Tagged with Sustainability

The Road Ahead to Building a More Sustainable World

“The Garden of Eden is no more”, Sir David Attenborough told Davos 2019 as he delivered his verdict on the destruction that humanity has inflicted on the natural world. Sir David also offered hope, noting that we humans are a “problem-solving species”, but he reiterated that we have just a decade to solve climate change.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres mirrored these sentiments in his “State of the World” address. Megatrends such as climate change are more and more interlinked, he said, but responses are fragmented. He warned that not tackling this was “a recipe for disaster”.

While few of us should need reminding on how pressing the issue of fighting climate change is, what surprised me was how this concern permeated all aspects of the conversation on sustainable development at Davos. And much was up for discussion, from inequality, biodiversity loss and the challenges of reskilling in the face of automation, to global governance, cyber security, food systems and the future of the financial system, to name but a few.

New ways to realise the Sustainable Development Goals

Technology and finance – the main enablers of the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the coming years – were centre-stage. Even the most technologically challenged of us would be awed by the discussions outlining the potential of artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain to make the world a better place. The variety of game-changing ideas in this area opened eyes – and mouths. They ranged from a project to protect airports and critical infrastructure from cyberattacks to encouraging businesses to play their part in realizing the SDGs by incorporating the goals into their business model.

The Road Ahead to Building a More Sustainable World

Image courtesy of the World Economic Forum

Of course, disruptive technology is not a silver bullet for achieving the SDGs, and its associated risks, as well as its benefits, were prominently featured. But the Fourth Industrial Revolution can help accelerate progress towards the SDGs. At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), we are working to ensure that economies in developing countries can harness innovation to eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity.

In concrete terms, we have just launched Accelerator Labs in 60 developing countries to identify and connect problem-solvers across the world, using both local networks and data from novel sources, ranging from social media to satellite imagery. We want to support innovators such as Dana Lewis, who created open-source tools to manage Type 1 diabetes, or people like the entrepreneurs who built floating farms in flood-prone Bangladesh.

The Accelerator Labs will become integral to UNDP’s existing country-based teams and infrastructure. They will enable UNDP to connect its global network and development expertise that spans 170 countries with a more agile innovation capacity, to support countries in their national development priorities, ultimately working towards a wide range of SDGs.

Innovative finance

The topic of finance was rarely absent from my exchanges with government representatives and corporate leaders. “Innovative finance” in particular dominated conversations, from its ability to support migrants and refugees to the potential of so-called “initial coin offerings” to fund the next generation of high-growth companies.

We explored ways to attract finance to the SDGs, as well as the need to set up robust impact management processes and tools to identify companies that make economic, social and governance practices part of their DNA. Those sorts of changes could influence companies’ investment flows so they, in turn, are more likely to align with the SDGs.

Connecting the dots between technology and finance, the UN Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing for the SDGs had its first face-to-face meeting. The role of the Task Force, which I co-chair with Maria Ramos, the CEO of Absa Group in South Africa, is to recommend strategies to harness the potential of financial technology to advance the SDGs.

This article was originally published by the World Economic Forum. Click here to continue reading entire article.

SECURE YOUR PLACE AT THE 2019 NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE THIS APRIL!

Hear from experts in all facets of sustainability as they discuss the challenges, opportunities, advancements and progress for sustainability in Australia.
View the 2019 program here. 

What Australian Cities Can Learn About Sustainability from Asia

What makes a city sustainable? Is it a focus on traditional, “green” sustainability, economic strength or how liveable the city is for people?

Global sustainability heavyweight Arcadis believes it is a mix of all three.

Arcadis’ latest Sustainable Cities Index, which ranks 100 of the world’s leading cities on three pillars of sustainability: people, planet and profit, found that there are some significant variances across the Asia Pacific region.

Australian cities all scored middle of the road on the index, with Melbourne not making the top 50.

While not a cause for alarm, these rankings reinforce that Australian cities must improve to compete on the global stage.

In comparison, Asia’s two leading financial centres Hong Kong and Singapore made it into the top 10, with Singapore ranked number 1 globally in the profit sub-index.

While vastly different in terms of culture, economies and politics, a key take away across the region was the importance of integrated, efficient and smart infrastructure.

