Event date: 26 – 28 October, 2009

IGC’s Dr Martin Blake is a plenary speaker at Australasia’s premier trade fair and conference for carbon market participants and service providers, Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009. Fellow speakers include Australia’s Chief Economist Tim Harcourt, The Hon Greg Combet AM MP, His Excellency Mr Fernando de Mello Barreto- The Brazillian Ambassador, Macquarie Bank’s John Marlow and UNFCCC Germany’s James Grabert.

Australia’s premier, industry-hosted Trade Fair & Conference for carbon market participants & service providers across Australasia, Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009 will be held at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre 26-28 October 2009.

The event is to be hosted by leading carbon market industry associations Environment Business Australia and the Asia-Pacific Emissions Trading Forum, with the event’s Foundation Sponsors the Queensland Government and Gold Coast City Council.

Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009 will be a high-level market event that brings Australian business leaders and their international counterparts together – this will be a premium networking event as well as a source for the latest information concerning carbon markets in Australasia.  

Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009 will comprise a carbon market trade fair integrated with a conference program of keynote plenary and panel presentations, and a series of technical workshops addressing cutting-edge issues in evolving carbon markets and low carbon technologies.  The trade fair provides an opportunity for private sector and government businesses to showcase their activities, services and products in the emerging carbon market.

Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009 will be attended by a diverse range of businesses including energy providers and other significant industries with corporate abatement strategies, carbon offset providers, carbon market consultants, carbon market brokers and legal advisers, banks, investment banks, superannuation funds, institutional investors, international financial institutions, technology providers, and suppliers of energy efficient and ‘cleantech’ products – all of whom play a role in assisting businesses to reduce, manage, mitigate and offset carbon emissions.

Participants and exhibitors at Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2009 will include:

• Administrators of government and/or private sector market-based emissions reduction initiatives

• Managers of carbon offset projects and carbon offset wholesalers & retailers (including forest sink offsets)

• Businesses with significant corporate or product emissions reduction strategies

• Businesses manufacturing or retailing low carbon and energy efficient technologies

• Providers of carbon accounting, auditing & verification services

• Providers of other carbon market advisory & facilitation services such as carbon pools, brokers, exchanges, carbon market legal advisers, and risk managers (insurers)

• Research and education institutions active in carbon cycle R&D, low emissions technology development, and carbon market education

For more information go to carbonexpo.com.au

The research is in, companies who have had a focus on sustainability during the global financial crisis have been outperforming their peers according to a recent study by A.T. Kearney- Green Winners: The Performance of Sustainability-focused Companies in the Financial Crisis.

“..companies looking for ways to survive in the current economic climate should think twice before cutting back on sustainable initiatives. In 16 out of 18 industries companies with a commitment to sustainability were the clear leaders in the financial markets.

These findings ..,

which looked at 99 companies identified as having a strong commitment to sustainability and compared their performance with industry averages. The 99 companies were defined by the Sustainability Index and the Goldman Sachs Sustain Focus List.

The analysis found that in 16 of the 18 industries studied, companies committed to sustainability outperformed industry averages by 15% over the six months from May through November 2008.  From a market capitalization perspective, this superior performance averages out to $650 million in protected market capitalization per company.

“Our study indicates that the market rewards specific companies,” said Dr. Daniel Mahler, author of the study.  “We find common characteristics among the leading companies that show that sustainability goes far beyond the narrow definition of being environmentally friendly.”

Read the source article here

Issue: a strategic need to ensure that their workforce meets legislative minimums for diversity.

Solution: IGC initially started to work to the specification given by the organisation however it soon became apparent there were many risks and issues which needed further attention which were brought to the clients attention.

Due diligence and research highlighted the increase in ethnical diversity, the ageing population and the increased numbers of working women. This means a changing workforce.

In ten years’ time, people from ethnic backgrounds will account for half the growth of the working age population. 80% of 2 million new jobs will be filled by women(¹). And, by 2010, 40% of people will be over 45(²), the age at which incidents of disability increases.

