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 13th April 2023
In this edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• TNFD Releases Final Beta Framework
• Right to a Healthy Environment; Pushback from US, Some Abstentions
• The Gray Rhino: How to Recognise and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore
• TNFD Threatens To be the New Frontier in Corporate Greenwashing
• Insurer Quits Climate Alliance; Legal Fears
• Plastic Items to be Banned or Restricted From 1st July 2023
• UN Water Conference Needs to Kickstart a Revolution
• For The Blue
• Make Your Business’ Buying More Sustainable
• Everyone is Accountable
• NZ Environmental Hero of the Year 2023
• ‘Rewilding’ Could Have Big Climate Benefits
• Climate Club
• Organic Products and Production Bill Passed
• Unheralded Environmentalist: Jimmy Carter’s Green Legacy
• Teaching with Cases: Impact in the Classroom
• Two New Books for Accountants
• The Business of Nature: Emerging Expectations on Directors to Manage Nature-Related Risk
• An Environmental Disaster Was Waiting to Happen: No One Listened
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 30th March 2023
In this edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• A Liveable Future for All Possible, If we Take Urgent Climate action: Flagship UN Report
• Dealing with Technical or Professional Jargon
• Slum-Inspired Apartment Complex Designed by Its Own Residents
• An Equitable Transition
• 100 years of Conservation Celebrated by Forest & Bird
• How to Help SMEs Benefit from Integrated Thinking and Integrated Reporting
• Wild Isles Review – David Attenborough’s Last Hurrah Makes for Unmissable TV
• Frozen Planet II
• Climate Conscious Lawyering
• Good Climate Policy is Good Mental Health Policy Too
• TCFDs & Climate Scenarios for the Building Sector
• Changing the Way NZ Moves
• Deny and Delay
• Top Lawyers Vow They Will Not Help Facilitate New Fossil Fuel Projects
• Rate the Raters 2023: ESG Ratings at a Crossroads
• Some Projected Maps of the World in 2100
• How PFAS Hurt Wildlife
• TEQs (Tradable energy quotas): Could They Spark a Global Just Transition?
• East Coast Farmland Crumbles after Carbon Group Takes Over.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 16th March 2023
Welcome to this 5-page edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• High Seas Treaty: Historic Deal to Protect International Waters Finally Reached at UN
• We Can’t Afford to Choose Adaptation Over Cutting Emissions – Suggesting Otherwise is Dangerous
• High Seas Treaty Exempts Deep-Sea Mining from Stricter Environmental Rules
• ‘Dead’ Electric Car Batteries Find a Second Life Powering Cities
• Five of Paul Polman’s Tips for Being an Effective Sustainability Leader
• Six Key Takeaways From the IFRS Sustainability Symposium
• Are PHEVs and Hybrid Cars Achieving Their Fuel Efficiency Claims?
• Docket – Supply Chain Toolbox
• The Vital Role of Business and Primary Sectors in Combatting Biodiversity Loss
• Boost Your Knowledge on Sustainability
• Merger of Reporting Standards Body ISSB Desirable but ‘Impossible’, says GRI’s CEO
• Designing Accreditation Programmes for Sustainability Professionals
• ICAEW Fundamentals of Sustainability Programme
• Aotearoa Circle Web Series | Local Govts Role in Reaching Our Climate Goals
• Longevity Research Suggests Mammals Which Live in Groups May Live Longer
• Why Bringing Climate Change into the Indian Medical Curriculum was a Belated Necessity
• The Age of Acceleration
• Do Your Carbon Consultants Know What They are Talking About?
• Willow Oil Project in Alaska Approved
• 15 Best Climate Change Documentaries to Stream (2023)
• Sustainability Leaders Across Asia Pacific Recognised at Eco-Business A-List Awards.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 2nd March 2023
Welcome to this edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• First Working paper on Managed Retreat Law Released by EDS
• New Zealand Climate Clause Bank
• Finance Minister Fed Up with Some Reporting
• Environmental Defence Society Conference 2023 – Pivot Point
• A Call for Balance for Sustainability Practitioners
• Films of Potential Interest
• Bioengineering Repairs to Ecologically Fragile Landscapes
• 8 Easy Ways to Reduce Microplastic Waste
• Wild Isles
• Climate-related Financial Disclosure: CA ANZ Submission
• Urban Trees Can Save Lives
• Sustainability Centres Community Workshop
• Circular Economy Boost Session!
