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DATES FOR THE DIARYSustainable Business Conference- 12 and 13th OctoberThis year's Sustainable Business Conference, organised by the Sustainable Business Network, will be held on 12 and 13th October in Auckland. The Business Council is providing support by helping to organise the ever popular Conference debate which will be held on the evening of the 11 October. The SBN is actively seeking sponsors for the conference so we would encourage you to contact them at office@sustainable.org.nz Environmentally Acceptable Packaging Awards - last date for entries 30 May, 2005.The connection between 60 litre plastic oil drums, Coca Cola bottles and containers for chilling fish in transit is not immediately obvious until you know that all three have won supreme honours in the biennial Environmentally Acceptable Packaging Awards run by the Packaging Council of NZ. The awards are on agains this year and the hunt is on across the spectrum of packaging manufacturers, designers and users to find excellence in environmental performance. Don't hide your light under a bushel - get your application in before the end of this week...Information can be found on Packaging Council website For entry forms phone Deb Statham on 09 271 4044. GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENTSMinistry restructured to boost youth opportunitiesThe government's work to provide opportunities for young New Zealanders will be strengthened through structural and funding changes to the Ministry of Youth Development, Youth Affairs Minister Steve Maharey announced today. Click here for the full release. Hui Taumata Taskforce all set to goMinister of Mâori Affairs, Parekura Horomia today announced that $2.85 million would be made available in response to the Hui Taumata Summary Report released this morning during a post Budget Mâori business network meeting held in Wellington. The Hui Taumata Summary Report is a report on the Mâori Economic Development Summit held in Wellington in March of this year. Click here for the full release.
New spending of $12.4 million over the next four years is committed in today's budget to promote sustainable business practices, Environment Minister Marian Hobbs announced today. "The funding reinforces the success of the Environment Ministry's work with industry and organisations, underpinned by the government's emphasis on quality economic growth through sustainable development, and will enable new programmes to be initiated and existing programmes to grow." Click here for the full story. This government's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is set to deliver benefits to farmer shareholders, the environment and power users in an Ashburton hydro scheme. Trust Power's proposed scheme in mid Canterbury has been awarded 58,850 internationally tradable emissions units under the government's Projects to Reduce Emissions programme. If sold at $15 each would be worth $882,750. Click here for the full release. The government today announced the scale of the pilot grants, training and education package to help energy intensive small and medium size enterprises take up energy saving technologies to offset the impact of the carbon tax. Click here for the full release. The study, commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) considers how much wind-generated electricity could technically be integrated into the New Zealand energy supply system. Click here for the full release. The Economist 21 April 2005 Market forces could prove the environment's best friend—if only greens could learn to love them. “THE environmental movement's foundational concepts, its method for framing legislative proposals, and its very institutions are outmoded. Today environmentalism is just another special interest.” Those damning words come not from any industry lobby or right-wing think-tank. They are drawn from “The Death of Environmentalism”, an influential essay published recently by two greens with impeccable credentials. They claim that environmental groups are politically adrift and dreadfully out of touch. Click here to read the full article. The All China Environment Federation (ACEF) has been launched in Beijing amid concerns that China's record-breaking economic growth is imposing a massive cost on the environment The unprecedented backing for the new federation from high-level government officials has suggested that Beijing is becoming increasingly serious about environmental fall-out after a decade of unparalleled economic development. Click here for the full story. U.P.I., 27 April 2005 - American companies in Europe are having success with the "cap-and-trade" system of meeting greenhouse gas standards under the Kyoto Protocol, which a European official says shows Kyoto should receive a second look within the United States.
Robert Donkers, an environmental counselor to the European Commission, said at a congressional briefing Monday that American companies based in Europe are looking for a nod from the administration that would open the door for their partners and other corporations within U.S. borders to participate in the European Union's fledgling "cap-and-trade" trading system. Click here for the full story. The Guardian, 28 April 2005 - These days, a statement of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the must-have accessory no large company wants to be without: Tesco, Shell and Barclays bank are among the many corporates with CSR statements. But although 99% of all UK businesses employ fewer than 50 people, much less is written - or known - about the ethical standpoint of small companies. Has the trend towards social responsibility passed small businesses by? Or is increasing consumer demand for ethically-sourced products driving a greater awareness among SMEs? Click here for the full story. GreenBiz.com, 26 April 2005 - The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an independent international organization established to promote responsible management of the world's forests through standards setting, certification, and labeling of forest products, has estimated the size of the global market in FSC-certified products to in excess of $5 billion. Click here for the full story. Forbes, 25 April 2005 - General Motors is betting that hydrogen-powered vehicles will one day make you forget about those billion-dollar losses it's racking up. Click here for the full story. Financial Times, 28 April 2005 - As the world's first large-scale carbon trading programme - the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme - gets under way, participating companies face plenty of operational challenges. As well as monitoring their carbon emissions, they will also eventually have to weigh the cost of buying allowances against that of investing in technology to cut emissions. Click here for the full story.
