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 8th December 2022
This final edition of Sustainability Matters for 2022 is a week early as next week I will be attending, for the first time, the A-CSEAR Conference and Emerging Scholars Colloquium being held this year at Victoria University of Wellington. Meanwhile you can read about;
• Five Winners of Second Earthshot Prize
• Don’t Be Fooled: Climate Disasters Are Highly Lucrative
• A Gentle Radical
• Launch of The Mana Kai Initiative
• Nature’s Treasures: Tales of More Than 100 Extraordinary Objects from Nature
• Homes Made of Straw No Fable, with Benefits for Buyers and Environment
• Bolstering Biodiversity in Suburbia
• Directors’ Guide to Climate Governance
• Push Clothing Brands to Pay a Living Wage
• Kelp Farming Is Reviving an Ancient Practice – and a Modern Economy
• Negotiations Begin on a UN Treaty to End Plastic Pollution
• Draft Resolution Seeking Climate Justice at UN Court Published
• Why Climate Mitigation Equals Defeat
• Delivering Sustainability & Climate Reporting
• Case Study: Home EV Charging Pilots
• The Industrial Energy Efficiency Playbook
• NZ is on Climate Glide Time
• Sustainable Management of Groundwater Extraction: An Australian Perspective on Current Challenges
• Firms Failing to Turn Biodiversity Commitments into Action, CDP Warns.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 1st December 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• An Environmental and Social Approach to Sustainability in Not-for-Profits and Charities
• Dutch to Close Down Up to 3,000 Farms
• The Commons Social Change Library
• Certificate in Sustainability for Finance
• 2022 Sustainable Business Awards Winners
• NZ Agribusiness Climate Change Report
• Biodiversity and Business
• Revolutionary Ideas Sought to Save Planet
• 6 Principles of Climate Leadership: Community Climate Action in New Zealand
• How to Move a Country: Fiji’s Radical Plan to Escape Rising Sea Levels
• Digital Technologies and Climate Change
• LCANZI v CCC Judgment
• As Evidence Mounts, New Concerns About Fracking and Health
• Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
• Temperature Check – Ensuring SDG and Paris Agreement Success
• The New Zealand Climate & Health Council
• Climate Justice, Societal Transformation and the Role of Higher Education
• Floodland: a Place to Practise How to Live in a Dystopia
• Resilient, Affordable Housing After Disasters.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 17th November 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Accounting and Nature: Unpacking How Chartered Accountants Support Businesses to Protect and Restore Nature
• A TVNZ1 Climate Special [Recorded]
• Opportunities in Plain Sight
• Ancient Cultures May Hold the Key to Keeping Buildings Cool in Changing Climate
• Environmental Decisions: Do we Know if We’re Making a Difference?
• Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and its Role in the Climate Crisis
• Why Scientists Are Rallying to Save Ponds
• ISO Launches Net-Zero Guidelines
• Using Technical Vocabulary to Bust Myths
• Can we Regenerate Nature by Accelerating the Circular Economy?
• How to Talk to Your CFO About Sustainability
• Butterfly Extinction or Sponsorship Opportunity
• Circular Economy and Construction
• ‘The Green Steel of the 21st Century’
• Big Power Companies – Excess Dividends
• Building Carbon Literacy: Results from an International Survey
• Responsible Policy Engagement Analysis
• A Building Material Which Consumes CO2
• The 24 Best Climate Change Books to Read in 2022.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 3rd November 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Sustainability for Accountants (New CA Program Subject)
• Social Power: The Twelve Habits of Successful Change-makers
• Microhome Village Ends Homelessness for Hundreds
• Get Equipped for Climate Leadership with These E-Learning Courses
• Businesses Call for Nature Impact Disclosures to be Mandatory by 2030
• Still Flying Blind: The Absence of Climate Risk in Financial Reporting
• Less Cooling Needed with this White Paint
• University of Auckland Earns Double Top Ranking for Sustainability
• Sustainability for ‘Finance Hat Wearers’
• 2022 Scorecard on Insurance, Fossil Fuels and the Climate Emergency
• Why Investors Now Want Companies to Disclose Plastic Pollution Risk
• It is Possible for Nations to go 100% Organic
• Biomimicry to Inspire and Design Better Systems
• 2022 CFO Sustainability Snapshot Survey
• Start with Us
• Fair Chance for all: Breaking the Cycle of Persistent Disadvantage
• One year of Wildfires Undid Decades of California’s Emissions Policy.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 19th October 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Benchmark Shows Progress Not Matched by Actions
• EU’s Pioneering Anti-deforestation Law Hailed
• New Reports Launched by edie On Achieving the SDGs
• Making The Transition Happen: Investment Policy for a Net Zero Emissions Economy
• New Rules for AC and Heat Pump Gas Will Cut NZ’s Carbon Footprint
• For a Fraction of Australia’s Fighter Jet Budget, I’d Leave East Timor’s Fuel in the Ground
• What You Need to Know About Green Finance
• 1373km Undersea Cable Connection Egypt to Europe
• To Grow Coral Reefs, Get Them Buzzed
• Making a Desk with 10,000 Recycled Chopsticks
• Five of the World’s Most Innovative Green Buildings
• More NZ Single-use Plastics Banned
• 2022 Sustainable Business Awards!
