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Category Archives: Sustainable Business

Landfill Carbon Pricing – Revenue and Risk

Landfill carbon pricing – revenue and risk 1. Examining the current state of pricing of landfills in the market 2. Why are different landfills charging such different rates – the answers revealed 3. Claw backs and reasonable costs 4. Identifying reasonable versus unreasonable price adjustments to carbon 5. Advice for landfill users 6. Advice for landfill owners 7. What does the recent changes to emissions factors mean for pricing 8. Pricing now for an emission in 2038 with both proximity, emission factor and carbon pricing uncertainty all in the mix. Mike Ritchie will address these issues and more at the …

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GBCA calls on WA to strengthen sustainability commitment

20 February 2013 — In the face of Western Australia’s 9 March state election, the Green Building Council of Australia has outlined a three-point green plan for the state’s buildings and communities to create “a clear long-term pathway to resilience and sustainability”. The Council has called on the political leaders of Western Australia to strengthen their commitment to more efficient, productive, resource-friendly and sustainable buildings and communities. Executive director Robin Mellon said “despite a slow start” the number of Green Star rated buildings in WA continued to grow, government and industry were working collaboratively, the GBCA’s state industry group was …

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A National Sustainability Council for Australia

Media Release Tony Burke, Minister for the Environment, today announced the establishment of a National Sustainability Council for Australia. Mr Burke said the council would provide independent advice to the government on sustainability issues and produce public reports against a set of sustainability indicators. “It was clear from the Sustainable Population Strategy that we need better information about how our economy, environment and society interact to inform better planning and decision making,” Mr Burke said. “That’s why the Government announced the Measuring Sustainability program in the 2011-12 Budget. “This program will allow for the collection of data guided by a …

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SME sustainability challenges 2012

In a report released by the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), in Canada, 10 SME’s share the challenges they face in being environmentally and socially responsible. “Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) create more than 80 per cent of new jobs in Canada every year,” said Marie-France Turcotte, author of the report, management professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and Director of NBS’s French office. “SMEs also create 80 per cent of industry’s negative environmental impacts and more than 60 per cent of commercial waste. Clearly, conversations about sustainable business must include SMEs.” Download a copy of the report …

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Positive Carbon Management: The Buck Starts with the Environmental Data

What separates leaders from followers in the area of energy and carbon management?  Bigger cost reductions and better operating performance.  How do they achieve these results? By outperforming followers with executive sponsored programs and investing in technology to manage and analyse data. That’s the message to take away from a recent energy and carbon management report by research firm Aberdeen Group. What can be inferred from this report is that delivering improved business performance will, in the long term, only be achieved by a systematic and consistent approach to energy and carbon, which will accommodate the increasing complexity and quantity …

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Cost Effective Sustainability Through The Value Chain

By Lindsey Nelson, Published August 27, 2012 Being a green enterprise is not a cheap undertaking, but lots of companies and NGOs are looking for ways to make their value chain (supply chain, distributors, partner org’s, etc.) more sustainable. And according to a recent Forbes article, the businesses supply chain is where the ROI on sustainability shows its benefits in triple digits. In an effort to understand in-depth what makes a value chain sustainable, Forbes.com partnered with ASQ, The Institute for Supply Management, and Deloitte on a multi-year research study aimed at identifying demonstrated management practices and cost saving approaches. …

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What’s the British music scene got to do with selecting the right environmental software?

I’ve just finished watching another brilliant episode of the series “Legendary Music Cities of the World” – this time spotlighting the extraordinary music successes of London. Beatles, Stones, The Who, the rock of Led Zeppelin evolving into the Punk phenomenon, Glamrock of Bowie & Queen, the Brit Pop gems of Blue, Happy Mondays and Oasis sandwiched between the Hit Factories of Stock, Aitken & Waterman and the Spice Girls, which in turn inspired the blossoming of modern feminine songstresses of Adele, Lily Allen and Florence & the Machine. The truly exceptional artists were able to evolve their music as the …

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Sustainability Conference Australia – Melbourne, June 2013

The Association’s annual conference Sustainanability Conference “Sustainable Transformation” will be held in conjunction with the “Making Cities Liveable” conference in Melbourne. The new three day format will see: > Day one consisting of four Sustainability streams totalling 44 presenters > Day two will have 6 key note presentations and 90 minute moderated “Q&A” > Day three will consist of four Liveable Cities streams totalling 44 presenters Delegates will be able to purchase one, two or three day registrations. Call for papers will open on the 14th August 2012 and close at the end of February 2013. The podcast of the …

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Spreadsheets don’t cut it for tracking and reporting environmental data

What is it telling us when Microsoft, creator of the Excel spreadsheet, invests in a software solution to manage its environmental reporting requirements? According to Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist, the solution “will enable us to efficiently collect, analyse and share environmental data, delivering new levels of understanding about the resources we use”. This is not a vote of no-confidence in the spreadsheet, but rather a good business decision to invest in fit for purpose solutions. Environmental management has, for most businesses, been a sideline issue that has attracted only passing interest from management. As a consequence, investment in tools to …

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Australian Road Authority Tenders: constructing sustainability comparison tools

By Prof Russell Kenley, Professor of Mangement, Swinburne University of Technology, Dr Toby Harfield, Research Fellow – Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Dr Palaneeswaran Ekambaram, Senior Lecturer – Faculty of Engineering & Industrial Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology Australian state road authorities plan, manage and oversee the delivery of safe, efficient and integrated transport systems for sustainable economic, social and environmental outcomes in Australia. However, each state has unique administrative structures, guidelines and requirements for implementing the principles of environmental and ecological sustainability. This diversity means that standard methodologies to enable comparison of construction tenders in relation to …

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