GreenBiz.com, 4 May 2005 - Large corporate paper and wood buyers are making progress but still have a long road toward incorporating sustainability into long-range purchasing strategies, according to a new survey out this week. Click here for the full story. When the "father" of the environmental movement, James Lovelock, declared that nuclear energy was the only practical answer to the challenges of global warming he set off a chain reaction. Click here to read the full story. Ethical Corporation, 16 May 2005 - It has been a long time coming, but Nike’s new corporate social responsibility report is getting a lot of attention – and making others in the industry sit up and take notice. Click here for the full story. The Independent, 18 May 2005 - Gap and Nike, two global brands that have long been associated with sweatshop labour and terrible working conditions, are now proclaiming themselves as champions of ethical trade, a sign of the swelling tide against businesses that profit from exploitation in the developing world. Click here for the full story. Financial Times, 16 May 2005 - In the debate over nuclear energy, wind farms and the need to cut carbon dioxide emissions, one fuel source has been largely overlooked: coal.
Seen as dirty, inefficient and high in emissions, coal has been portrayed as part of the problem rather than of the solution to climate change. Even so, coal-fired power stations are an important part of the energy mix. Click here for the full story. The Guardian, 16 May 2005 - A man suddenly wakes up from a daydream. He is slumbering in the bath with the hot tap running. The bathroom is full of steam and the water is within an inch of the rim. That's global warming. What remains to be seen is whether the tap can be turned off in time. Along with Africa, climate change is one of the two priorities for Britain's presidency of the G8. The prime minister believes it is the biggest threat facing the world and wants emissions to be cut by 60% in the UK by the middle of the century. Click here for the full story. Life Science Weekly, 17 May 2005 - While many of today's rivers, lakes and groundwater reservoirs continue to be overexploited, a new report launched by leading scientists at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development warns that unless steps are taken to improve the way water is managed, twice the world's current water consumption may be needed by 2050 to feed a global population of some 9 billion. Click here for the full story. GreenBiz.com, 13 May 2005 - Alcoa's Brazilian affiliate, Alcoa Aluminio, has joined Tetra Pak, Klabin, and TSL Ambiental to inaugurate the world's first carton packaging recycling facility. Click here for the full story. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 17 May 2005 - It is fitting that Brazil's sugar mills turn out both ethanol for fuel and cane liquor for drinking, because Brazilians like to toast the success of their ethanol industry.
Brazil has long been the world leader in ethanol production, thanks to policies that date back to the 1970s. While quadrupling its ethanol exports last year, Brazil even sent 90 million gallons to the United States, where the industry has been heavily subsidized for two decades in an effort to make it profitable. Click here for the full story. The Guardian, 17 May 2005 - Mayors from across the US are signing up to an initiative to get American cities to meet the US's Kyoto environmental target which George Bush repudiated: cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 7% by 2010. The response has astounded the scheme's founder, Seattle's mayor, Greg Nickels, who persuaded eight other mayors to write on March 30 to 400 colleagues across the country. Click here for the full story. The Guardian, 13 May 2005 - The sight of families rootling through Rio de Janeiro's urban rubbish tips continues to provide a powerful image of the development challenges facing Brazil, one of Latin America's largest economies. Yet the reputation of the country's waste is set to undergo a transformation. An innovative new scheme in the state of Rio de Janeiro proposes to turn two large landfill sites into sources for extracting methane gas, which will then be used to create electricity for the national grid. Click here for the full story.
Lyn is delighted to announce that a Life Cycle Analyis comparing disposable and reusable nappies which started in the UK when she worked as Director Corporate Communications for Kimberly-Clark in 2001 has just been published by the UK Government. The study which looks at and evaluates the environmental impacts arising from every stage of the life cycle of disposable and reusable nappies found that there was little or nothing to choose between them. Click here for more information.
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