• Supply Chain Engagement to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• How to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Data Storage
• Complex Conversations on Complex Questions
• Campaign to Nudge PR Firms to Dump Fossil Fuel Clients Launches in Asia
• Middle Eastern Countries Sitting on Ocean of Natural Gas
• Who Should Pay for the Costs of a Warming Planet?
• Wao Summit 2022
• Auckland Council’s Trial Recycling Scheme Targets Large Plastic Items
• Why the Rush to Mine Lithium Could Dry Up the High Andes.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 29th September 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• ‘Silent Spring’ Remains a Rousing Call to Action
• Parents for Climate Aotearoa Helping Us All to Discuss Climate Issues
• Global ‘Stilling’: Is Climate Change Slowing Down the Wind?
• Green Transport Feature
• Are your Funds Caring for People and the Earth?
• A Closer Look at the GHG Protocol: Observations and Implications for Standards Setters and Regulators
• Regenerative Agriculture Briefing
• Patagonia: Founder Gives Company Away to Fight Climate Change
• Visualising Accounting…More than Meets the Eye
• Introduction to Power
• Calling us to Action – Climate Change and Business Conference 2022
• What Melting Tibetan Glaciers Reveal About Disease and Global Warming
• Green Office Toitū 1st Year Celebration
• O Tātou Ngāhere Conference: Regenerating Our Landscape with Native Forest
• Japan’s ‘Zero Waste’ Village Is a Model for Small-Town Sustainability
• Superhome Tours 2022 – What you May have Missed
• 2022 CFO Sustainability Snapshot Survey
• Denmark Becomes First Country to Pledge ‘Loss and Damage’ Finance
• Natural Climate Solutions and the Voluntary Carbon Market: A Guide for C-suite Executives
• What it will Take to Deliver the SDGs
• ‘Double Standard’ on Climate Change: Helicopters Allowed but Car Use to be Cut
• Mia Mottley Builds Global Coalition to Make Financial System Fit for Climate Action
• Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty Initiated by Vanuatu at UN General Assembly.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 15th September 2022
In this 6 page edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Climate-related Disclosures Final Consultation
• Public Opinion Is Not Enough to Hold Companies Accountable
• Sustainability Assurance Playbook – An Opportunity for CA’s to Seize
• A Guide to Finding Hidden Beauty in the World
• Parliamentary Inquiry – Passenger Rail
• Overselling Sustainability Reporting
• ESG Reporting Portal for Corporates Launched in Singapore
• How Much Value is Your Sustainability Strategy Creating?
• Visualising the Science of Climate
• Biofuel Mandate is ‘Greenwashing’ – Govt. Urged to Drop Policy
• Asking Hard Questions Where Business Interests and the Public Good Conflict
• How to Make ESG Real
• How to Think About the Future – Localism, Adapting/Repurposing, Triage and a New Skillset
• Floating Solar Farms Are a Game Changer
• What are Scopes 1, 2 and 3 of Carbon Emissions?
• Milking the Planet
• Climate Advocate King Charles III Takes Throne
• Students Leading the Way in Tackling Climate Change
• Large Increase in NZ’s CO2 Emissions from International Flights
• Environment Hubs Aotearoa: Collaboration for Local Solutions
• Battery Breakthrough: Cheap Alternative to Lithium-ion
• Built Environment Sustainability Frameworks Commonly Used in New Zealand
• Shock Decision to Green-light Deep-Sea Mining Slammed
• Auckland Climate Festival – October 2022.
To see the newsletter click here.