Gaining a competitive advantage through reducing your carbon footprint

Design Business Strategies that Prepare your Organisation for a Carbon Constrained Future Understand the basics of carbon accounting and how a carbon price might impact your business. Learn about the risks and opportunities created under the introduction of a carbon price. Develop a roadmap of energy efficiency opportunities that save energy and save money. See the presenation from Rob Cawthorne, the  Managing Director of the  Carbon Reduction Institute at the “Taking Care of Business: Sustainable Transformation” Conference on the Gold Coast this September. You will Learn about governments’ sustainability plans and the relevant grants available, make the “triple bottom line” relevant to …

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The Delbessie Agreement – A Framework For Sustainable Land Management

The Delbessie Agreement – a framework for sustainable land management Robert Hassett*, Prue Peart*, Greg Coonan* *Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane, Qld 4001.  The Delbessie Agreement (or State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy) is a framework for the sustainable management of state rural leasehold land. Developed and implemented by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), the Agreement represents a groundbreaking partnership between the Queensland Government, AgForce, and the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society. It is a contemporary plan for sustainable use, protection and rehabilitation of rural leasehold land that takes aspirations of leaseholders, conservation and Indigenous groups, government …

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From the Forests to the Consumer Australia has the most credible Standards for Sustainable Forest Management and Chain of Custody certification.

Do you ever look at your dining table and wonder where it came from? What about your box of tissues, your timber floorboards or child’s toy train? Certification of Forests is the first link in the Chain of Custody (CoC), Sustainable and responsible forestry management involves every step taken to produce wood and wood products, whether that is building materials, office paper, toilet paper, packaging, furniture or other consumer goods. It covers the range of factors involved in the environmental impact of materials including how they are produced, processed, manufactured, transported, distributed and transformed. Environmentally aware consumers are increasingly asking …

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Can Tourism Operators Manage Water Sustainably?

The relationship that water has with the tourism sector is complex. While the UNWTO has recognised that water is an essential component of tourism, the problem of overuse has also been highlighted as worldwide fresh water resources become scarcer. The challenge for sustainable water management exists in many parts of the world and is no longer confined to arid destinations, high volume tourism destinations or developing nations. A significant portion of the water use in the tourism sector is associated with accommodation and hospitality. Responsibility for the way that water is used in accommodation venues is vested in both the …

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The Benefits of Green Credentials.

As sustainability and environmental policy continue to evolve, forming the biggest business opportunity of the 21st century, it is now a business imperative for companies to have credible green credentials. The GreenBizCheck presentation aims to educate attendees on the importance for all companies, from micro businesses through to large multinationals, of achieving certifiable green credentials. The GreenBizCheck workshop will examine, how government, corporate and consumer pressure are influencing the criteria for procurement decisions, what credible green certification options are available and the differences between them, how to protect your rating and engage staff, how to communicate your green credentials with …

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Corporate understanding of ecosystem services

The reliance organizations have on ecosystem services such as clean water, air, climate, timber, fibres, food and genetic resources is fundamentally an element of corporate risk and strategy that is often overlooked. Where traditional environmental management examines the impact the organization has on the environment, the idea of ecosystem services is novel in the sense that it is also concerned with the impact the environment has on the organization. We surveyed corporate managers in the Australian resources and infrastructure sectors and found that most are ill-equipped to address ecosystem services as a strategic aspect of long-term organizational sustainability. A high …

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Integrated Reporting – The next step in TBL Accountability

The impacts of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues on an organisation’s bottom line are intuitively well understood. Consider the negative impacts of the Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on BP’s bottom line, or the positive impact of General Electric’s environmentally driven business strategy – ecomagination. The idea therefore that sustainability issues should be fully integrated into business strategy and reflected in an organisation’s performance reporting seems obvious. Leading companies are beginning to transform their business strategies and performance reporting in order to meet their stakeholders’ increasing expectations for information that provides a holistic representation of their …

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Beyond sustainability: Exploring the principles of restorative management

The leadership of sustainability is an emerging issue in Fortune 1000 companies, and 70% of these companies have indicated that they intend to increase their investments in sustainability over the next five years. The implications of this trend are that business leaders have begun to understand the importance of sustainability as well as how its integrated implementation can offer both a competitive advantage and a new host of unforeseen benefits. Many of the current sustainability management practices have set the foundation for the next phase of sustainability, which is restorative management. While sustainable organizational practices contribute to thriving, restorative management …

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Rethink! Addressing the global consequences of urbanisation in Cities

By the end of the 21st century 85% of our global population will be living in cities. By then cities as we know it today have ceased to exist. The majority of humans would have organized themselves into Megacities and Super Urban Conglomerates of 40 million people or more and Megacities would have replaced nations and became self supportive as economic drivers and engines for growth and compete at a global level for resources, top talents and businesses. This urbanization trend would be exclusively for the new and upcoming global economy. However we are under threat of over stressing our …

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