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 1st September 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• Three Cities: Seeking Hope in the Anthropocene– Rod Oram
• I Spend My Time Writing About the Economy, But the Climate Data Hits Me Right in the Gut
• Britain’s Plastic Bag Use Drops 85% Since 5p Charge Introduced
• The Emergence of Regenerative Capitalism
• Opportunities to Consult in Japan!
• When You Want to Make the Future Happen, How Do You Make Every Word Count?
• Team Manager, Low Carbon Living
• We’re Under Attack from Climate Change – and Our Only Hope is to Mobilise Like We Did in WWII
• IFSWF Auckland 2016
• Contact’s 2015-2016 Sustainability Report Audited
• New Glue: A New Zealand Solution To a Sticky Problem
• Is the Environment a Moral Issue?
• World’s First Climate Refugees Scramble for New Home
• Toxic Chemicals Found in Drinking Water of 33 States
• How We React to Climate Change, Told Through the 5 Stages of Grief
• Energy – ‘Solar Tax’ Debate Exposes NZ Energy Fault Lines
• NZX Consults on Corporate Governance Best Practice Code
• Quote of the Week
• Taking Nature Into Account
• National MPs Join Green Climate Group
• Pressure Mounts to Reform Our Throwaway Clothing Culture
• Divergent Views – Nuclear Plant Closure
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 18th August 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• Thirty Million
• Introduction to Permaculture
• Energy Landscapes: An Aerial View of Europe’s Carbon Footprint
• Just How Ethical are Socially Responsible Investments?
• A Thank You to Donors to Sustainability Matters
• Communicating in an Age of Authenticity: The Two Essentials for Business Success
• Design Thinking 101
• Restoration of an Urban River
• Trends and Opportunities – 2016 and Beyond
• Solar Thermal Collector
• ‘Limits to Growth Revisited’ Report Published
• How a Simple, Fun Smartphone Game Could Solve Some Serious Social Problems and Save Taxpayers Millions
• Two People Achieve 2,000 tonne Rubbish Clean Up
• The Littlest Big Problem You’ve Never Heard Of
• A Transparency Report
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 4th August 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• It’s Time to Get Rid of All the Green Crap in Politics
• Which Diet Makes Best Use of Farmland? You Might be Surprised
• Best-practice Reporting Workshop
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• Global Forced Displacement Hits Record High
• The Bottom Billion: Can We End World Poverty? → Saturday 6th August
• This Changes Everything Study Guide: Free Online
• Sticker Shock: The Soaring Costs of Germany’s Nuclear Shutdown
• Benefits from Reducing Water Consumption: A Case Study
• Philippines ‘Rattles the Cage’ of Climate Change
• The Natural Capital Protocol
• A ‘Powerful’ Submission
• Measuring Natural Capital in Business Just Got a Whole Lot Easier
• The Trickle-down Effect in Green Buildings Hasn’t Worked; Time to Move On
• Chernobyl Into a Massive Solar Farm
• Sustainability Reporting Growing in Asean, But Quality Lags
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 24th July 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• How a Small Country School is Turning a Profit From the Land
• The Crisis of Rising Sea Levels – Water’s Edge
• Example of a UN Global Compact (UNGC) Report
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• Michael Bloomberg Heading Global Taskforce on Climate Change
• The Art of Making Social Impact Interesting…
• A-CSEAR Conference 2016 – Call for Papers
• M&S Publishes its 2016 Plan A, and connected Annual and Human Rights Reports
• A Decent Life for Everyone On a Fabulous and Finite Planet – Prosperity Without Growth
• Fair Tax Mark
• Refugees, Migrants and Integration – What Level of Support Can they Expect?
• Can TV Weather Presenters Influence Our Thinking About Climate Change?
• Thought of the Week
• What will Church Leadership on Climate Change Look Like?
• Self-heating House – Auckland, NZ
• Time for a Better Capitalism
• Ten by Ten: Climate Change
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 7th July 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• ACCA and CA ANZ Agree Landmark Strategic Alliance
• A ‘Magnificent’ Collection of Articles
• Government Releases Foreign Trusts Inquiry and Steps to Strengthen International Tax Rules
• Do You Derive Benefits from Sustainability Matters?
• How Accountants Can Help Save the Planet …..
• Cracks Appear in the Neo-liberal Consensus
• Getting Your Strategy Sorted
• The Master
• Our Children’s Trust Initiative Growing
• India’s ‘Plastic Man’ Turns Litter Into Paved Roads
• Care Provision Fit for a Future Climate
• G20 Nations Fail to Agree Phase Out of Fossil Fuel Subsidies
• Bonuses Paid Coal Executives while Rank-and-File Gets Health Benefits Cut
• Support: Growing Your Small Business
• EU Muddling on Glyphosate Fuelled Brexit Populism
• Don’t Demonise Those Who Help Avoid Tax Legally
• Something to Think About
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 23rd June 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• Organic Dairy: Confirmation of Superior Performance
• Higher Living Standards
• The Future of Smart Transport in NZ
• Can we Have Affordable, Healthy and Resilient Homes?
• Entries Open for SBN 2016 Awards
• ‘Yes We Can’
• 9th International Urban Design Conference – Submit an Abstract
• Ethical Investment Principals
• The Perils of Acting Too Slowly on Global Warming
• Sanford Takes Sustainability and Integrated Reporting Awards
• Our Renewable Future: Tiptoeing Through the Renewable Energy Minefield
• The Greening Education Conference
• Almost 46 million Trapped in Slavery
• Panama Papers
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 9th June 2016
• Sustainability Group Events
• Singapore Exchange Launches its First Sustainability Index
• The Brutal Landscape of the Climate Crisis
• We Need to Talk about Paris – Webinar: Green and Balanced
• An Inconvenient Truth, Ten Years On
• Sixth New Zealand Sustainability Accounting Research Symposium 2016
• Donald Trump’s Biggest Vulnerability, According to a Nobel Prize-Winning Economist
• Wind Farms – Positive Effects on Crops
• Choose Clean Water – Update
• How Transparency Can Drive Integrated Thinking
• Looking Through the Wellbeing Kaleidoscope
• Malcolm Rands Sells Out of Ecostore
• How to Let Go of the World and Love all the Things Climate Can’t Change
• Cattle Drugs Could Fuel Climate Change
• Is Earth F****d?
• The Renewable Energy Future is Bright
• What Land Shortage?
To see the newsletter click here.