thinking about the future of the built environment
Sustainability is here to stay - whether the science is right or wrong.
Emma Synnott and I ran a successful discussion this week in conjunction with the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham). BIG thanks go to Charmaine Terry, Duff Watkins and Katie Keshan of AmCham for organising a very enjoyable session with great Eggs Florentine and hot, strong coffee!!
We talked about what business owners need to be thinking about in planning for a carbon constrained future. Ahead of the global climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December, and following on from the passage of our Renewable Energy Targets for Australia by 2020, we think its important for any business owner to have the answers to three questions:
1. What does sustainability mean for me and my business?
2. How can I take advantage of the business opportunities that will emerge in a carbon-constrained economy?
3. What can we do to help make the shift to a more sustainable way of doing business, for the benefit of stakeholders?
Emma kicked off the session with an overview of some of the key impacts and implications of climate change as they will impact upon society and business. Emma is a Senior Sustainability Consultant in our Sydney office with over 17 years experience working in and with the government sector. Since joining Arup in 2008, Emma has led major strategic sustainability, energy and carbon projects including providing the energy and carbon model and the sustainability framework for the draft 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.
Emma brought home the point that sustainability is the most prudent, and possibly most profitable, principle to adopt in future business planning and strategy. Whether the science is right or wrong on climate change, the changes we have to respond to in the business environment are here to stay.
We were then treated to a case study by Darren Clarke, National Australia Bank's Head of Strategy, Specialised Business. Darren took us through NAB's journey towards being carbon neutral on a global basis by 2010 - a goal initially declared in March 2007. NAB has achieved an almost 30% reduction in its carbon footprint over the course of its program, which now has over 800 staff involved in a series of Green Teams.
So, how is your business positioned? This is not an exercise for the faint-hearted. In the face of short-term demands for quarterly performance, and differing points of view on what a sustainable approach to business really means, the process requires uncompromising leadership to get at the truth about today, and chart where your business needs to be tomorrow.
Emma and I worked with participants to examine the question of sustainability from a business person's viewpoint. First we looked at the issues and opportunities we need to address in our cities, and then how the impacts of climate change and the need to respond will affect the world of business. We used some of Arup's great thought leadership resources, our SlimCity cards developed in conjunction with the World Economic Forum, and our Drivers of Change cards, a research program we commenced over 5 years ago, now in its second full version.
We were very fortunate to be joined by our wonderful graphic scribe, Steve Keast, who was able to capture the proceedings of our discussions in words and pictures that tell the story of what we covered.
Through the course of the interactive sessions, and building on the presentations we had from Emma and Darren, two things became very clear to all the participants:
1. The need to respond to the sustainability challenge is REAL, NOW.
2. It is everyone's individual and collective responsibility to ACT, NOW.
You can follow the course of our conversation through Steve's storyboard below.
As a management consultant delivering Arup’s strategic & commercial consulting services to infrastructure owners, investors and financiers, I am certain that sustainability is a key success factor that must be designed into any future projects. As a person who has been advising and operating businesses for more than 25 years’ internationally, across a wide range of industry sectors, it seems clear to me that the time has finally arrived where a growing minority of businesses are realising they are much better to act NOW, rather than pay more later.
Problem is, we don't see this group as the majority yet. That's why Arup is committed to keep pushing the sustainability message out through forums like this AmCham event and any place else we can share our ideas. For more information on how we see the planet needing to move forward, take a look at our colleague Peter Head's presentation on his global Brunel lecture tour, Entering an Ecological Age.
We talked about what business owners need to be thinking about in planning for a carbon constrained future. Ahead of the global climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December, and following on from the passage of our Renewable Energy Targets for Australia by 2020, we think its important for any business owner to have the answers to three questions:
1. What does sustainability mean for me and my business?
2. How can I take advantage of the business opportunities that will emerge in a carbon-constrained economy?
3. What can we do to help make the shift to a more sustainable way of doing business, for the benefit of stakeholders?
Emma kicked off the session with an overview of some of the key impacts and implications of climate change as they will impact upon society and business. Emma is a Senior Sustainability Consultant in our Sydney office with over 17 years experience working in and with the government sector. Since joining Arup in 2008, Emma has led major strategic sustainability, energy and carbon projects including providing the energy and carbon model and the sustainability framework for the draft 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.
Emma brought home the point that sustainability is the most prudent, and possibly most profitable, principle to adopt in future business planning and strategy. Whether the science is right or wrong on climate change, the changes we have to respond to in the business environment are here to stay.
We were then treated to a case study by Darren Clarke, National Australia Bank's Head of Strategy, Specialised Business. Darren took us through NAB's journey towards being carbon neutral on a global basis by 2010 - a goal initially declared in March 2007. NAB has achieved an almost 30% reduction in its carbon footprint over the course of its program, which now has over 800 staff involved in a series of Green Teams.
So, how is your business positioned? This is not an exercise for the faint-hearted. In the face of short-term demands for quarterly performance, and differing points of view on what a sustainable approach to business really means, the process requires uncompromising leadership to get at the truth about today, and chart where your business needs to be tomorrow.
Emma and I worked with participants to examine the question of sustainability from a business person's viewpoint. First we looked at the issues and opportunities we need to address in our cities, and then how the impacts of climate change and the need to respond will affect the world of business. We used some of Arup's great thought leadership resources, our SlimCity cards developed in conjunction with the World Economic Forum, and our Drivers of Change cards, a research program we commenced over 5 years ago, now in its second full version.
We were very fortunate to be joined by our wonderful graphic scribe, Steve Keast, who was able to capture the proceedings of our discussions in words and pictures that tell the story of what we covered.
Through the course of the interactive sessions, and building on the presentations we had from Emma and Darren, two things became very clear to all the participants:
1. The need to respond to the sustainability challenge is REAL, NOW.
2. It is everyone's individual and collective responsibility to ACT, NOW.
You can follow the course of our conversation through Steve's storyboard below.
As a management consultant delivering Arup’s strategic & commercial consulting services to infrastructure owners, investors and financiers, I am certain that sustainability is a key success factor that must be designed into any future projects. As a person who has been advising and operating businesses for more than 25 years’ internationally, across a wide range of industry sectors, it seems clear to me that the time has finally arrived where a growing minority of businesses are realising they are much better to act NOW, rather than pay more later.
Problem is, we don't see this group as the majority yet. That's why Arup is committed to keep pushing the sustainability message out through forums like this AmCham event and any place else we can share our ideas. For more information on how we see the planet needing to move forward, take a look at our colleague Peter Head's presentation on his global Brunel lecture tour, Entering an Ecological Age.
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Comment by Robert Hobson on October 27, 2009 at 1:25am - Sounds great Steve. It seems there are many challenges and opportunities developing in this arena, not least of which is the politically hot topic of electric vehicles, their uptake and their impact on the economy. I love the diagrams output here and it'll be great to review these outcomes in a few months to see how things are tracking against them...!
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