Michael Field - Sustainability Practitioner

SustainabilitySustainability

Some food for thought…

Mammal species – 25% threatened

Coral reefs – 50% in danger

Sea fisheries 70% over-fishedor collapsed

Farmland – 67% degraded

Wetlands – 50% gone

Freshwater fish populations50% less

Large rivers 60% dammedor diverted

Bird species – 10% threatened

Mangroves – 50% gone

Original forest – 80% gone

So what areour chance of

survival?

50%

Depressed yet?

Sustainability definitionsSustainability definitions

Official definition: Intergenerational Equity

But what does this mean?

“Meeting the needs of today, without inhibiting future generations from

meeting their own needs”

Three areas of knowledgeThree areas of knowledge

There’s all the things that we know that we know

There’s all the things that we know that we don’t know

Then there’s all the things that we don’t know that we don’t know

Translating the talk…Translating the talk…

Everyone loves technical terms – it makes them sound clever

Carbon sequestration Cognitive dissonance

Or even better – acronyms GHG, GWP, NZETS, CO2e

Every single issue we face as humanity boils down to one thing…

PopulationPopulation

1950 = 2.56 billion Exceeded in ’80s 2006 = 6.53 billion Each year 77

million added

Resource useResource use - - The Funnel MetaphorThe Funnel Metaphor

Res

ou

rces

Time

Demand

Supply

?

Sound businessSound business

Sustainability thinking is not about a driving need to save the planet

It’s not even new!

Frederick Herzberg’s theories of business management

The theoriesThe theories

Holistic assessment framework

Measures overall health, not just financial

Understanding all impacts

Therefore all risks, liabilities and opportunities

External driversExternal drivers

Stakeholder pressure Sustainability reporting Government pressure Legislation and compliance Competitors are doing it….

The ‘by comparison’ metaphor

The cost of changeThe cost of change

Sustainability

Legislation

Minimum requirement

Cost of change too highBusiness fails

Gradual investment over time

OpportunitiesOpportunities

Cost savings through efficiency Energy reduction Waste to landfill Materials (doing more with less)

How can you know all of them without sustainable thinking?

What’s includedWhat’s included Ecological protection Climate change Peak oil Energy Transport Infrastructure Reputation management Buildings Materials efficiency Waste minimisation Species protection Impact assessment (holistic) Sustainable development?

In real terms…In real terms…

Materials minimisation Emissions Effluents and waste Green procurement Energy efficiency Biodiversity

Economic performance Sustainability policies Sustainability training and education Stakeholder engagement Sustainability reporting Environmental / Sustainability

Management System

The story behind InterfaceThe story behind Interface

You’ll have seen Interface used as ‘the’ example before many times

Presenters love to use it Here’s the story behind it from

someone who was there…

Reporting – the urgent driverReporting – the urgent driver

Sustainability reporting is fast becoming expected by stakeholders

Government requires it under its ‘6 Pack’ initiative

So, simple fact, almost everyone will be reporting very soon

Your roleYour role

Sustainability reports are obviously in the public arena

They are almost always available online – this puts them in the global arena

Who tells them what to write, how to write it and what the risks are associated with it?

Who tells them how?Who tells them how?

Unfortunately for you, people like me or rebranded ‘environmental consultants’

Completely untrained and inexperienced in communications and PR

Very unlikely to understand the risks involved or how to get the message through

Global Reporting InitiativeGlobal Reporting Initiative

GRI - globally recognised

Performance indicators for organisations to report on

So they know what they need to tell people

The GRI ‘how to’The GRI ‘how to’

Sustainability reports must have: Transparency Completeness Inclusivity Material correctness Relevancy Comparability Neutrality Accuracy Clarity Timeliness

Communicating meaningfullyCommunicating meaningfully

How does an organisation make it relevant now?

Usually they don’t

And who are they communicating with? They usually don’t know

What about the risks? Not even on the radar

Changing behaviourChanging behaviour

It’s wasted effort if people don’t

Left to environmental and sustainability professionals

Leads to Cognitive Dissonance What?

Cognitive DissonanceCognitive Dissonance

Values must equal behaviour If values and behaviours don’t match this

leads to stress Something needs to change to stop that Historically assumed people would

change behaviour if it was pointed out In fact, much easier to change our beliefs

than our behaviour

Why preaching doesn’t workWhy preaching doesn’t work

People are bored with the same old messages

And lets face it, the messages are boring so who can blame them?

It needs to be meaningful and easy Tell me what to do not what not to do Guilt doesn’t work

Doing it better…Doing it better…

Michael Field - Sustainability Practitioner