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 15th February 2018
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – “Talk of the Country”
• New Zealand’s Climate Change Programme
• New Focus of a New New Zealand Government
• ‘We Have To Change Capitalism’ To Beat Climate Change, says Blackrock Vice-chair
• The Regenerative Practitioner
• The Significance of Climate-related Risks and New Recommendations for Financial Disclosure
• Why Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investment Matters and How To Respond
• Practical Workshop on Measuring the Dollar Return on Investment of SHEQ* Training
• Stronger than Steel, Able to Stop a Speeding Bullet – It’s Super Wood!
• Women in Environment, Conservation & Sustainability Leadership Summit
• A Good Life For All Within the Planet’s Means
• The 12 Dates which Shaped Accountancy
• Social Impact and the Argument Against Unqualified ‘Growth’
• Could this One Simple Idea Be the Key to Solving Farmer–Environmentalist Conflicts?
• Malaysian Institute of Accountants Adopts and Advocates
• Sustainability Professional Credential Program Turns One
• Read this Before You Go Sales Shopping: The Environmental Costs of Fast Fashion
• Reform of NZ’s Resource Management System – The Next Generation
Sustainability Matters 1st February 2018
In this edition;
• Sustainability Working Group – Historic Milestone
• CA ANZ Continues to Engage with the UN Global Compact’s Ten Principles
• State of the Planet! – NZ Inc
• Sanfords SDG’s,
• Creating Value – Benefits to Investors
• Prosperity Without Growth – Foundations for the Economy of Tomorrow
• Budget Priorities – NZ Government
• Plastic Found in Mussels from Arctic to China, Enters Human Food
• Environmental and Sustainability Advisor
• Principal Advisor – Business Productivity and Sustainability
• Response to UK Government Corporate Governance Reform Green Paper
• Groundwater Use Could Be Significant Source of Carbon Dioxide
• Here’s a New Air Conditioner that Cools Without Warming the Planet
• The ‘Greatest Pandemic in History’ was 100 Years Ago – But Many of Us Still Get the Basic Facts Wrong
• Sustainable Development Goals Summit, 23 April 2018, Wellington
• How e-commerce is Changing Us and Our Planet
• PwC UK Sets Emissions and Renewables Targets for 2022
• Green Building Commitment by Top NZ Firms
• Chile Creates Five National Parks Over 10m Acres in Historic Act of Conservation
• One City in China Has More Electric Buses than All USA’s Biggest Cities Combined
Sustainability Matters 18th January 2018
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events – The most recent was December 2012!
• New Year Honours – Rachel Brown
• CA ANZ Signs up to Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
• Integrated Reporting and More in Dutch Coy’s
• Leadership in Sustainable Business
• Most Ocean Plastic Pollution From 10 Rivers
• Creating Value – CFO Leadership
• World Congress of Accountants
• Low Carbon Auckland – 2017 Annual Update
• New Zealand’s Role in Depleting the Western Sahara
• GRI Standards and
• Impact Investment Case Study: Waipa Catchment, Waikato, New Zealand
• Purpose 2018
• Why Climate Change Isn’t Our Biggest Environmental Problem, and Why Technology Won’t Save Us
• Plastic – Graphics of How Much
• Seven Charts Explain the Plastic Pollution Problem
• NZX Guidance Note: Environmental, Social and Governance
• Improving Working Conditions in the Supply Chain
• Our Money, Our Future
• Net Positive Is a Move in the Right Direction
Sustainability Matters 14th December 2017
In this final 2017 edition of Sustainability Matters;
• Sustainability Group Events
• 15 Tips for Commercial-free, Fun-filled Family Holidays
• The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Wins Nobel Peace Prize
• 500 Clean-ups – Milestone!
