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Lowering the Carbon Footprint of Cities while Creating Business Opportunities

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Prof  Deo Prasad, Chief Executive Officer at CRC Low Carbon Living joins us this month to discuss ‘Lowering the Carbon Footprint of Cities while Creating Business Opportunities.’ There is ongoing discussion on future energy mix in cities – from a coal based to renewables.  The long term aspiration may be fine but how do we navigate the transition?  More and more roof top PVs or local area mini-grids, storage – all at households to community to network scale are being explored. What is more certain is …

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Partnering for Success

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Ms Alice Cahill, Manager, Sustainability Advantage, Office of Environment and Heritage joins us next month to discuss ‘Partnering for Success’. Sustainability Advantage is the NSW Government’s flagship sustainability program encouraging and enabling medium-to-large businesses to be productive contributors to the NSW economy while minimising their impact on the environment. Now in its 10th year, this adaptable and flexible program continues to work with a broad range or organisations across NSW to help drive positive environmental and business success. Sustainability Advantage is a unique, award winning business …

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“Wellness” Building Syndrome

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Ms Peta Earley, Associate/Senior Sustainability Consultant at Norman Disney & Young joins us next month in Brisbane to discuss ‘”Wellness” Building Syndrome –  is this the future for the built environment?’. Wellness is the fastest growing global sub- trend in 2016 and it extends to all areas of our lives. The WELL building standard is a product of seven years of research and assesses building characteristics for their impact or benefit on human psychological and physiological health. The WELL standard is having a significant impact on …

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The E-Waste Gap: The Need for Education and Awareness

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. The Conference theme ‘Renewables – Markets – Innovation – Opportunities – Capital’ will address the need for sustainable business practices, and what this means in today’s ever-changing world. Ms Carmel Dollisson, CEO of the Australia and New Zealand Recycling Platform Ltd joins us next month to discuss ‘The E-Waste Gap: The Need for Education and Awareness’. E-waste is becoming harder to find, presenting a challenge to a Scheme like the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme, which has defined annual targets for collection volume. This presentation …

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Australia’s First Automated Underground Waste Collection System

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Mr Tom Jamieson, Manager, Project Delivery at Sunshine Coast Council joins us to discuss ‘The Sunshine Coast Leads the Waste Revolution with Australia’s First Automated Underground Waste Collection System in the New Maroochydore City Centre’. This project, a first for Australia, is part of Sunshine Coast Council’s $253 million capital works program for 2016/2017. This significant and innovative infrastructure investment demonstrates why the Sunshine Coast is fast becoming one of Australia’s leading city regions for the 21st century and delivering its core strategy of becoming a …

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Mental health and psychosocial impacts of climate change for rural Australians

Climate change is arguably the biggest global health threat of the 21st century (U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2016). The safe limit for temperature increase is 1.5oC, but if we continue with business-as-usual, global temperature will rise between 3.7o and 4.8oC, with catastrophic consequences (IPCC, 2014). Already we see climate disruption around the globe which will certainly increase: unprecedented heatwaves, severe drought, bushfires, flooding of cities and land, major storms. Climate change increases the severity or frequency of health problems already affected by weather factors, as well as creating unprecedented health problems in new places. Groups especially at risk include …

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Why business will make or break the SDGs

Achieving the ambitious global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – which include ending poverty, improving global health, ensuring universal education, and mitigating climate change by 2030 – will cost a lot of money. The total will be far more than governments can make available, and the gap cannot be closed by official development assistance, now at $132 billion per year. The private sector, as well as updated financial markets, will be essential. Until recently, international organizations and governments had relatively well-defined roles in the global development and sustainability agenda, whereas the private sector’s participation in the process was often viewed through …

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A Study of Australian Brands Using Reforestation Projects

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Mr Ray Wilson, CEO of Carbon Neutral joins us to discuss ‘A Study of Australian Brands Using Reforestation Projects to Deliver Carbon Abatement and Sustainable Development Impacts’. Case studies are presented of leading Australian brands that are championing support for biodiverse reforestation as carbon reduction projects with important sustainable development outcomes. Their business cases for carbon neutrality are explored, including offset purchasing decisions and how they use their environmental programme and carbon neutrality to engage stakeholders, including supply chains. Early Bird registration closes this week on …

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Sustainable Building Practices Using the Green Star Certification Tool

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Mr Adriaan Window, Sustainable Consulting Engineer at the University of Queensland and Umow Lai QLD Pty Ltd joins us to discuss ‘A Social and Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis of Sustainable Building Practices Using the Green Star Certification Tool’. This research aims to create a cost-benefit analysis framework for evaluating the social and environmental factors that result from the implementation of the Australian Green Star certification scheme. Specifically, the framework is used to evaluate economic efficiency as a net present value of the marginal costs and benefits derived …

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A 2017 Case Study from a New Orleans Social Innovation Incubator Lab

The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. Dr Virginia Munro PhD from Griffith University will join us to discuss ‘Twelve Years On: A 2017 Case Study from a New Orleans Social Innovation Incubator Lab – With Example Startups and Sustainable Enterprises (The Calm That Came from the 2005 Storm)’. This presentation discusses a Social Innovation Incubation Lab Virginia visited in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA) last year. The Social Innovation Incubation Lab has been assisting with social venture set-ups since 2009. When Virginia was invited to present on CSR Social Initiatives at the …

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