Embracing these demographic changes is vital for the effective running of business, and we brought diversity and inclusion to the forefront of strategic thinking. We reviewed the recruitment and training policy of the business adapting it to be more inclusive of:

1. Age
2. Bullying and harassment
3. Culture/religion/ethnicity
4. Family matters
5. Gender
6. Sexual orientation
7. Disability.

“Diversity at work” groups were set up to engage employee’s and senior leaders went through a work shop designed to broaden understanding of diversity issues.

Issue: Employee feedback forms highlighted that they perceived their own company as having a negative impact on the local community.

Solution: IGC delivered a full review of current community activities, developed a policy and range of workshops and activities to deliver the strategy with project implementation reviews to ensure policies and activities integrated down the line.

Innovative techniques were employed from staff tree planting to volunteering to work with underprivileged children.

The Good
There is growing interest from the media (and investors) in companies who are taking an active approach to CSR. This is highlighted by the increased reporting of quality CSR initiatives and corporate participation.

St Vincent De Paul Society’s annual CEO sleepout was widely reported on by news agencies. CEO participants from Fairfax, Dick Smith Electronics, Paddy Pallin, NRMA all received favourable coverage because of their participation.

Click here to read the source…

NetApp Australia received some positive coverage about their positive workplace culture including its ‘egalitarian culture, open communication, salary, unique benefits and down-to-earth management style’

Click here to read the source…

Google Australia’s office opened to much media praise as an environment that’s ‘the best place to work in the country – the office appears more like a day-care centre for adults than a workplace’

Click here to read the source…

The Bad
There are many recent examples of companies who have been vilified in the media for a lack of openness and transparency. In some cases it may be that their CSR approach was fragmented- so the good work in one area was undermined by a lack of strategy and transparency in another or they have become out of touch with their stakeholders;

KFC has received negative reporting over its attitude to the impact of its products on community health. ‘.. KFC, will ditch palm oil for a healthier alternative, two years after the company stared down the Federal Government and refused to change its ways.’

Click here to read the source…

Hazelwood Power station owner was targeted by an eco terrorism group reportedly because ‘Mr York ..was responsible for the dirtiest power station in Australia, and the most polluting in the industrialised world’

Click here to read the source…

AUSTRALIA Zoo’s wildlife warrior Terri Irwin has reportedly ‘approved secret plans to build 31 dams and quadruple to 8000 the number of cattle grazing on a remote eco zone set up to honour her dead husband Steve.. Mrs Irwin also came under fire from traditional owners who were offended when a sign went up rebranding their homeland the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve.’

Click here to read the source…

Event date: Thursday, June 25, 2009

Dr Martin Blake (non executive director) and Yvonne Cuneo (Business development director) of In Good Company will be among the business leaders at the G’DayUK CEO Forum. Sponsored by CPA Australia and managed on behalf of G’dayUK by Australian Business, this CEO Forum promises to be one of the most significant events in the 2009 business calendar.

At a central and iconic venue within London, In the presence of John Dauth LVO, Australian High Commissioner, speakers are:

• The Hon Stephen Smith MP, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
• The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Australian Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs
• Rt Hon Lord Mandelson, UK Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
• Heather Ridout, CEO of the Australian Industry Group

The CEO Forum aims to help to develop closer trade and investment links with the UK (currently the second largest source of investment into Australia). It will provide a platform for knowledge exchange in the face of the worst financial crisis in decades. Delegates will be able to share ideas and update each other on advances in policies and business expertise in each of the four forum areas:

FINANCIAL SERVICES:

“Is Australia’s regulatory framework a beacon for the rest of the world? Why Australia has weathered the international financial storm better than other western economies”

Chair: Richard Petty, President of CPA Australia

• Andrew Hunter, Head of Macquarie Capital Europe, Middle East and Africa
• John McFarlane, Former CEO, ANZ Bank
• Phil Rivett, Global Leader for Financial Services Assurance, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• John Stewart, Director, Telstra

RESOURCES/FDI:

“After the Super Cycle – state of the resources industry and where to from here. Investment opportunities in Australia and internationally”

