24th May 2018
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – Reporting framework inventory
• Getting Climate Smart: A Primer for Corporate Directors in a Changing Environment
• The Infinite Game: How to Live Well Together
• Wellbeing in Abundance – Looking After Our Own Backyard
• SYSTEMS RULE: How Board Governance Can Drive Sustainability Performance
• Neonicotinoid Pesticides Ban by EU
• Mitre 10 to Remove Single-use Plastic Bags
• NZ Buildings Create More Emissions than Previously Thought
• Plastic Bag Found in Mariana Trench; Deepest Place on Earth
• Bill McKibben’s 5 Big Messages on NZ and Climate Change
• Creating Living Buildings (CLB) Short Course August 2018
• Product Announcement: Trucost SDG Evaluation Tool
• WasteAid Photography Competition The Wonders of Waste
• Materiality: Driving Integrated Thinking
• Time for More Government Leadership on the Sustainable Development Goals?
• NZ’s Largest Farmer Embraces Future as Envisaged by Labour Government
• Resource Management Update
• Hawke’s Bay eco-business Churns Organic Waste to Energy
• New Phase of Globalisation Could Worsen CO2 Pollution – Study
• A Movement of Movements to Transform to a Wellbeing Economy: WEAll
• Costa Rica to Become the World’s First Zero Carbon Economy
• The Circular Economy Opportunity for Auckland and How Business Can Realise It
Sustainability Matters 10th May 2018
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – Reporting framework inventory
• Factfulness
• Getting to Zero: Challenging but Achievable
• Wise Response Submission to the Tax Working Group
• Native Knowledge: What Ecologists Are Learning from Indigenous People
• Adding Social Value via Service Procurement
• Creepy Cuisine: The Rise of Edible Insects
• Supercharge Your Carbon Reporting with Science and Transparency
• The Gateway Bug: A Documentary About the Future of Food
• SBN – A Job in Wellington
• The Housing Summit 2018 – Because It’s Time for Change
• Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) – thinkstep Committed
• This Animal Kills More People In a Day Than Sharks Do In a Century
• Local Government (Community Well Being) Amendment Bill
• Psychology for a Better World: Working with People to Save the Planet
• Scientists Hope New Enzyme Will ‘Eat’ Plastic Pollution
• Why You Can’t Have Free Trade and Save the Planet
• Modern Slavery Reporting – Issues and Implications for Business
• Dutch Company Uses Bison to Maintain Pure Drinking Water
• Manager – Sustainability/Better Business Reporting.
Sustainability Matters 26th April 2018
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – First edition of newsletter
• Bill McKibben in NZ
• NZ’s Government is Looking Into the Future of Tax – and Wants Your Opinion
• Sewage Overflows Surged by 379% Last Year – Water New Zealand Report
• Connecting Finance and Natural Capital
• The Future of Everything: Why the Third Industrial Revolution Is a Risk to NZ
• Every 2 Minutes Malaria Kills a Child
• Solar Panels – When Useful Life is Over?
• We Need a Safe Climate More than We Need Oil and Gas
• if you want big change, network it!
• Wrangler Shows Economic Benefits of Sustainable Cotton Farming
• Finance Key to Net-zero Economy – Shaw
• Monthly Electric and Hybrid Light Vehicle Registrations [NZ]
• Food Giant Danone is Now the Largest B Corp In the World
• The Most Important Climate Treaty You’ve Never Heard Of
• Our Land 2018 – Warnings and Wake-up Calls
• US Loses Bid to Halt Children’s Climate Change Lawsuit
Sustainability Matters 12th April 2018
There have been 79 responses to the Sustainability Matters reader survey. A set of
preliminary results are attached for possible interest. They have yet to be analysed
in detail and decisions made. Every contribution is much appreciated. Thank you.
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – First edition of newsletter
• Measuring the Meaning of Life
• The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index – July 2017
• How Climate Activists Failed to Make Clear the Problem with Natural Gas
• A New Global Standard to Address Bribery Risk: ISO 37001
• Energy Hogs: Can World’s Huge Data Centres be More Efficient?
• The Case for Taking Early Action on Climate Change
• Southeast Asia Closes Island Beaches to Recover from Climate Change and Tourism
• Waste Land, Promised Land
• GRI Standards and
• Impact Investing Fund Goes Live in NZ
• Learning from Tūhoe – Four Practical Insights to Run Great Design Workshops
• Will the ‘Educated’ Save the Environment?
• The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-being of Nations
• The Statistics are Mind-Numbing …
• Trading for Good: A Report on Small and Medium-sized Social Enterprises
• World Congress of Accountants
• It’s Time for Companies to Clean up Their Act
• Greenpeace International Ends its Forest Stewardship Council Membership
Sustainability Matters 29th March 2018
A big ‘thank you’ to the 71 readers who have responded to the Sustainability Matters survey.
