On the fatigue factor as a good sign, market failures and counter cyclical smarts 23 May 2013 — After the tough news last week that Stockland had cut its sustainability team by more than half, we took a look at how other companies and sectors in the market are faring. Not everyone is shedding staff in their sustainability teams, and not everyone is “fatigued” by green buildings and the word sustainability, as one of our readers put it. Read More  
Read More →

  By Cameron Jewell 23 May 2013 — The green building industry in Western Australia has taken a while to get into gear, but according to Georgiou Capital development manager Greg Hancock, the only way is up. Georgiou Capital looks set to build a 15-story office tower and hotel for Perth’s CBD, which will be chasing a five-star NABERS rating and a five-star Green Star rating, too. Read More  
Read More →

22 May 2013 — “With the UN’s projected 9.1 billion people by 2050, one can be absolutely certain that issues of sustainability will be front and centre in the daily livelihood of every individual and entity,” wrote Tom Kadala, founder and chief executive of the US-based Alternative Technology Corporation, after attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sustainability Summit last month. Read More  
Read More →

22 May 2013 — New research shows that sustainability is an increasingly critical factor in attracting, engaging and retaining the best of the best. Harvard Business Review has pointed to a growing number of “sustainability enthusiasts” who see sustainability as a key factor in job choices, and are even willing to accept lower remuneration to work for employers who are aligned with their beliefs. Read More  
Read More →

21 May 2013 — A petition of 80,000 signatures was today delivered to NSW Parliament demanding that Premier Barry O’Farrell’s government supports a national 10 cent deposit on beverage containers. The petition was delivered by Boomerang Alliance members including Clean Up Australia, Greenpeace, the Cooks River Association and Total Environment Centre. They were also be joined by the Uniting Church. Community outrage over Coca Cola’s campaign against a ten cent deposit has continued... 
Read More

By Tina Perinotto 15 May 2013 — [UPDATED 17 May 2013] On face value, it’s the worst news the sustainable property industry could have wanted to hear. Stockland, after setting the highest benchmarks in sustainability, after winning the lion’s share of gold stars for effort and achievement in the field – not to mention global accolades – has slashed its sustainability team by more than half. Read More  
Read More →

  By Cameron Jewell 15 May 2013 — Companies producing high-quality sustainability reports have more women on the board, provide more certainty to investors and have better environmental, social and corporate governance, says a report that named Mirvac, DEXUS and GPT as leaders in the field. Read More  
Read More →

By Donna Kelly 14 May 2013 — For a long time Paul Metcalfe has had the burning desire to do something different. And he always believed that skills in communication would be important for sustainability. Read More  
Read More →

7 May 2013 — CB Richard Ellis global corporate services senior director Angus Harvey-Ross will swap his shoes for hiking boots when he climbs Mt Kilimanjaro to support his daughter’s fundraising efforts. Pip is raising money for an orphanage project in Arusha, Tanzania called “Many Shades” and needs sponsors for the seven-day trek. The vision is to open a number of homes for six to eight children under the age of seven. Each child will have a sponsor who provides funds for education,... 
Read More

By Monique Alfris 27 March 2013 – Pollinate Energy has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on a new Australian site,  ChipIn to bring clean energy to India’s urban poor  writes Monique Alfris, a Pollinate founder, who recently presented on the topic at Green Cities 2013 Read More  
Read More →

26 March 2013 — Talking to Erin Schrode is like being caught up in a whirlwind of sustainability, green and the environment. The 21-year-old Californian, who co-founded Teens Turning Green, when she was just 13, was in Australia last week to give the keynote address at the Vision 2020 Youth Symposium at Swinburne University in Victoria. Read More  
Read More →

By Tina Perinotto 27 March 2013 – There’s bad news from the US again. After a huge and feisty fight from the US Green Building Council, it seems that PVC and Pals chemical industry managed to create a mess out of the LEED Material Ingredients Credit to be used in the updated USGBC’s LEED rating tool, for which submissions close 31 March. Read More  
Read More →

20 March 2013 — Melbourne will host a conference of the world’s ethical banks in March 2014. The Global Alliance of Banking on Values made the announcement in Berlin this week. The conference, hosted by GABV member bankmecu, will bring 22 of the world’s leading sustainable banks, from Asia, Africa, Latin America to North America and Europe, to Melbourne for a week-long annual meeting. The carbon neutral event will have the theme leadership in banking and will include a number of opportunities... 
Read More

By Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University 1 March 2013 –  From The Conversation: After a year long public campaign, the Future Fund has announced it plans to end its $222 million investment in tobacco. The decision follows much debate about whether the Future Fund should engage in ethical or socially responsible investments. In announcing the move today, the chair of the Future Fund David Gonski commented: The board noted tobacco’s very particular characteristics including its damaging... 
Read More

27 February 2013 — A team from the University of Wollongong and TAFE Illawarra is taking part in the 2013 Solar Decathlon China. The team will build a house titled the “Illawarra Flame”, which is the first entry in a solar decathlon with the aim to demonstrate “how to retrofit a fibro home, and to transform it into a sustainable 21st century, net zero energy home”. Read More  
Read More →

