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 26th May 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review: 9 Key Takeaways
• Countering Climate Disinformation
• ISSB outlines Actions Required to Deliver Global Baseline of Sustainability Disclosures
• Decarbonising the World’s Industries: A net-zero Guide for Nine Key Sectors
• Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis
• Our Thriving City
• That’s Wild: Ants as Architects and Engineers
• Step-by-step Guides for Nature Regeneration
• Sustainability Media Academy for Asian Journalists Unveiled
• How the Cult of Productivity Torpedoes Sustainability and Equity
• VanCity: Products and Services to Address Climate Change
• CA ANZ Surveys Members About Climate
• DEGROWTH – Persuading the Unpersuadable to Think the Unthinkable
• Costs and Benefits of Climate-Related Disclosure Activities by Corporate Issuers and Institutional Investors
• Future Thinker of the Year 2022 Awards.
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 12th May 2022
In this 21st anniversary edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Kate Raworth: Net-zero is Not Enough, Businesses Must Shoot for Net-positive
• Climate Panel Opens Front in New Battle – We Can’t Delay Fighting
• Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take
• Too Much Money: How Wealth Disparities are Unbalancing Aotearoa New Zealand
• 37 Ways to Make a Difference in the World
• Largest Solar Farm to be Built Near Taupō
• PCE: Hydrogen Could Make Emissions Budgets Unachievable
• Toxic Effects of PVC/Vinyl to be Analysed
• ERP & Climate Mitigation Implementation
• The Failure of Global Elites
• Sea Level Rise to Affect New Zealand Sooner than Expected
• Capitals Coalition to Host ‘Digitalizing Sustainability Data’ Project
• Lithium Mining Is Leaving Chile’s Indigenous Communities High and Dry (Literally)
• Six Ways to Build Resilience and Hope into Young People’s Climate Change Learning
• The Changing Climate for Credit Unions
• In Passing – A 21st Birthday
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 28th April 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Carbon Literacy: UK Government Unveils New Climate-focused Education Strategy
• Once You Know
• No, Burning Wood Fuels Is Not Climate-Friendly
• NZ Scrubbed ‘Plant-based’ Diets from Report
• Up to 28 Million in East Africa Face Severe Hunger
• Lord of the Swans: The Tragedy of the Enclosure of the Commons
• Skill Up Your Activism: Educate Yourself!
• Sustainability and Impact Strategy Practitioner Course
• Insights on New Zealand Sustainability Professionals – Launch of Findings
• Tuvalu’s Government Reverses Decision To Support Sea Mining
• Annual Meetings are the New Frontline in the Battle Over Corporate Purpose
• The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long-Term in a Short-Term World
• Seniors Offer Hope in Climate Crisis
• The Big Switch: Australia’s Electric Future
• Seven Questions to Make Your Packaging More Sustainable
• How Can Governments be Held More Accountable for Environment Stewardship?
• Sustainable Packaging Highlighted for New Zealand Exporters
• Why Electric Vehicles will Not Save the Planet
• Why Are Nature-Based Solutions on Climate Being Overlooked?
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 14th April 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• An ‘Ecological Constitution’ for Chile?
