Guides

Price in the past has been the single most important factor in public sector procurement. Now social and environmental factors are also becoming deciders in awarding contracts here and offshore.

It’s about cutting costs by buying more efficiently and getting best value for money.

This guide reports on the shift to sustainable procurement by central and local government in New Zealand. It outlines the "new opportunities for business".

This guide on cutting your emissions and boosting profits also includes a market-leading online emissions calculator.

This is a how-to guide for the voluntary carbon market - specially for organisations wanting to measure and manage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for voluntary purposes.

How to Buy Sustainable paper
(and make the right choices for the environment and your business)

This exclusive Business Council “First Steps To Sustainability Series” guide to buying paper is an easy-to-follow but very comprehensive guide to helping make a choice: To take care of business - AND others

Reducing your energy costs makes great business sense, and has a direct positive impact on the environment. Energy efficiency measures have always been win-win options, and represented some of the best return on investment with low risk that you can find. With New Zealand signing the Kyoto Protocol, the high level of energy insecurity at home and internationally, and environmental awareness continuing to impact trade and domestic regulations, it makes more sense than ever to take action.

There is probably not a single NZ business that is not both a supplier and a customer. Every business’s sustainability is to some extent dependant on the sustainability of its supply chain. This project will explore the "why" and the "how" for supply chain sustainability.

New technologies and the globalisation of markets are making human labour more productive, but as productivity rises, so to does the risk of leaving many young people unemployed. Young people without jobs are more likely to participate in crime, drug abuse and vandalism. These people are also unable to contribute to society, which looses potential productivity and value creation. The New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development has joined with the Mayors Taskforce to work towards eliminating youth unemployment in New Zealand.

Investing in education provides substantial returns. Our Successful Business and School Partnerships initiative seeks to promote this investment by New Zealand businesses to create a win-win for business and society. As a country we want to earn more and to do this we all need to learn more. To help this dream become reality the NZBCSD produced a guide. This guide encourages NZBCSD members and other businesses to become involved in school partnerships.

Sustainable Development Reporting is a key tool for businesses committed to achieving a triple bottom line of environmental and social as well as economic performance. The NZBCSD seeks to provide business leadership in this area and all NZBCSD members have committed to producing a sustainable development report within three years of becoming a member.

New Zealand currently generates around 3.4 million tonnes of waste per annum. Waste contaminates natural eco-systems, reducing their ability to provide essential life sustaining resources such as soil, clean air and water. To counteract this problem, businesses need to concentrate on creating goods and services, while reducing resources and waste. This is resource efficiency – maximising product per unit of raw material.

Climate change, caused by the release of greenhouse gases, is arguably the biggest challenge to sustainable development. Climate change has potentially serious environmental, social and economic consequences for New Zealand and the world as a whole. The NZBCSD is in a strong position to provide business leadership, to inform the debate and influence policy development around climate change