  By Jeff Angel, Total Environment Centre, Green Capital 14 February 2013 – Ahead of a Green Capital breakfast next Thursday in Sydney, Jeff Angel flags the topic of debate: Is the business world in retreat from environmental gains, or are the more extreme climate deniers, making responsible business feel uncomfortable? And is this year a tipping point for either side? Read More  
Read More →

By Donna Kelly 6 February 2013 — Byron Bay will host the second of three conferences titled “The Economics of Happiness” “to promote systemic solutions to today’s social and environmental crises”. Read More  
Read More →

By Donna Kelly   30 January 2013 — The National Association of Women in Construction will in 2014 extend its International Women’s Day Scholarship to a national audience. n previous years the scholarship was only open to women in the NSW construction industry. The scholarship, valued at up to $10,000, will be funded from the proceeds of an auction item donated by  Corporate Culture. NAWIC chief executive officer Sheryle Moon said the expanded scholarship, worth $10,000,  would “build... 
Read More

30 January 2013 — United Colors of Benetton will detox its supply chain starting with reporting on the release of hazardous chemicals. The Benetton Group, which also owns Sisley and Playlife, announced this month it would eliminate releases of hazardous chemicals throughout its entire global supply chain by 2020, a report in GreenBuzz said. The Italian fashion house joins Greenpeace’s Detox Program, which already includes a list of high street brands such as Nike, Adidas, H&Mand Zara.... 
Read More

By Rosemary Kirkby 19 December 2012 —  GPT head of sustainability Rosemary Kirkby made a presentation to the 3 Pillars’ Creation of Shared Value forum held in Melbourne on 14 November 2012 on the GPT sustainability journey. Following is an edited version of that presentation. Read More  
Read More →

By Tina Perinotto 12 December 2012 — Local Government Super, which has one of the most impressive track records in sustainable retrofits of older buildings, has snatched top ranking in a new index from The Climate Institute of how 300 of the world’s biggest institutional investors are managing their exposure to climate risk. Another five Australian funds ranked in the top 10 of the index. But outside this thin leadership group, the outlook is grim for climate risk preparedness and resembles a... 
Read More

28 November 2012 — An index that measures community contributions by corporates has shown that community investment is down in Australia and New Zealand. The London Benchmarking Group Australia and New Zealand Measuring Corporate Community Investment 2012 Annual Review found there were $204 million in community contributions, $354 was the average contribution per employee, a total of 43,000 employees who volunteered in paid company time contributed 703,000 hours, company contributions were equivalent... 
Read More

By Ed Brown 10 October 2012 — Many conversations about sustainability remain stuck in the language of greenwash – doing things because we ought to and will feel bad if we don’t “think of the polar bears”. In other camps, the pendulum swings emphatically to the opposite extreme, where the cold, hard, economically driven business case must justify where every pe Read More  
Read More →

4 October 2012 — Woolworths has become the first major Australian retailer to achieve membership of the Forest Stewardship Council. On “FSC Friday”, held last week, people were invited to consider the wood and paper products they buy and look for the FSC logo. The retailer already sells a number of FSC certified products including an exclusive range of outdoor timber furniture at BIG W and more than 500 lines of FSC certified timber and panel products at Masters Home Improvement. In addition,... 
Read More

26 September 2012 — Teachers Mutual Bank has won the 2012 Sustainability Award at Mutuals 2012, the Abacus AM Institute Convention. The awards were held on 25 September. The bank is one of just three mutuals of the 100-strong Abacus membership to receive an award this year. The award recognises Teachers Mutual Bank’s achievement of a bronze rating earlier this year in the international Corporate Responsibility Index, published in the London Financial Times. The CR Index is a leading business... 
Read More

26 September 2012 —It’s time to change, to diversify our economy, clean it up, and invest in a future that doesn’t rely on digging up, cutting down and shipping overseas,  Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne said in  her powerful address to National Press Club on 26 September. Following is a written version of that speech. Read More  
Read More →

By Donna Kelly 12 September 2012 — The Fifth Estate receives its fair share of submissions, sometimes from companies offering articles with subtle advertising included. One such recent offer was so subtle it took some time to discover its real credentials. Light Home presented itself as “an Australian website which advocates for sustainable, lightweight building materials”. “Our editorial team is presently sourcing opportunities to expand our content across similar websites, that are committed... 
Read More

By Denise McNabb 17 August 2012 – “Every day 500,000 young, university-educated, professional Filipinos get out of bed to work for United States companies.” Australia faces similar challenges  as the global economy grows and a thriving educated workforce emerges on our doorstep at massive discounts to local costs. Read More  
Read More →

By Amanda McCluskey 8 September 2011 –FAVOURITES: Colonial First State’s Amanda McCluskey, head of responsible investment and sustainability, and David Gait, senior portfolio manager of emerging markets recently travelled to India to examine key sustainability challenges in this massive emerging market. Following is a research report from Ms McCluskey to sent to clients this week. See the related article by David Gait Read More  
Read More →

By Lily Morrissey 13 June 2012 – The “green economy” is a load of bollocks. Such was the ironic key point made by Christopher Zinn (ex-Choice consumer advocate) at this month’s GreenUps network group, which sported the topical theme ­– you guessed it, – the “Green Economy”. Read More  
Read More →