• Meet the ‘Future Generations’ Commissioner of Wales
• The IPCC Report – 3,675 pages
• Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Climate Case
• Valuing Nature and People to Inform Business Decision-making
• TCFD Mandate: Everything to Know About the UK’s Climate Disclosure Requirements
• Sweden Could be First Country to Target Consumption-based Emission Cuts
• NZ’s Environmental Hero of the Year: Charmaine Bailie
• Exposure Drafts on Climate and General Sustainability-related Financial Disclosures Published by ISSB
• Green Gremlins: The Hidden Fraud Risks in ESG Branding
• Wild Sounds: The Loss of Sonic Diversity and Why it Matters
• Opposition to ‘Human Rights’ in Nature Talks
• The Promise of Farming with Solar Panels
• The Green Divide: How Wealth Buys Shade in a Warming World
• The 2022 Chocolate Scorecard
• Beverage Container Return Scheme for NZ
• NZ’s New Water Regulator Not a Guarantee Drinking Water Standards will Improve
• How Biochar can Mitigate Carbon in Farmlands and Urban Centres
• 78 year old’s Four-wheeled Electric Bike
• Ecuador Grants Wild Animals Legal Rights in a World First
• Travel Choices: A Personal Dilemma
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 31st March 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Panama Legislates to Give Nature Rights
• Global Accounting Bodies Urge Profession-wide Commitment to Reverse Nature Loss
• IFRS and GRI to Align Standards
• SEC Proposed Rule for Mandatory Climate Disclosure by all U.S. Public Companies
• Milked: White Lies in Dairy Land
• NZ’s First Climate Solutions Directory
• Architecture Built 1,000 Years Ago to Catch Rain
• Better Futures 2022 Report
• NZ Climate-related Disclosures – Your Say
• Climate Finance Should Not be Made to Compete With Aid to Ukraine
• SME’s Strongly Support Climate Change Action but are Confused How to Progress
• Launch of SBN’s Circular Economy Directory
• It’s Time to Let the Kids Decide How Auckland Will Look in 2070
• Planes, Trains and the Climate Crisis – Why NZ Shouldn’t be Closing its Railways
• 32 Reasons Why Everything Will Be Okay
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 17th March 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• A History Lesson about Ukraine
• Building a Global Circular Economy
• Reimagining Corporations: Putting Profits and Power with Workers and Communities
• IMHO: How Green is Your Budget?
• It’s Our Future: Share Your Climate Story
• The Limits to Growth at 50: From Scenarios to Unfolding Reality
• Introduction to Social Accounting and Audit
• A Use for Old Wind Turbine Blades After They’re Retired
• Edible Extinction: Why We Need to Revive Global Food Diversity
• Australian Companies are Failing to Comply with Modern Slavery Laws
• Update on the Resource Management Act
• Accelerating Transition, Building Resilience
• Stop Saving the Planet: An Environmentalist Manifesto
• Stop Ecocide: Change the Law, Protect the Earth
• Starting Out on Sustainability
• A Bicycle Is an Anti-Poverty Machine
• Architecture Built 1,000 years ago Revived
• Wellbeing Budgets and the Environment: A Promised Land?
• Low Carbon Aotearoa: Energy Roadmap
• The Taming of the Slough: Humanity’s History of Trying to Control Water
• What Anti Consumption Research is Telling us About the Challenges for a Sustainable Future
To see the newsletter click here.
Sustainability Matters 3rd March 2022
In this edition of Sustainability Matters you can read about;
• Remembering Janice Skinner
• Remembering Peter Neilson
• This Year’s Most Inspiring Documentaries
• The Sustainable Business Handbook
• It’s Not Just Climate: Are We Ignoring Other Causes of Disasters?
• Report: Preparing for SEC Climate Reporting Rule Changes in 2022
• Growing Wave of Climate Cases Piles Pressure on Private Sector
• Sustainable Procurement Activator Course
• Explainer: The Many Shades of Hydrogen
• Massachusetts Will Host the First US Solar on Highway Sound Barriers
• Is Bamboo Sustainable?
• Ice Box Challenge
• Consultants Owe duty of Care – USA Bellweather Case
• Cutting Plastic Construction Waste
• The Role of ESG and Purpose
• 13 Toxic Chemicals Lurking in Your Home
• Paul Hawken: Regeneration in the Climate Movement
• Investors Urge Miners to Change Ways After Damning Rio Tinto Workplace Report
• Degrowth: On the Way to a Steady State Economy
• Rethinking What Cities Are For
• Dennis Meadows on the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of The Limits to Growth
• Your 2022 Sustainability Workout Programme!
To see the newsletter click here.