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 27th April 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Call to Arms: Put the Love Back Into Politics
• Zero Carbon Act Summary
• Are You EDS’s New Resource Management Policy Advisor?
• Free Workshop – Measuring the Financial ROI of Environment & Sustainability Training
• Delivering Procurement with Impact
• Stories Create Empathy and Empathy Helps Drive Change
• World Bank Ignores Land Grabbing – Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas
• Stories Create Empathy and Empathy Helps Drive Change
• Growing the Future: Urban Biodynamics Conference
• Coal Museum Switches to Solar to Save Money
• IIRC Welcomes Significant Endorsement of Integrated Reporting by IFAC
• Role of Professional Accountants in Enhancing Integrated Reporting
• Empowering NZ
• UK Move to Cut Plastic Waste with Innovative Water Balls
• The Hidden Life of Trees
• Scientists: Global Warming Causes Canadian River to Vanish in Four Days
• Finally, a Breakthrough Alternative to Growth Economics – The Doughnut
• Master of Social Innovation – AUT
• Here, Cutting Down Millions of Trees is Actually a Good Thing
• City of Sydney Adopts Net Zero Emissions Plan
• Hot Apartments: ‘If We Need Air Conditioning, We’ve Designed it Wrong’.
Sustainability Matters 13th April 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• World’s Largest Fund Manager Demands Cuts to Executive Pay and Bonuses
• New Zealand’s Fresh Waters: Values, State, Trends and Human Impacts
• Public Finance (Sustainable Development Indicators) Amendment Bill
• THINK RESILIENCE Online Course
• The Vanishing Nile: A Great River Faces a Multitude of Threats
• Green Ribbon Awards 2017 Nominations Open
• Energy Management Journey
• Nordic Stock Exchanges Recommend GRI
• CSR Deconstructed: Biomimicry
• 2016 Nestlé in Society Creating Shared Value
• Access to Nature Reduces Depression and Obesity, Finds European Study
• Net Zero New Zealand
• How Change Happens
• STRATEGY – Do we Need Hacking Insurance?
• Healthy Soil – Real Key to Feeding the World
• Managing Risk by Taking a Lead and Managing the Future
• The Sustainable Food Film
• An Opportunity for PhD Funding
• Sustainable Business Outlook 2017: Get Ready For the New World, Right Here, Right Now
• Update: creating Living Buildings – Professional Short Course
• An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power with Al Gore
• What Are We Without Our Special Things?
• Trust in Crisis
• The Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment
• Environmental Film Festival – Palmerston North.
Sustainability Matters 30th March 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• ‘Budget Responsibility Rules’ Labour/Greens
• Leadership in Sustainability Summit – Positioning Sustainability as the Ultimate Innovation Driver
• Western Australia is the Climate Emergency ‘Canary in the Coalmine’
• Government MPs Vote Down Sustainability Bill
• Sustainability is Not Enough; We Need Regenerative Cultures
• Levi’s Dreams Big to Lead Change in the Fashion Industry
• School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)
• Companies Save $14 for Every $1 Invested in Reducing Food Waste
• Communicating the Natural Capital Benefits of Built Asset Design
• Environmental Pressures Rising in New Zealand
• New Cafe and Retail Space Opens at Middlemore Hospital
• OECD Takes NZ to Task for Approaching Environmental Limits in Limitless Growth Quest
• Audit & Assurance – The Icing On the Sustainability Cake
• 1st Annual Regenerative Future Summit
• Passive Progressive
• Creating Living Buildings – Professional Short Course
• Measuring the Earth: Classical Calculations About World’s Size and Shape
• Science Teach-In Toolkit
Sustainability Matters 16th March 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Invisible Wounds
• Reduce Building Running Costs – ‘FreeBee’!
