New website to improve business sustainability

Consult Australia, with the support of gold sponsor Norman Disney & Young (NDY), has released The Business of Sustainability - a website and tool to be used by the professional services industry to improve business sustainability.

The site helps to guide professional services businesses of all sizes and disciplines, at any stage of their journey, towards a more sustainable business. The project has been led by a task group composed of some of Australia’s leading sustainability professionals, from firms including Aecom, Arup, Aurecon, GHD, Jacobs SKM, Parsons Brinckerhoff, URS and NDY.

“A more sustainable business means delivering a better business in every sense: more efficient, smarter, more competitive and more profitable,” said Consult Australia CEO Megan Motto. “Achieving this is critical to the ultimate goal of a sustainable future. That is the business of sustainability.”

Motto noted that, behind every business decision, “many questions, scenarios and outcomes are considered”. The website’s Decision Support Tool, she said, “is designed to help bridge the gap between intent and achievement”.

It is structured across four broad-based activity areas: sustainable governance, reporting and accounting; internal engagement and staff culture; collaboration and engagement; and technological improvements to offices and infrastructure.

“The authors have developed a catalogue of questions - structured under the four activity areas - they would encourage you to think about,” said Motto.

“The questions are designed to assist firms to identify the path by which they are most likely to achieve their corporate vision. Any plan for sustainability must be fully integrated with the day-to-day business practices of the organisation.”

NDY’s global director of sustainability, Tony Arnel, noted, “This site demonstrates that every firm must consider its own circumstances, commercial objectives and social and environmental responsibility before deciding which interventions they will use to achieve more sustainable practices, products and ultimately business.

“In recognition of the diversity of professional services firms, the aim of this website is to stimulate what will be a sometimes unpredictable dialogue around sustainability and to act as an aid for firms who are trying to identify and develop their own journey.”

The website can be accessed at http://thebusinessofsustainability.com.au/.