Chair: Phil Aiken, Chairman, G’dayUK & Australian Business

• John White, Executive Director, Ignite Energy Resources
• Adam Rowley, Executive Director, Commodities, Macquarie Bank
• Martin Houston, Executive Director, BG Group
• Michael Nossal, Deputy CEO, Enplus Group

CLIMATE CHANGE:

“Investment and business opportunities as we face the greatest climate challenges of our time”

Chair: TBC

• James Cameron, Vice Chairman, Climate Change Capital
• Phil Cox, CEO, International Power
• William Greene, Senior Advisor, Point Carbon
• Derry Newman, CEO, Solarcentury UK

2012 & BEYOND – BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER:

“Winning gold from ‘green’ – looking to London for the most sustainable games ever and for infrastructure opportunities post 2012”

Chair: Rick Allert, Chairman, Tourism Australia

• John Burton, Development Director Stratford City, Westfield
• David Higgins, CEO, Olympic Delivery Authority
• Rod Sheard, Senior Principal, Populous

In Good Company is an inspired group of people who see the enormous creative potential for positive change offered by today’s global challenges.

• We are optimists, we embrace creative change and we think in terms of larger systems.
• We exercise sustainable thinking, balancing the needs of the individual/shareholder with those of the whole/stakeholder and are excited about helping to create a generative economy and a more equitable world for future generations.
• We know, like Einstein, that problems cannot be solved from the same level of consciousness that created them, and that core to Corporate Social Responsibility is an emerging worldview that acknowledges that economic, social and natural systems are interdependent and that the Earth’s resources are finite.
• We recognise the business benefits of sustainable development and the notion of business excellence. Rather than engage in a bandaid approach to CSR we encourage an integrated commitment to genuine, long term sustainability.

Since business is the most powerful institution in the world today, In Good Company is committed to helping businesses flourish economically, ecologically and socially as an effective way of creating a higher quality of life for all.

After all, if we do not take care of the social and ecological systems in which the global economic system sits we do not have a world to do business in – happily, this is not only good business sense in financial terms but brings meaning, empowerment and a deep satisfaction to all. As business leader Ray Anderson asks ‘What is the business case for ending life on earth?’

In Good Company believes that business can be a sustainable and proactive player in promoting the health of the Earth as a whole system. We have the expertise to help your business become one which contributes positively to global well-being whether it be calculating your carbon footprint and examining your supply chain or helping with an organisational reorientation in thinking and behaviour. And without jeopardising your profitability.

Some inspiration:

“Sustainability is about US. It’s about altering the way in which we humans imagine, design, build and operate our economic and social systems…climate protection and sustainability are not about constraining the economy…only by increasing prosperity, well-being and security around the globe will we protect the climate and achieve sustainability.”

Source: Bob Doppelt

“In a world of constrained natural capital, social capital, and human capital, optimising only return on financial capital imprisons business in the shadow of a distant past… Business is a living system and, like all others, must continually adapt to be in harmony with a changing environment. Today, modern corporations, conceived and managed as a ‘machine for making money,’ are no longer in harmony”

Source: de Geus

“There is no polite way to say that business is destroying the world….its focus on blind growth and short-term investment return has caused business to lose sight of its core purpose: to increase the general well-being of humankind through service, creative invention and an ethical philosophy.”

Source:Paul Hawken (environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author)

“Progress is based on unsustainable growth models – the future belongs to those who understand that doing more with less is compassionate, prosperous, and enduring, and thus more intelligent, even competitive.”
“We want and need companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals… We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.”

Source: Bob Doppelt from The Power of Sustainable Thinking

Ray Anderson, business leader asks ‘What is the business case for ending life on earth?’ after Kofi Annan commented ‘the very basis for life on earth is declining at an alarming rate’. (based on UN Millenium Ecological Assessment 2005 – Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.)

Source: Peter Senge from The Necessary Revolution

“Business is the most powerful institution in the world today… a transformation must occur in business if human life on earth is to survive… all is interdependent and our mutual responsibility…..Our view of ourselves as separate from one another and nature is ‘the hidden source of the social, political and environmental crises facing the world.’

Source: BOHM