• Children’s Clothes for Hire
• Otaki Summer Camp: 3 Days of Ideas, Politics, Comedy, Music and Nature
• Green Star – Performance
• Young Champions of the Earth – Prize
• Moody’s Warns Cities, Address Climate Risks or Face Downgrades
• Biggest Corporate Polluters Revealed
• Targeting Value: Setting, Tracking & Integrating High-Impact Sustainability Goals
• Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
• European Air Quality is Improving Slowly
• An Investor Guide on Agricultural Supply Chain Risk
• On Our Radar: Winter Reading List
• Lancet Report says Environmental Pollution is Killing More People than Violence or War, or Even Smoking and Major Diseases
• ‘Sustainable’ Palm Oil? New Investigation Shows Rampant Abuse
• A Team Effort: Manukau RFC’s Massive Water [and Power] Savings
• The Living House at Beachlands [Auckland]
• ‘People Seem Happier’: How Planting Trees Changed Lives in a Former Coal Community
• The Paradise Papers Show Accountancy Firms are Engaged in Wilful and Organised Hypocrisy
Sustainability Matters 7th December 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Extending Generosity Through Social Enterprise
• SBN’s Awards Night – A Prime Example of Changing Times
• Climate Connection: Unraveling the Surprising Ecology of Dust
• Summer Scorcher: Tasman Sea a ‘Bath with the Hot Tap on’
• Dairy Farming is Polluting New Zealand’s Water: Cows and Seep
• 2018 Investment Statement: Investing for Wellbeing
• National Sustainability in Business Conference
• Cut Carbon, Cut Costs: Accounting Firm Staples Rodway Counts the Benefits of New Certification
• Where Corn Is King, the Stirrings of a Renaissance in Small Grains
• The Someday Challenge 2017 Winners
• 2017 Sustainability Review Westpac NZ
• Charities – Reporting Stars
• Rising Seas Caused by Climate Change are Seeping Inside a Remote Island Nuclear Waste Dump
• NZ’s Prosperity – The Very Very Good and the Not So Good
• Tread Lightly Caravan’s Growing Influence
Sustainability Matters 23rd November 2017
In this edition;
• Sustainability Group Events
• 1000 Profitable Solutions Sought to Solve Climate Change
• What You Should Know About The Paradise Papers
• How the Alaska Pipeline Is Fueling the Push to Drill in the Arctic Refuge
• Tallest Wooden Office Building – Wellington
• New ISO Standard to Combat Land Degradation
• Is Well Being Economics Coming to New Zealand?
• Chocolate Industry Drives Rainforest Disaster in Ivory Coast
• Unlocking the Circular Economy
• How SDGs and Materiality Assessment Complement Each Other
• The Answer to the Rise of Synthetic Food?
• What we Know – and Need to Know – About Sustainable Fashion
• The Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2017
• Tourism Holdings Signals Plans for EV’s
• Electric Rental Cars Available for Hire in NZ
• World-Wide Achievements of a Small NGO
• The Evolution of Communicating Environmental Reporting
• Shopping Refits, with Much Less Waste
• How Change Happens
Sustainability Matters 8th November 2017
In this ‘supa extra-large’ 8 page celebratory edition**;
• Sustainability Group Events
• Climate Change and the Human Mind: A Noted Psychiatrist Weighs In
• A Win for Clean, Green, GE-free New Zealand
• ISO14004 – Review
• New Zealand: Polluted Paradise
• A Lesson from Hurricane Irma: Capitalism Can’t Save the Planet – It Can Only Destroy It
• WBCSD and COSO Sign Memorandum of Understanding
• Internal Controls and Sustainability Data: Closing the Confidence Gap
• Pull Together: Activate Help From the Crowd
• Could Disclosing Climate-related Financial Information Become the New Normal?
• Net-Zero Homes Built in Seattle
• Denver Building Owners Could Be Required to Install Green Roofs
• 2nd Pacific Climate Change Conference
• New Zealand’s Water Systems Particularly Vulnerable to Climate Change
• Small is Resilient | Big is Brittle
• Game-changing Lamp Powered by Gravity Could Provide Light to Billions
• KPMG’s Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2017
• Why Roman Concrete Still Stands Strong While Modern Version Decays
• ‘This is Very Alarming!’: Flying Insects Vanish From Nature Preserves
• Student Welcome’s Decision in Landmark Climate Lawsuit
• Insurance: The Canary in the Coalmine of Climate Change?
• A Circular Economy for Auckland?
• Integrated Reporting – The Future of Accounting
• Climate Change Puts Cambodians at Risk of Mental Health Disorders
• Do You Need Expert In-depth to Help Make Your Business More Sustainable?
• Fewer Poor Means More Climate Work for the Rich
• European Social Innovation Tournament Winner
• Disclosure of Environmental and Social Information – New EU Guidelines
• A Thank You to Jan Wright, Out Going Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
• New PCE Sworn In
• NZGBC Announces New Chair
• Trump Nixes Environmental Regulations
• Around the World in an Electric Car
• Is Uber Stopping Us from Walking
• For The Love of Earth, Stop Traveling
• It Must be Important
• Scotland Plans Publicly Owned, NFP Renewable Energy Company
• The Science, Business and Education of Sustainable Infrastructure: Building Resilience in a Changing World
Note: ** Even at 8 pages the material selected is merely a drop in the bucket of that which is available.