Public Awareness Campaign On Waste

Public Awareness Campaign On Waste

The Ministry for the Environment / Auckland Regional Council's presentation on their upcoming public awareness campaign on waste is available at http://www.nzbcsd.org.nz/story.asp?id=236

CORRECTION ON PREVIOUS STORY "NZBCSD WELCOMES ICANZ REPORT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORTING"

The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development (NZBCSD) has welcomed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand (ICANZ) report setting out how ICANZ can contribute to advancing the concept.

ICANZ have reviewed reporting and auditing standards and guidelines and "recommended" (not "developed" as stated in the previous story) two research bulletins to:

1. Consider the fit of the current conceptual framework for the external reporting and audit of information with the wider range of information being externally reported and the evolving information and accountability expectations of users in relation to financial reports; and

2. Provide additional guidance on the audit/verification of sustainable development reports, bearing in mind available guidance and emerging international guidance.

It is recommended that this work would be co-ordinated by a sub-committee of the Financial Reporting Standards Board.

For an associated media release visit http://www.nzbcsd.org.nz/story.asp?id=224 for a copy of the report visit http://www.icanz.co.nz/StaticContent/download/ags/sdreport.pdf

THE OECD GUIDELINES FOR MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES - FEEDBACK REQUESTED

The OECD guidelines are a set of non binding recommendations to help multinational enterprises operate in harmony with the policies and societal expectations of the countries in which they conduct business. The guidelines were developed by the 33 governments (including New Zealand) that adhere to them. They are part of the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises, which all OECD members must adhere to. While the guidelines themselves are a non-binding recommendation to businesses, governments have a responsibility - through the use of National Contact Points (NCPs) - to promote the guidelines, encourage their use, handle enquiries and help to respond to any issues that may arise.

The Ministry for Economic Development (MED) has been appointed New Zealand's NCP for the next twelve months. MED intends to contact government and industry stakeholders to seek their view on how the guidelines can be promoted and to establish a process for enquiries and complaints. Feedback from interested parties on how the NCP should operate would be greatly appreciated. If you would like to submit comments or suggestions please contact Kay Brown at kay.brown@med.govt.nz or phone 04 474 2902.

The Guidelines can be downloaded from http://www.med.govt.nz/buslt/bus_pol/bus_law/oecd-multinationals.html

NZ's CORPORATE GOVERNANCE POLICY

Kay also leads the Ministry's Corporate Governance team - if you have any questions or suggestions on the direction of policy in this area please don't hesitate to get in touch with her (details above).

COMPUTER RECYCLER WINS ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

Molten Media Community Trust, Canterbury's computer recycler, are this year's joint winner of the Landcare Research Special Award for Sustainable Management of Land Resources. This Award was given in recognition of their effectiveness in recycling redundant computers, and operating as an environmentally, socially and economically responsible business.

Second hand parts and computer systems are Molten's main focus in helping to make a difference for a clean green New Zealand. All restored parts and systems carry a warranty.

Molten sells reconditioned computers and parts at low prices and welcome donations of your old system when you upgrade. For more information call 03 377 1154 or visit www.molten.org.nz

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - SURVEY ON CORPORATE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT - FEEDBACK WELCOME

Earlier this year Louise Lee (Lecturer, School of Management, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand) conducted a survey on Corporate Community Involvement in New Zealand. The summary of the key findings is available at http://www.nzbcsd.org.nz/story.asp?id=234

Feedback to Louise on these preliminary results is very welcome, she intends to conduct some follow-up discussions with a small sample of respondents early in 2003.

Please don't hesitate to contact Louise (Louise.Lee@openpolytechnic.ac.nz or 04 560 5835) with any comments or queries you might have about this survey or her future research plans regarding business community relationships.

EU TO REVIEW STRATEGY TO INTEGRATE ENVIRONMENT INTO INTERNAL MARKET POLICIES

In short: The Competitiveness Council adopted on 14 November a report on the integration of environmental protection and sustainable development into the internal market aspects of competitiveness policy. The report shows that Member States have an important deficit in implementing environmental internal market directives.

Background: In May 2001, the Internal Market Council adopted a report for the Gothenburg Summit on how to integrate environmental protection and sustainable development into the EU's internal market policies. The Council also demanded a report on progress on implementing this strategy by the end of 2002.

Issues: The progress report adopted by the Competitiveness Council on 14 November wants to review the integration strategy in view of the recent Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development and the adoption by the EU of its 6th Environmental Action Programme. The report draws the attention to the following elements:

* Member States' transposition of internal market legislation in the field of the environment still shows a serious deficit: in October 2002, the average deficit for environmental measures stood at 4.6 per cent; this is down from 6.2 in October 2001, but much higher than the overall 2.1 per cent transposition deficit for all internal market directives (see EurActiv 12 November 2002);

* under the Commission's Action Plan for better regulation, the EU will introduce impact assessments for major policy proposals;

* the Commission should closely monitor the application of the mutual recognition principle;

* an increased use of mandates for standardisation work in the field of environment should be fostered. For this the Commission is preparing for mid-2003 a document on integrating environmental aspects into standardisation;

* the practical application of the Integrated Product Policy (IPP) approach in the internal market should be evaluated. The Commission is expected to publish a Communication or White Paper on IPP in 2003;

*Council and Member States should encourage the use of environmental considerations in the field of public procurement;

* good progress has been made in the adoption by companies of eco-labelling: the number of companies using this scheme rose from 53 in 2000 to 95 in 2001 and 124 in 2002;

* increased consumer awareness should be encouraged;

* there was an increase of environmental aids in Member States;

* twelve voluntary environmental agreements with industry were acknowledged between 1998 and 2002, but none since the Gothenburg Council;

* integration of environmental considerations into company financial statements should be encouraged

* the adoption of Eco-management and audit schemes (EMAS) has increased;

* the percentage of environmental taxes in Member States has remained stable since 1995.

Next Steps: The review of the integration strategy will start under the forthcoming Greek Presidency and should be concluded under the Italian Presidency by the end of 2003.

NEW SMALL NZ BUSINESS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Tall Poppies have just produced their first sustainable development report - they are a small business (<10 people) and have used a very interesting banner-type format for communicating their key issues - check it out at http://www.tallpoppies.co.nz/documents/TBL_Tall_Poppies.pdf

INVITATION TO A RESEARCH CONFERENCE - MANAGING ON THE EDGE SHIFTS IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESPONSIBILITY, GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY

University of Nijmegen Nijmegen School of Management (NSM) - The Netherlands 25 & 26 September 2003

This two-day conference provides an international forum for the dissemination of research findings and related practical experiences associated with the fundamental change in balance between organisations, government and civil society.

The conference is the result of close collaboration between a significant number of universities across the Netherlands. In 2002 they joined forces to develop a common national research programme in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate governance, sustainability and business ethics for a period of two years starting in 2003. This conference is part of a series of seminars, meetings and annual conferences to be held in the forthcoming years, seeking the exchange and application of research findings, theory development and best practices in order to create networks of excellence and stimulate integrated projects. The Research Programme received financial support by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Visit http://www.nzbcsd.org.nz/publicevent.asp?EventID=103 for more information.

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