Hong Kong has long been famous for its world-class infrastructure, but as one of the planet’s most densely populated cities, it faces unique challenges in providing an efficient transportation system to meet the needs of its 7.4 million citizens.

 

This article was originally published by The Urban Developer. Click here to read entire article.

Find out more about the sustainability projects revolutionising Australia

The 2019 National Sustainability Conference invites you join the discussion on the current challenges, successes and what the future holds in regard to sustainability practices within business.

View the program here.

Australian Sustainable Design: the Challenges, What We’re Getting Right, and Where to From Here

The drive behind building more environmentally friendly residential homes is coming from individuals, not government bodies, and cookie-cutter developments are holding us back, according to a think tank assembled to address the issue of implementing sustainable design.

Peter Maddison (supplied)

The chair of the discussion, organised by LG Electronics, was architect and TV host Peter Maddison, who argued that changing our behaviour was key to these kinds of properties having their maximum benefit.

“In my view, sustainability is a lot bigger than just green stuff,” Maddison said.

“We can put the best solar panels in the world in our house, and that’s a terrific contribution,” he said. “But, if we leave the lights on all night, what’s that mean?”

He said that having travelled around Australia to document cutting-edge buildings, he’d seen individuals embracing sustainability as leading the way.

Edge Environment chief executive Jonas Bengtsson said much emphasis was put on improving operational efficiency and thermal performance, but building materials were a big blind spot.

“There is no regulation around materials,” he said. “Maybe 50 per cent of the energy is actually in the stuff that goes in, and we’re not even looking at that from a regulation perspective.”

Difficulties dealing with local councils and a lack of awareness around how people can partially embrace a more sustainable lifestyle, or take a standard-build and adapt it to its building location were raised also as impediments.

For many people, being sustainable was building a “big square house” and then putting solar panels on the roof rather than incorporating it into the design holistically.

Maddison said sustainable buildings needed to be tailored to their environment.

“The way we go about making shelter, making buildings, should be quite different, if you’re in Queensland or in Tasmania,” he said.

“We haven’t got a national style that we could say is Australian particularly and so it should be, because we have this incredible climatic difference that we’re dealing with.”

Maddison identified the Queenslander as a localised style of housing that was adapted to the climate, but one that had largely been left behind in the “mad development” of our suburbs,

The sizes of our homes was also a factor, although affordability was driving younger generations to smaller homes.

“The average Australian home is the biggest in the world. Bigger than the UK, bigger than the USA,” Maddison said.

“Why don’t you, instead of getting a 40-square metre home, think about living in a 20-square metre home? You can get an architect, and you can get all the whiz-bang stuff you want, and still coming out on top.”

Differences in the building codes between states and the limitations of star ratings systems were also considered roadblocks.

“In Victoria, you do six stars, but you don’t have very strict water and energy control,” said Tracey Cools, head of a sustainable building consultant firm. “But, NSW has some energy control which I think is really important.

“We’ve had a huge lift in targets of thermal comfort last year, and that has been a really big learning curve for the industry to meet those targets,” she said.

Technology expert Charlie Brown raised the issue of cost, in terms of a standard build versus a more sustainable home. Build costs for an architecturally designed home are about 30 per cent more than an off-the-shelf design.

But while solar installation costs and savings could be easily predicted, the “elastic” costs associated with home building and renovation made it hard to determine how much a project could wind up costing.

“We talk about these kind of thing things, and you all want to do better with it,” he said. “But, you just don’t know the steps of how to do it.”

But as electricity prices go up, installing solar systems at home would remain appealing for residents looking to save money.

This article was originally published by Domain. Click here to continue reading.

Have Your Say When it Comes to Sustainable Design

Submit your presentation to speak about all things sustainable (including architecture and design) at the 2019 National Sustainability Conference, held from 1-2 April in Brisbane.

Submissions closing Friday – get yours in here.

Success in Sustainability Combines These 3 Ingredients

Commit. Collaborate. Communicate.

That seems to be the mantra these days when it comes to tackling the complexity of sustainability challenges. Whether the topic is carbon removal, renewable energy procurement, transforming supply chains or creating a circular economy, inevitably the road to success is paved with these three ingredients …

The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, organised by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and U.N. Environment, sets forth a set of broad targets, including eliminating problematic and unnecessary plastic packaging, increasing reusable packaging and making all plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable.

