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 19th January 2017
In this first edition for 2017;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Celebrating the Biggest Conservation Wins of 2016
• Win for Whales, Dolphins as Obama Rejects Explosive Blasting for Oil
• 99 Reasons Why 2016 was a Good Year
• The Soul of an Octopus, Winner of the 2016 Orion Book Award
• Sustainable Schools Advisor
• 630+ Businesses to Trump: Support the Low Carbon Economy Businesses Back Low-Carbon USA
• With Rousing Call for Climate Action Obama Bids Farewell
• Saving Multiple Birds with One Stone
• ‘Inclusive Economy Unit’ Created by British Government
• Austerity Has Failed
• Study Guide and Flash Cards
• TEDx ScottBase
• Draft Water New Zealand Good Practice Guide for the Beneficial Use of Organic Waste Products on Land
• Orchestrating Change: Catalyzing the Next Generation of Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for Sustainability
• A Cure for Post-Election Malaise
• San Francisco Bans Styrofoam
• This is the Most Dangerous Time for Our Planet
• Cluster Development Handbook Launched
• Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting
• New Law Says Pension Funds Must Assess Climate Risk.
EXTRA! Appended is an interesting thought piece ‘Orion Lighting the Way’ by Scott Russell Saunders.
He is a contributing author to Orion magazine.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 19th December 2016
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Peace Officers Initiative
• Climate Related Financial Disclosure for Business: An Imperative for 2017
• 10 Years On From the Stern Report
• Sustainability Analyst – T&G
• Why I Have Been Unemployed for Two Years
• The Global Movement to Divest from Fossil Fuels has Doubled Since 2015
• Leadership in Sustainable Business
• Sustainability Reporting in Stock Exchanges ‘Comes of Age’
• Do we Have All the Knowledge we Need for a Sustainable Future?
• Maximising Utility – Taking Measures of Wellbeing Seriously in Policy
• In Some Ways, Nothing Changed
• Greens Secure Two Important Bills from Ballot
• Human Rights Challenges for Business in 2017
• Sustainability Practices Dashboard
• David Attenborough on Climate Change: ‘The World Will be Transformed’ – video
• Bonuses.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 8th December 2016
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Youths Turn Up the Heat
• A Resource of Resources –> Your feedback would be much appreciated!
• Two Seafloor Tidal Power Experiments
• Government Forms Climate Change Adaptation Technical Working Group
• Kathmandu Sustainability Report
• Chernobyl Reactor Safely Confined
• Sustainability a Big Deal for Rail Link
• It’s Different This Time. Are we Ready? And How Will it End? SingularityU NZ
• NZX Publishes Corporate Governance Code Submissions
• Better Futures Report Gives Businesses Insight into Kiwi Sustainability Mindset
• Goodwill Helping Growing List of Retailers, Consumers Eliminate Waste
• COP22 – Achievements at Marrakech
• Process or Product – Which is More Important?
• Determining the Problem to be Solved or Investment Logic Mapping
• Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images
• NZ’s First Community Owned Windfarm
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 24th November 2016
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Sanford Issues 2016 Integrated Report
• A Resource of Resources
• The GRI Standards
• Water Loo
• SBN Awards 2016
• Watch Humans Go From a Tiny Group in Africa to 7 Billion in 5 Minutes
• Lecturer in Management and Sustainability
• Natural Capital – Finance Sector Supplement
• Tiny Houses, Big Ideas
• Reconnect to the Biosphere
• SASB Releases Robust Research and Analytics Tool
• Global Carbon Budget 2016 Published
• Sustainable Coastlines’ Campaign to Build ‘The Flagship Education Centre’
• Rod Oram: Agriculture’s Great Opportunity to Lead the Low Carbon Race
• How Inequality Made These Western Countries Poorer
• Measure What Matters: A Framework for Action – Global Goals that work for Business, Government and People
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 10th November 2016
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• To Deal with Climate Change We Need a New Financial System
• Environmental Advisor – Silver Fern Farms – Closes Monday 14th November
• Business and Human Rights: Evolution and Acceptance – CGMA Guidance for Assessing and Protecting Human Rights
• Fostering Sustainable Behaviour
• Birds of the West Wind – How Australia has Shaped New Zealand’s Avian Life
• Let’s Fix Wasteful Design!
• Environmental Data Visualisations
• Duty of Board of Directors
• The Rising Environmental Toll of China’s Offshore Island Grab
• Extinction: A Radical History
• Sixteen Years of Change in the Global Human Footprint
• Super Fund Shake-up to Address Climate Change
• Engagement: Unlocking the Black Box of Value Creation
• World Bank Tribunal Dismisses Mining Firm’s $250m Claim Against El Salvador
• Before the Flood – Full Movie
• Who’s Banking on the Dakota Access Pipeline?
• 8 Things you Need to Know About the PCE’s New Report on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases
• Climate Change Comments ‘Absurd’
• ‘Women Must Lead – If Humanity Is to Survive’: New Book Warns
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 27th October 2016
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Global Deal Reached to Limit Powerful Greenhouse Gases
• Higher Living Standards Framework Event
• Remarkable Weather of 1911: The Effect of the Combustion of Coal on the Climate – What Scientists Predict for the Future
• Apocalypse H20 – How Companies are Accounting for the True Value of Water
• NZ’s First Climate Activism Novel
• Seaweed Could Hold the Key to Cutting Methane Emissions from Cow Burps
• The Great Derangement – Climate Change and the Unthinkable
• Capital Gains – The Real Returns on Investment in Restoring Our Waters
• India Just Hit a Massive Milestone, and the Entire World should Take Note
• SDGA16: Australian Sustainable Development Goals Conference
• Tackling Poverty in New Zealand
• Measure What Matters
• Accounting for Climate Change – How Management Accountants Can Help Organisations Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 13th October 2016
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Norwegian Stock Exchange Issues Reporting Guidance with Strong Reference to GRI
• Recalculating the Climate Math
• A Practical Guide to ESG Integration for Equity Investing
• The Rise of Environmental Crime
• Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative
• Why We Need a Carbon Tax, and Why it Won’t Be Enough
• Global Aircraft Emissions Deal Reached
• Waste Not Want Not: Sweden to Give Tax Breaks for Repairs
• Child Marriage: Shashida’s Story
• Public Art or Renewable Energy? New Designs Aim to Produce Both
• Australia’s Most Energy Efficient Housing Development Expands
• The People’s Monsanto Tribunal
• Before the Flood
• Natural Aquaculture: Can We Save Oceans by Farming Them?
• SBN Wins Excellence Award
To see the newsletter click here.