By Tristana Leist, Toitū Senior Account Manager - Government
I was delighted in having boots on the ground in Auckland at the 2024 Climate Change & Business Conference (CCBC), put on by Sustainable Business Council NZ, Climate Leaders Coalition Environmental Defence Society (EDS). You may have seen me plastered across LinkedIn thanks to “Tristana’s Toitū Takeover,” so if you thought it stopped with videos, you thought wrong.
My reflection comes through the lens of my Public Sector clients, the organisations I work with at Toitū Envirocare to help measure and certify their carbon footprints. The conference theme couldn’t be more poignant: public-private collaboration and potential solutions. After all, how else are we to address some of our biggest challenges and at scale for the country? Especially given the size and population of Aotearoa New Zealand, collaboration is paramount to do more (of the right practices) with less (name any resource or economic constraint). My main prerogative, for all our sanity and efforts, is for both public and private to stop reinventing the wheel (solutions) and start collaborating.??
So… if an organisation I worked with had been able to attend CCBC, this is what I hope they’d take away:??
- Effort versus impact: Again and again was the notion to measure and then get moving. Let’s be frank, year one of any kind of measurement is going to be time consumptive. I recommend you truly take the time, the first time, to thoughtfully organise your organisation (otherwise why call it an organisation). Then, year on year, you can refine your measurement and data systems; aim to spend 20% of your time on reporting and 80% on taking action. Right now, between optional reporting, mandatory climate related disclosures, nature disclosures, etc. sustainability folks (official job title or not) are sinking their time into reporting efforts. Please stop reinventing the wheel. In that year one set up, document your efforts so you aren’t having to put yourself through the process of where and why did I do or put what. Write it down!??
- Wholistic priorities: Evaluate opportunities to save both economically and environmentally by looking at the bigger picture of your organisation. Do what you must/can to get sustainability embedded in every aspect of your business rather than being treated as a separate initiative. It shouldn’t exist as a holiday batch, a gazebo, you name something that is separate from the whole. Build it into your home foundation. The two are and should be connected. On that, business leaders kept commenting that one of the key economic benefits of measuring your organisation's carbon footprint is gaining insight into where your money is being spent. While spending and emissions don’t always align perfectly, they often correlate. This is why we focus on analysing emissions from Purchased Goods and Services. Which cues us to Scope 3…??
- Scope 3: That’s the whole take away. Yes, it is hard to measure. From a government lens, it can quickly make suppliers uncomfortable or think you're going to Request for Proposal. So, take them on the journey! Scope 3 emissions necessitate engaging in meaningful conversations with suppliers; the goal of measuring is to inform, not to criticise. In work and life, I have rarely found that having more information is to my detriment. Scope 3 can be challenging to measure and might unsettle suppliers or lead them to assume you're preparing for an RFP. Approach these discussions collaboratively and bring them along in the process. When addressing your Scope 3 impact with suppliers, don’t just ask them how they’ll improve, explain why your organisation or government entity is measuring its footprint and how it fits into your overall strategy. Lastly, and this is my take, please don’t worry about Scope 3 double counting, it’s better than not counting at all. In supplier talks, emphasise the importance of understanding and owning your organisational footprint, and be diligent about documenting the rationale behind supplier decisions. And using spend-based data is acceptable and better than having no data! Just start measuring. If you aren’t in this climate space explicitly, Scope 3 is knocking on and down everyone’s doors. Do you sell a good or service? Likely you’re going to get asked about your emissions. Procure for the government in any way, shape, or form? You are CERTAINLY going to get your door knocked on, if not down. So grease your hinges so that door swings easy and you?have answers, or at least a game plan, in hand.?
- Nature is here to stay: If you haven’t started thinking about your Nature plan… start thinking about it. Climate and nature are officially sharing the stage as Nature has rocketed up the list of concerns for customers in key markets. Being future fit includes being Nature positive. If you don’t know what is meant by Nature positive, give it a search, be curious! We are no longer just looking at carbon, but water health, animal welfare, biodiversity, and beyond.???
- International play: Increasingly, New Zealand’s access to vital foreign markets is linked to our national performance on climate change and whether we achieve our Paris Agreement commitments. If anything, a thoughtful climate play can help NZ to win and protect competitive advantage in our changing world. Lean in.
- Transparency over perfection: People prefer transparency to perfection in sustainability reporting. I understand that the “climate” around reporting is getting intense and borderline ominous. As a result, we are seeing in some cases reporting narratives getting shorter and more ambiguous. Recognise that climate risk is inherently a financial risk, thus it is something you need to be putting thoughtful pen to paper on. There is presently a real risk of climate reporting fatigue, a large part to recency bias of all these differing and occasionally convoluting disclosures, but take a step back and look at the why. It can be an arduous exercise (especially if you aren’t thoughtful the first go round in crafting your documentation and structure). Some directors may fear personal liability regarding such disclosures, but that doesn’t mean you can sell your reporting short. Don't go silent or vague rather than risk accusations and scrutiny. This is one step forward, four steps back kind of thinking.
- Lead the change: Government funding isn’t the easiest to get a hold of and this government has explicitly stated that it is on the private sector to show the leading initiative. Regardless of which government is in power, it can be quite turbulent. Organisations must rely on themselves to prioritise and make change. Sharing your learnings can assuage some of these pain points.
In sum, this year’s Climate Change and Business Conference offered established insights with a particular call to action for businesses not to wait on government...I believe even government shouldn’t wait on government! A lot is being asked of private and public sector these days, but I ask you not to despair. Instead, be curious and ask around for a yarn with colleagues and friends to make sense of this ‘warming’ world and what we can do.
Want more? For the sessions covered, there is plenty to read up on from this week’s learnings:
You can also follow Toitū's monthly free newsletter here for regular insights and webinars.
