Sustainable Business Network

What a fantastic day we had on Thursday at the Sustainable Business Network! We were stoked to host Steven Moe for the first Auckland edition of his networking lunch series focused on Impact Investing. 🍽 ✨ Here’s to continuing these impactful conversations and fostering a sustainable future together! If you're interested in renting out our office space for your sustainability-related event, contact  [email protected] 🙌

Not sure whether to enter the Disruptive Innovation category in this year's Sustainable Business Awards? Here’s what you need to know. Hit the link if you’re ready to go. https://lnkd.in/gQSekzUp

Take climate action now. All businesses have a role to play in reducing emissions. You could reduce the impacts of your business by using less energy, looking at your supply chain and managing your waste. Small actions all add up. Find out how in the Climate Action Toolbox at business.govt.nz/climate. Sustainable Business Network, EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), Spark for Business, DNA Design.

TUNE IN 12.30pm TOMORROW for our Quarterly Insights Briefing direct from our CEO Rachel Brown ONZM (She/Her) and Andy Kenworthy. This time we're giving you the inside track on climate politics in Aotearoa and greenwash. It's free to our members, online, and we don't care what you're eating. (link in comments)

Another great network and connect at SBN's Auckland HQ last Tuesday, making loads of new connections and talking business action for nature. The lingering, chatting crowd suggests that either a) people love making those links with like minded folk that spark new work or b) we bought the right coffee and pastries 😉 Check our events page to find out. We're bringing the next one to Wellington on September 17. Link in the comments.

SBN Annual Report time! (link in the comments 📑 ) If you're one of the many organisations and individuals who've joined us or partner with us, thank you so much for your contribution to what we've achieved together! 😍 We've previously won an award for our annual report 🏆 , which is handy as we offer reporting training and support! So even if you don't work with us directly, you might want to take a look. 🔎 That's what we do - check out other people's work to learn from it. We'd love to learn more, by hearing what you think.

Mourning the loss of another Kiwi sustainability legend. Sadly, Ray Skinner, the indefatigable publisher of Sustainability Matters died on Sunday. Ray was a member of our network since the very beginning, and a loyal supporter of our work. For 24 years Sustainability Matters has been an invaluable round-up of sustainability news from across the globe. He was recognised as a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand in 2016. In his own words, "Ray is an enthusiastic promoter of ‘sustainability’, including the long term survival of humans – everything else would survive if it were not for them!" He will be missed.

Want a friendly and easy way to get your team up to speed on the latest in communications for sustainable business? It's come out as a top area of concern and skills gap in several of our surveys. So, we're offering a unique, group, in person, full day training opportunity, Monday October 14 in Auckland. Bring your crew to join our in-house and network experts for this practical workshop session. (Link in comments, or ask us a question!)

Want to know how to design out waste at every stage of the construction process? Early bird tickets are now on sale for our annual Build out Waste event! Join us at AUT on October 15 to: - hear from industry leaders about their real-world challenges and successes - gain practical insights that you can apply to your projects immediately - discover cutting-edge technologies and innovative products to design out waste. - optimise every step of the construction process for sustainability and efficiency. Let's build better, together. Thanks to our sponsors Auckland Council, Mitre 10, Environmental Innovation Centre and AUT's School of Future Environments. Register via link in the comments.

In our upcoming submission we'll be saying: "the Emissions Reduction Plan proposed is not a credible plan for appropriate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. It requires significant revision in line with the guidance of the Climate Change Commission. It also needs to pay more attention to collaborative initiatives across business, community and the non-government sector. There is now a significant shortfall in greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Alongside the limitations of this proposed plan, they have been created by the politicised scrapping of more than 35 initiatives that were already in place. This includes the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund and The Clean Car Discount. Road User Charges were applied to electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles from 1 April 2024, disincentivising their uptake. There is a renewed focus on road building, that will stimulate increased transport emissions. Implementation of this proposed plan is most likely to further limit progress on greenhouse gas emissions reduction in this country. In fact, it seems deliberately designed to do so. It's also likely to contribute to a failure to meet internationally agreed targets. These were created to attempt to limit global warming to 1.5ᵒC above pre-industrial temperatures. Beyond that point, the science suggests global climate change impacts will become markedly more severe. The proposed plan looks set to lock in what’s been described as a 'disorderly transition'. This means a chaotic shift to a more hostile, climate-altered environment. This is a threat to all our futures. It continues a decades long lack of meaningful action to address the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions in this country: fossil-fuelled transport and industrial agriculture." Link to full submission in the comments below. You can join our submission there too, or follow the link directly to the consultation process. We'd love your comments below too. Submissions are open until August 25, 2024. What do you reckon?