• 2023 Insights on New Zealand Sustainability Professionals Survey
• 100 speakers with Impactful Ideas: Planetary Stewardship Highlights – TEDxBoston
• ESG Factors – What They Are and Why They Matter
• NZ App Helps Cut Commuters’ Emissions
• Directors’ Duties: LCANZ Submission – Issues to Think About
• How Can we Rethink Climate Communications to Reach Deniers and ‘Delayers’?
• Central Queensland Coal Mine Blocked – An Australian First
• The City Where Third Graders Train to Be Engineers.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 16th February 2023
Welcome to this edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• Extreme Weather Warnings Fail to Trigger Climate Action: Study
• Jonathon Porritt on Privilege and Responsibility
• The Future CAN be Positive
• Circuses Have Evolved – So Must Climate Summits
• Three Books About Degrowth
• Valuing Nature: The Case for Nature-Related Assessment & Disclosure
• Mushrooms and Hemp Insulation
• Energy Storage is Going Underground
• Miracle Trees!
• ‘Climate Quitters’: 20% of UK Workers Turn Down Jobs Based on Poor ESG Commitments
• Climate Action Grants
• Celebrate Environmental Action and Sustainable Living in Auckland
• A Report Card for 2022 – How Would You Guess New Zealand Fared?
• WEF: Global Risks Report 2023
• Toolbox for a More Sustainable Supply Chain
• The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions
• What Now for Auckland? Four Ideas for a More Climate Resilient City
• The Role of Regulation and Policy in Incentivising Scope 3 GHG Reporting
• Rich Countries’ Stinginess, Spread Too Thin
• Still Present Although Gone.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 2nd February 2023
Welcome to this second 2023 edition of Sustainability Matters in which you can read about;
• The Chartered Accountants Worldwide Sustainability Roadmap
• What is ‘Greenhushing’ and Why Is It a Risk for Sustainability Professionals?
• Brief: Inclusive Insurance for Climate-Related Disasters
• Sustainability for ‘Finance Hat Wearers’
• Aotearoa SDG Summit 2023
• Unpacking the UNEA Resolution to End Plastic Pollution
• Sustainable Procurement Activator
• Single-use Coffee Pods: Surprising Benefits
• Housing for Elderly on University Campuses
• Explainer Series: Hydrogen 101
• Over 100 Millionaires Call for Wealth Taxes
• Workshop Designed for Facilities Managers
• The Greenwashing Hydra
• Introduction to Regenerative Economics
• Acuity’s Big Ideas Feature
• No Miracles Needed: How Today’s Technologies Can Save our Climate and Clean Our Air
• What 5,000-year-old Skeletons Tell Us About Living with Climate Change
• Carbon Offsets Avoided by 40% of Sustainability Professionals
• Why Accountants Should Think Like a CVO.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 19th January 2023
Welcome to the first 2023 edition of Sustainability Matters. May this and forthcoming editions inform, encourage, delight, motivate, enrage (yes ‘enrage’), antagonise (yes that too) you and help you in whatever your ‘sustainability’ interests, doings, quests, ambitions, mullings, roles, leadership, encouraging, educating, training, goals, strategies or plans are.
Although perhaps not everyone‘s ‘cup of tea’, The A-CSEAR Conference and Emerging Scholars Colloquium mid-December in Wellington was a delight to attend. The 2023 version will be in held in Brisbane.
Meanwhile you can read about;
• Historic Framework for Nature Adopted at COP15 in Montreal
• NZ’s Climate Standards Published by XRB
• Value Commission Launched
• Climate-related Disclosure – Australia
• First Annual Climate Change Statement to Australian Parliament
• Without Exception Always an Excellent Resource
• Seven Actions for 2023
• Climate Risk in Financial Statements
• IFRS/ISSB Corporate Reporting Series
• Ten Retrofits to Protect Homes Against Flood, Fires, Heat and Cold
• Handbook of Accounting and Sustainability
• The Sustainability EXPO – Rolleston
• How to Talk About Climate Change with ‘that’ uncle at Christmas
• USA Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Proposed Rule
• Valuing Nature: The case for Nature-related Assessment and Disclosure
• Washington, Students Learn About Climate Change Like Nowhere Else
• President of the Cop28
• Australia-Asia Solar PowerLink Collapse
• Why was Roman Concrete Self-Healing? – Riddle Solved
• academyEX Launched
• New Zealand is Stuck in the Mud
• 183 Ways the World Improved in 2022
To see the newsletter click here.