Jay Crangle, Head of ESG  On 22 March, Kantar and SBC launched the 15th edition of the Better Futures Report, which tracks consumer perspectives on environmental and social issues over time. The results of this year’s report revealed an ever-growing group of consumers calling on the business community to take more action and be more transparent.  The fact that the report has now been running for a decade and a half presents a great opportunity to reflect on how business can best use its findings.   As one of my fellow speakers at the launch said after hearing a preview of t ..read more

Reflections from SBC Executive Director Mike Burrell Alice and Aaron started their company, 4Sight Consulting, when sustainability was in its infancy in New Zealand. They were pioneers and leaders in our sector. I had the great pleasure of getting to know Alice to get to know Alice at a time when their business had grown to a point where it was making a real impact on sustainability throughout the whole of Aotearoa.   From the first time that I met Alice, I was struck by her sincerity, her deep understanding of both the technical and regulatory challenges of sustainability, of her un ..read more

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi  I love this whakatauki as it talks to community, to collaboration and to a strengths-based approach. It acknowledges that everybody has something to offer, a piece of the jigsaw puzzle (and remember that puzzle is flat – no hierarchy, we are all in it together), and by working together we all flourish. This lies at the heart of what we are doing in Thriving People.  It’s been a busy start to the year for our Thriving People programme as we step up the activation of SBC’s flagship report on ‘Strengthening the ‘S’ in ESG’. Our focus for ..read more

SBC’s 2024 Thriving Voices online event series continued last week with our kaputī kōrero focusing on measuring and maximising impact.   Our flagship report  ‘Thriving People – Strengthening the ‘S’ in ESG’ showed business has an exciting role to progress social equity through action in three areas of focus, including community investment.  But is your organisation investing in the right things? Is your organisation making a tangible difference? And if so, how is your investment improving people’s lives, the environment and lasting business value? These three key questions were at th ..read more

We know the ‘S’ in ESG has been living in the shadow of ‘E’. However, business leaders are increasingly realising that Aotearoa New Zealand’s biggest societal and environmental challenges cannot be solved if people aren’t thriving. An integrated approach is needed, and I see social impact and responsibility taking centre stage this year, with more and more businesses (both individually and collectively) actively working with communities and making greater commitments to prioritise, measure, and improve wellbeing, equity and livability.   The new year is a great time to press pause, reflec ..read more

When it comes to any discussion about the future of our climate, children and young people are arguably the most important stakeholder group. That’s why UNICEF Aotearoa sent a group of Young Ambassadors to Dubai to bring the voice of youth in Aotearoa New Zealand to the table at COP28. The UNICEF Aotearoa Young Ambassadors are all aged between 18-23 and took their unique perspectives as indigenous, Māori, Pasifika, LGBTTQIA+, rural and urban rangatahi to COP28. They also represented many other young New Zealanders after engaging with hundreds of youth across the motu over the past year to hear ..read more

SBC recently caught up with David Benattar, The Warehouse Group’s (TWG) Sustainability Lead and SBC Advisory Board member, about TWG’s recent exciting announcement of its historic solar deal with Lodestone Energy, which will see more than 260 sites across the country powered by the sun as early as 2026. Here’s what David had to say. Q: What motivated you to switch to 100% solar? A: Our sustainability goals are ambitious, and one of them is to achieve zero emissions in our operations by 2040, with interim targets to 2030 and 2025. Achieving these targets relies in great part on shifting to zero ..read more

8, 10, [??], 8,000 – What’s the missing number?  The answer is 77. If you answered correctly, you must have been among the 90+ business leaders who joined me at our recent deep dive on Modern Slavery, which SBC co-hosted with our friends at DLA Piper. If you couldn’t attend, let me explain.   A new World Vision report claims a staggering $8 billion (or 10%) of imports to Aotearoa every year are linked to modern slavery, meaning Kiwis are spending up to $77 a week on goods linked to modern slavery – this number has doubled since 2021.  To quote SBC’s chair Gareth Marriot, “M ..read more

Thoughts from SBC Executive Director Mike Burrell As the opening of COP28 comes hurtling towards us, more New Zealand business than ever before are preparing to make the journey to be part of the action in this year’s host nation of  The larger than normal interest is perhaps unsurprising – given for the first time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade opened up access to Party Overflow Badges for the private sector, but perhaps more importantly reflects the fact that climate action is increasingly coming into more acute focus for New Zealand businesses.     We are ..read more

This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP28), which kicks off in Dubai at the end of the month, is set to have a strong focus on business and its leadership role in the transition to net zero. SBC’s Executive Director Mike Burrell and our Head of Climate & Nature Antonia Burbidge will be attending COP28 in an effort to bring home international insights and to showcase the mahi New Zealand business is doing in the climate space. Mike and Antonia will be joined on the ground in Dubai by a number of our members and partner organisations. We asked them why they’re going, what they’re hoping t ..read more