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Category Archives: Association for Sustainability in Business

Growing cities from within: urban agriculture in inner Brisbane.

The integration of ‘multifunctional’ land uses including agriculture, has benefits such as decentralised food production, food security, reinforcement of farming as a way of life, cultural landscapes and biological diversity (Bjørkhauga and Richards, 2008). The difficulty arises as multifunctional approaches, although analysed from a policy and economic perspective, have not been integrated in spatial analysis (Wilson, 2009, p. 278). Notable studies make it clear that we currently do not have the tools to deal with the planning or operation of multifunctional agriculture integrated with peri-urban communities. New ways of looking at farming practices are needed (Lawrence, et al., 2004; Bjørkhauga …

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Regiopolis: Rethinking Australian Regional Cities

Regeneration of many cities is essential to enable their sustainable re-development but importantly to maintain their viability and creativity in this global and rapidly changing world. The predominant focus of Australian planning and design literature is concentrated upon its coattail cities and the problems and challenges these burgeoning metropolises presently. Even state and commonwealth government policies preference these places against the rest of the Australia’s urban and regional centres biasing the focus of the majority of research activities and interrogations. For example, the recent round of the Commonwealth-funded National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) (2010-2013) projects concentrated over 80% …

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The Digital Work Hub Project: a catalyst for urban and regional revitalisation in SEQ

A 2013 collaborative Regional Development Australia project between the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Logan/Redland, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, examined opportunities and challenges for establishing a network of digital work hubs across South East Queensland. The global megatrends influencing the future of work as highlighted by Deliotte & AMP Capital 2013 Its (almost!) all about me. Workplace 2030: Built for us, concludes that workplaces of the future will be designed to connect and facilitate as interconnected hubs providing the catalyst for diverse, vibrant work precincts. Presently however, Australian cities with their agglomeration of knowledge workers and innovative high value added …

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Energy minister vows to curb the spread of solar farms

Solar farms must not become “the new onshore wind”, Greg Barker, the energy minister has said DECC admits that the spread of solar farms has been “much stronger than anticipated in government modelling” and some have been sited “insensitively”. Ministers have vowed to curb the growth of massive solar farms that blight the countryside, pledging they will not allow it to become “the new onshore  wind”.  In a solar strategy released on Friday, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “We want to move the emphasis for growth away from large   solar farms.” It unveils plans to instead put more …

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Property Webinar: Retrofits Environmental Upgrade Finance

Financial mechanism for commercial and light industrial property WEBINAR: Property Retrofits: Environmental Upgrade Finance DATE: Thursday 11 September 2014 TIME: 1-1.45 PM SPEAKER: Mr Eli Court DURATION: 45 minutes, 30 minutes presentation followed by 15 minutes Q&A This 45-minute live webinar session will cover: Environmental upgrade financial mechanism for commercial and light Australia’s commercial and industrial building stock needs upgrading, to reduce energy costs, cut greenhouse gas emissions, improve the work environment for staff and customers and boost productivity. However, the up-front costs of retrofits can be daunting for building owners. Environmental Upgrade Finance offers a new, low risk financing …

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Zero Carbon Urban Residential Projects – webinar invitation

This 45-minute live webinar session will cover:

There is much being said by Australian governments about urban renewal. In NSW the proposed urban renewal is more to allow for increases in population. Planning for the future growth of cities is a desirable requirement. We should be looking further than just planning for increasing urban population….find out about Zero Carbon Urban Residential Projects at this webinar hosted by the Association for Sustainability in Business.

Key take outs:
Finance, design and construction of Zero and Low Carbon Urban Residential Developments
Case studies of projects

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Who’s the greenest of us all? Wind farms, light rail and the ACT government

When it comes to renewables, the ACT government clearly feels it has the wind, so to speak, in its sails. Buoyed by two successful solar auctions, Environment Minister Simon Corbell recently announced plans for wind farm auctions to take place. But dreams are expensive, and as ACT citizens will, either directly or indirectly, be paying the bills, some questioning of the vision seems in order. Labor governments love targets, and the ACT’s target is that by 2020, 90 per cent of the energy consumed in the city will come from renewables. Production will be underwritten by a feed-in tariff of …

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Australian Regional Development Conference

The Australian Regional Development Conference will be held in Albury NSW on the 15 – 16 October 2014. There is also the addition of 6 optional workshops being held on Friday 17th October 2014. – See more at: http://regionaldevelopment.org.au/#sthash.qEZuQYbd.dpuf Over 60 speakers will discuss the broad issues of economic, planning, environment and community development in regional Australia. The aim of the conference is to advance economic and social outcomes for regional Australia. The conference provides the opportunity to discuss the challenges, opportunities and future of regional Australia. The Australian Regional Development Conference will be held in Albury NSW on the …

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The Association for Sustainability in Business

The Association for Sustainability in Business has a new home: www.sustainability.asn.au

The Association for Sustainability in Business provides a platform for industry and academic leaders to share sustainability knowledge, the Association is committed to supporting the sustainable business practices of their members.

Keep in touch and informed

environ sustain imageOur Purpose

The purpose of the Association for Sustainability in Business is to:

  • Promote continuing professional development for sustainability through conferences and seminars
  • Encourage collaboration and information sharing through industry networking events
  • Share best practice and knowledge in sustainability

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New ASX guidelines to force sustainability reporting

By Kylar Loussikian, The Conversation Publicly listed companies will need to disclose exposure to economic, environmental and social sustainability risks for the first time under new corporate governance guidelines released today. The principles, issued by the ASX Corporate Governance Council, are the first since the global financial crisis. Companies have previously not been required to disclose non-financial risk. Sara Bice, a research fellow at the Melbourne School of Government, said the changes were a “big move”, particularly in the absence of government regulation. She said the changes fits with the new guidelines’ increased focus on transparency and disclosure. “These are …

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