It’s a bold and audacious set of commitments, and the global brands included among the signatories — Coca-Cola, Danone, Diageo, Unilever, Mars, Nestlé, Philips, SC Johnson and others — aren’t likely to see this as a cavalier, check-the-box P.R. exercise. Indeed, these companies are all but screaming, “Judge us on what we do, not what we say we’ll do.”Success in Sustainability Combines These 3 Ingredients - cardboard

Most if not all of them are already on a path to deliver on such promises, but it will take a great deal more hard work to make good on them — maybe more work than some of these companies fully appreciate. It will require collaborating with their entire value chain — or is it now a value loop? — and communicating openly and authentically how well they’re doing in achieving their targets.

We’re seeing this three-legged stool — commit-collaborate-communicate — throughout the sustainability profession and the emerging clean economy.

We saw it in spades at our recent VERGE conference: cities pulling together to become “smart” and sustainable; big companies collaborating to electrify their fleets; companies partnering to scale up renewable energy purchases; companies looking externally for partners to help build new circular models for products and materials; companies working together to create new value propositions around removing carbon from the atmosphere.

All of these require new ecosystems of partners and collaborators, whether suppliers, customers, communities or others. And all require commitments and communications.

None of the Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved without these three ingredients. Or the Paris Agreement on climate change. Or pretty much any other global, sectoral or multisectoral goals or commitments.

It’s probably the last of the Cs — communicate — that will be most challenging for companies. In general, companies do not tell their stories well. That makes sense given the history of sustainable business.Success in Sustainability Combines These 3 Ingredients - business

Time was that being humble and modest about one’s environmental achievements and progress was seen as an asset, a means of minimising reputational risk from being seen as taking only partial measures to solve complex challenges. Better to do your thing, the thinking went, than to promote yourself and gain unwanted attention that could turn your good deeds into a liability. And maybe, if things worked well, activists or the media would “catch us being good.”

It was a dubious strategy then, and it’s an even worse one now. These days, transparency rules. You can’t get by saying, “Trust us. We’re working on it.”

But how to tell stories that are about progress, but not perfection? How do you communicate to customers and others, “We’re doing less bad than we used to”? After all, most of these initiatives — eliminating plastic waste, reducing the use of polluting energy sources and so on — are about reducing problems, not necessarily about creating new sources of value. Doing-less-bad stories are tough to tell.

This was originally published by Greenbiz.com. Click here to read the entire article.

Discover the key to sustainable business practices

The 2019 National Sustainability Conference will highlight discussions on the current challenges, successes and future plans for sustainable practices within business.

Hear from a lineup of experienced keynote speakers from all facets of sustainability, network with like minded professionals and gain insight into the progress and plans taking place for a smart, successful and healthy future.

Find out more.

Applications to Present in 2019 Close Friday!

The 2019 National Sustainability Conference will be held at Hotel Grand Chancellor Brisbane over 1 – 2 April and applications to present at the conference are currently open

The educational program will include sustainability research, participation from diverse industry sectors and topics of integration, technology, automation, climate risk, procurement, renewable energy and sustainable construction. The conference will be looking at current topics and also looking forward to emerging sustainability considerations.

Applications to present in 2019 are open until Friday 9 November 2018. 

Invitation to Submit Your Presentation

Individuals and organisations are invited to submit an abstract to deliver a 30-minute oral presentation; a poster presentation; or a panel presentation which addresses one or more of the conference topics. The abstract should be no more than 300 words and outlines the aims, contents and conclusions of the presentation. Abstracts should not include tables, figures or references.

All proposals will be reviewed by the program committee. Presentations will be selected to provide a program that offers a comprehensive and diverse treatment of issues related to the conference theme. Authors will be notified by e-mail of the outcome of their abstract.

Invited Featured Speakers for 2019 Include:

  • The Hon Josh Frydenberg, Minister for Environment and Energy, Australian Government
  • Ms Megan Flynn, Manager, Environment & Carbon Strategy, Qantas Group
  • Mr Andrew Sellick, Head of Environmental Sustainability, Australia Post
  • Mr Clive Stiff, CEO, Unilever Australia and New Zealand

We are looking forward to another successful conference in 2019 and hope you can join us, for more information on the 2019 National Sustainability Conference, to submit your presentation or register please visit conference.sustainability.asn.au.