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 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
Sustainability Matters 2nd May 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Attenborough Warns Financial Leaders to Not Waste Nature’s ‘Capital’
• The Planet Is in Peril, But is Not Dying
• Degrowth: A Call for Radical Abundance
• Message from Mike
• Report Signals Nine Top Environmental Issues Facing New Zealand
• Preparing for Tomorrow – Embedding Strategic Foresight into Sustainability
• Climate Change Food Calculator: What’s Your Diet’s Carbon Footprint?
• Fashion Transparency Index 2019
• Tools to Calculate the True Cost of Water
• The Love Child of Porsche Designers and Croatia’s Rimac
• Structuring for Impact: Evolving Legal Structures for Business in New Zealand
• Enviro-Mark Solutions’ Chief Executive Dr Ann Smith First NZ Fellow of IEMA
• Entries Invited for e360 Video Contest
• thinkstep Picks Up B Corp Certification
• Climate Challenge Conference.
Sustainability Matters 18th April 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• IASB Chair on What Sustainability Reporting Can and Cannot Achieve
• Reporting
• Energy Equity: Bringing Solar Power to Low-Income Communities
• EDS Conference, Through New Eyes
•
• Degrowth: A Call for Radical Abundance
• Sustainable Finance Forum Takes Shape
• As Mass Timber Takes Off, How Green is This New Building Material?
• Pacific Central Bankers Prioritise Capital Flows and Climate Change
• EMBARK: Achieving Low Emissions Together
• Sustainable Business Network Awards
• CDP Environmental Disclosure Workshop
• Kiwis Incentivised to Build Healthy Homes
• Message from Mike
• “Life versus the Machine”
• How a Small Community in India Became the Country’s First Green Village
• Is Palm Oil in Your Hot Cross Bun?
• Australian Regulators Call for a Shift in Treatment of Climate-related Risks
• Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand – NgāTūtohu Aotearoa
Sustainability Matters 4th April 2019
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Literally the Worst Bank in the World is …..
• Mike Joy – Biophysical Limits to Growth
• Follow the Money: Sustainability Goes Mainstream
• Climate Change Adaptation Event
• Key Competencies for Sustainability Degree Programs
• Become a Climate Reality Leader
• ROI of Climate Action – Workshops
• New Zealand – the World’s Innovative Lab for Climate Change
• Discover Your Impact on the Planet
• State of the Climate in 2018 Shows Accelerating Climate Change Impacts
• Eco Toothbrushes
• Are You Well? Are We Safe?: Maori – Non-Maori inequalities as a Moral Challenge for all New Zealanders
• A New Narrative for the Regenerative Hub
• How to Report on the SDGs
• Forget Tesla, It’s China’s e-Buses which are Denting Oil Demand
• Welcome to Crazy Town: A New Podcast from Post Carbon Institute
• New Report: Number of Christians Facing Persecution Grows
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