• The Story of Microfibers
• 90% of Rivers and Lakes Swimmable by 2040
• Flame Retardants Linked to Child Aggression
• Discover and Exchange Ideas
• World Renowned Social Entrepreneur Prof. Muhammad Yunus to Visit Christchurch
• 2016 Legatum Prosperity Index™
• IdealCup Coffee Couple Want to Make Motueka a Disposable Cup-free Zone
• Where Companies With a Long-term View Outperform their Peers
• Environmental Product Declarations – Webinar
• If We Are Reaching Neoliberal Capitalism’s End Days, What Comes Next?
• Certifying Quality Buildings – A Transformative Opportunity
• CSEAR Teaching Case Study Competition 2017
• Activists Paying with Their Lives
• Enter Finance for the Future Awards 2017
• Would-be Environmental Accountant Meets Mother Nature in a Pub: A Dialogue
• Context and Capitals – The Next Big Things in Corporate Sustainability
• LED Wireless Street Lighting System in Cambodia Wins Award
• Cruise Companies Cutting Air Pollutants
Maggie Lawton
Sustainability Matters 2nd March 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Overcoming Societal Addictions: What Can We Learn From Individual Therapies?
• Investing in People and the Planet
• Think Resilience: Preparing Communities for the Rest of the 21st Century
• Towards a Framework for Defining and Measuring Changes in Natural Capital
• Life In a Post-flying Australia, and Why it Might Actually be OK
• Plastic Waste into Concrete
• Whether You Run Your Business for Short Term Gains or Sustainable Goals, Readers of Your Annual Report Should be Able to Tell
• Who’s Still Fighting Climate Change? The U.S. Military
• VisionFund International, Microfinance Network – Social Performance Report
• Declare in New Zealand
• ‘Planned Retreat’ Enters the Climate Dialogue
• Al Gore Principal Speaker at ECOCITY World Summit 2017 – Melbourne
• Otago Polytechnic, Student Village Dunedin
• 10 Reasons to Build Resilience
• The Power Use and Mis-use of Social Media and Big Money
• National Network Manager
• New Zealand One of 19 Full Democracies
• Building a Human Economy
• Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals Natural Capital Protocol Recognised as Important Tool
• Ireland to Become First Country to Fully Divest from Fossil Fuels.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 16th February 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• How Corporate Dark Money is Taking Power on Both Sides of the Atlantic
• Thriving in the Uncertain Economy
• 29th CSEAR Conference – Scotland
• Eco-friendly Food Packaging to be Trialed at Major Events
• FOUND – NZ’s Best New Food Businesses
• Mini-farms Sowing the Seeds of Global Food Security
• SDG Compass Annex: Linking the SDGs and GRI Standards
• “Carbon Insetting? – What’s that?
• Global Risks Report 2017
• What is the Real Cost of That Dress? – Where You are Putting Your Money
• ActionStation’s Plan for 2017 Election
• Responsible Investment Masterclass
• Business Model Research
• About WTMF
• Silicon Will Blow Lithium Batteries Out of Water, Says Adelaide Firm
• 2017 National Sustainability Conference – Australia.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 2nd February 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Young Filmmakers Have the Chance to Make Environmental Movie Magic
• Life Cycle Management and Industrial Ecology Student Symposium
• GRI Works with IIRC and Leading Companies to Eliminate Reporting Confusion
• Sustainability & Resilience Advisors Sought
• 117 Organisations to Watch in 2017
• Sustainability is Good for Business
• Government Subsidies to the Global Financial System: A Preliminary Exploration
• How Starbucks Yields the Benefits of Materiality
• 10 Things I’ve Learned From Working in the Sustainability Field for 25 years
• Award for Schools Healthy Heating Project
• How Regenerative Organic Agriculture Can Save the Planet (Part II)
• Sustainability and HM Treasury
• Dear Future Generations: Sorry
• TEDxScottBase
• Inventions Changing Lives in Timor-Leste
• Killing an Australian Reef More Economically Valuable than the Great Barrier Reef
• Creative Ability – Muscular Dystrophy Designers
• Ten Power-Packed (Kid-Friendly) Snack Tips.
To see the newsletter click here.