The results are very encouraging, thought provoking and challenging. There are some
very diverse suggestions! If you have not yet contributed I welcome your input and
encourage you to participate – ideally before your Easter break. The link is;
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3CKomQhVV-J5aymUtK1LIl7JadXjvouyvTwhfSuylff3LwA/viewform
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group –A Plea to the Accounting Profession: Governance
for Sustainability – Taskforce discussion document
• Submissions on NZ’s Priorities in the International Climate Change Negotiations
• Sustainability Accounting and Integrated Reporting
• On the Louisiana Coast, A Native Community Sinks Slowly into the Sea
• Kauri – 17 Other Species Depend on Them
• Donation Opportunity – Sustainability Matters?
• Our Dying Soils: The Invisible Crisis Under Our Feet
• Investing for Wellbeing – The New Zealand Treasury Investment Statement
• A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment,
and Zero Net Carbon Emissions
• Numbers Magazine: The Sustainability Issue – Autumn 2018
• ‘Smart Partnering’ for Both Business and Societal Value
• Global Opportunity Report 2017 – Dare to Think Big
• Why India’s Farmers Want to Conserve Indigenous Heirloom Rice
• Merger from Hell Just Approved
• Women in Environment, Conservation & Sustainability Leadership
• In Britain’s Playgrounds, ‘Bringing in Risk’ to Build Resilience
• First 10-star Dwellings Built in Auckland
• NZ and Australia’s SDG’s Rankings.
Sustainability Matters 15th March 2018
A ‘heads up’! About a day ago you should have received an invitation to participate
in a survey about Sustainability Matters. I welcome your input and encourage
you to participate – a good time to do so could be when you look at this
edition. The link is;
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc3CKomQhVV-J5aymUtK1LIl7JadXjvouyvTwhfSuylff3LwA/viewform
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group –A Plea to the Accounting Profession:
Governance for Sustainability – Taskforce discussion document
• How The Global Accounting Profession Is a Catalyst for Achieving UN Sustainable
Development Goals
• New [NZ] Research Confirms Sustainability Drives Growth
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• Think Resilience Guided Course: March-April
• A Zero Carbon Act for New Zealand: Revisiting ‘Stepping Stones to Paris and Beyond’
• Thermal Piles for Ground Source Heating & Cooling – Webinar
• Rod Oram: A Radical Reinvention of Our [NZ] Economy
• Farming Must Respect the Past But Build a Different Future
• #PressforProgress to End Modern Slavery – Join the first wave
• Urban Heat: Can White Roofs Help Cool World’s Warming Cities?
• Green Bonds Do More Harm than Good
• China’s Public Transport Planners Ponder How to Cope with Rapidly Rising Urban
Populations
• The Third Industrial Revolution: A Radical New Sharing Economy
• What Money Can’t Buy
• US Government Loses Bid to Halt Children’s Climate Change Lawsuit
• Sustainable Procurement
• Why ‘Free Trade’ Agreements Serve Corporations First
• The Town that’s Found a Potent Cure for Illness – Community
• Password Leaks are a Rich Source of Information for Hackers.
Sustainability Matters 1st March 2018
A ‘heads up’! In the next week or two you are likely to receive a survey. Yes, surveys are a
‘pain’. I’ve not circulated one for many years. Completing it will help inform the ongoing
content, design, format etc. of Sustainability Matters. YOUR opportunity – YOUR input!
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – “Sustainable Development Reporting” – Taskforce report
• Why Climate Risks Matter to Business in 2018
• NZ’s Environmental-economic Accounts: 2018
• System for Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)
• ‘Do You Have a Moment?’ – Potential for Serious Consequences Ignored
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• Greenwashed Timber: How Sustainable Forest Certification Has Failed
• Report – Responsible Business
• Tax Changes in China Driving Big Environmental Changes
• Do Algae Excite You?
• Eco Design Advisor Annual Conference
• Can the World Find Solutions to the Nitrogen Pollution Crisis?
• Lecture: Prof Johan Rockström – Planetary Boundaries
• Economic Growth is Not Compatible with Environmental Sustainability
• An Ecosystem for Environmental Education
• Sustainability: Can Our Society Endure?
• Dying Waters: India Struggles to Clean Up Its Polluted Urban Rivers
• Go Green Expo – Auckland
• Small Steps Big Strides: Building Sustainable Habits at Home
• Southland to Get Its Oats
• CFO Summit and Awards (NZ) 2018
• To Fight Climate Change, We Have to Make Cooling a Hot Topic
• The Emergence of the Sustainability Manager in Business
• Targeting Value: Setting, Tracking & Integrating High-Impact Sustainability Goals
• John Tyndall 1820 – GHG Pioneer.