By Monique Alfris 7 February 2012 – We’ve heard it all before. The developing world, they are so poor. They live in the dark. They have no other options. But is this really true? I’ve been travelling across some of the poorest countries in the ... 
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by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES: 22 November 2011 –At the Colonial First State Global Asset Management Responsible Investment Forum earlier this year chief executive officer Mark Lazberger expressed frustration over the investment industry’s short... 
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22 November 2011 – AXA Investment Managers has added to its carbon footprint metric with a series of other metrics such as corporate governance, social and water, as it prepares for what it says will be major growth in responsible investment, especially... 
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16 November 2011 – The built environment has scored poorly in an inner Melbourne study of neighbourhood access for disabled people. The Universal Mobility Index, initiated by Visionary Design Development, included the strip shopping area of Kensington... 
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By Tina Perinotto 6 October 2011 – Beware the many and varied ways the spin doctors enter your headspace. And yes this can be related to the political messages on sustainability and climate change as well as to the next “health” drink. The... 
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26 September 2011 – From The New York Times – Do you know how many slaves work on your behalf? While many people may assume the answer to that provocative and unsettling question is zero, the creators of a new Web site want to demonstrate how forced... 
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23 September 2011 – Foodwriter, chef and restaurateur Stephanie Alexander yesterday launched Kitchen Garden Week at The GPT Group’s Rouse Hill Town Centre as part of a movement to bring fresh food awareness to more people. According to Ms Alexander... 
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By Tina Perinotto 23 September 2011 – The bar for sustainable property reporting world-wide  just got higher, thanks to the new reporting guidance for the property construction sector released today (Thursday) by the highly regarded Global Reporting... 
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By Lyn Drummond 14 September 2011 – Moreland Energy Foundation Ltd is in an alliance with nine local councils in Melbourne’s north for greenhouse gas action – an arrangement that has resulted in cheaper energy benefits for the communities, says... 
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By Lyn Drummond 14 September 2011 – Australian banks have rated highly in the latest Carbon Disclosure Global 500 Report with Westpac Banking Corporation ranked one of the top 10 companies in both the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index and the Carbon... 
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30 August 2011 – Dexus chief executive officer Victor Hoog Antink donned harness and a liberal dose of courage to abseil down the 28 floor atrium of 1 Bligh Street in Sydney on Monday ahead of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s official opening... 
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By Tina Perinotto 29 August 2011 – Severe weather events as a result of climate change are already taking a huge toll on communities, including extreme stress, emotional injury and despair, leading to self harm and suicide at rates higher... 
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2 February 2011 – The massive US retailer Walmart  has attracted huge media attention for its stated efforts to transform its operations to a greener lower carbon profile, such as its goals to greatly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and its... 
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By Jenny Towndrow Is happiness a precondition to sustainability or is it the other way around? Jenny Towndrow set out to discover the answer. 27 July 2011 – At the Happiness and its Causes conference in Brisbane, starring His Holiness the Dalai Lama,... 
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19 July 2011: Low Carbon Australia and Wagga Wagga City Council, NSW are to   cooperate on energy efficiency  in the first agreement of its kind for regional Australia in the second major agreement for the new agency. See our recent article on Low... 
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5 July 2011 – Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey has threatened to sue GetUP! and Markets for Change after the lobbyists launched a strong attack on his company’s use of old growth native timber in a strongly worded campaign and spoof... 
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By Lynne Blundell 23 June 2011 – It is time to overhaul the way we plan cities so that social equity and community wellbeing, rather than economic growth, is the driving force behind planning decisions. That was a key message from speakers at Landcom’s... 
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17 February 2011 – FAVOURITES: A landmark study from leading investment analyst Mercer into climate change risk has recommended that  institutions shift up to 40 per cent of their investments into “climate sensitive” assets. Read More >... 
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6 May 2011 – Fifteen members of the National Association of Women in Construction (NSW) and three women from Dexus answered a call in Nepal from the charity Habitat for Humanity and helped build the first 10 of 250 homes for female-headed households... 
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31 March 2011 – A proposed research project linking social sustainability and financial value has won Natalie Myatt the 2011 National Women in Construction International Women’s Day scholarship. The scholarship, sponsored by Corporate Culture,... 
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By Lynne Blundell 24 March 2011 – We live in tumultuous times. Daily we are bombarded with news and images of disaster – floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, social unrest and impending nuclear catastrophe, all against a backdrop of a warming planet.... 
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24 March –The Difference, a magazine to help Australia’s richest make a difference to its poorest, has been launched in Melbourne by Simon McKeon, 2011 Australian of the Year. The magazine is a report card of poverty indicators – disadvantage, poverty... 
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By Lynne Blundell 8 March 2011 – This was the year of the revamp for Green Cities. And the annual conference, jointly organised by the Green Building Council of Australia and the Property Council of Australia, was much better for the makeover. With... 
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By Jane Jose 4 March 2011 – It’s been a summer to remember. A summer that saw Queensland go from beautiful one day, perfect the next, to disaster for the next few weeks. Speaking with characteristic calm and control we heard from the Queensland Premier,... 
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24 February 2011 – The Sydney City Council has embarked on a deck chairs and tables strategy to foster public life and “pop-up outdoor relaxation areas” taking a leaf out of a recent New York’s experiment. For the next month, the... 
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21 February 2011 – Members of the property industry raised more than  $320,000 in Brisbane last week at a benefit for the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal. More than 550 people attended the event at Friday’s at the Riverside Centre. CB... 
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15 February 2011 – Australia’s first five star Green Star social housing project in Sydney’s inner west suburb of Lilyfield was officially launched this week by NSW Minister for Housing Frank Terenzini and Member for Balmain Verity Firth. The... 
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By Tina Perinotto 4 February 2011 – The Australian property industry has the power to radically transform itself and society, both here and overseas, says leading sustainability design consultant, Simon Wild. The key to its success lies in industry... 
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By Leon Gettler 3 February 2011 – Adapting to floods, bushfires, and cyclones will not be cheap. Engineers say infrastructure cannot be made totally invulnerable, only resilient. But that will add to the cost. In the wake of extreme weather... 
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27 January 2011 – CB Richard Ellis will co-ordinate the Property Industry Flood Relief Benefit for the Queensland floods with the Property Council of Australia, supported by The Australian Property Institute, HIA, Master Builders, Planning Institute... 
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