Industry group Consult Australia and Norman Disney & Young (NDY) today released a landmark new tool to be used by the professional services industry to improve business sustainability.
Consult Australia CEO Megan Motto said "The Business of Sustainability" website will help to guide professional services businesses towards a more sustainable business.
“A more sustainable business means delivering a better business in every sense: more efficient, smarter, more competitive and more profitable. Achieving this is critical to the ultimate goal of a sustainable future. That is the business of sustainability,”Motto said.
The project has been led by a Task Group comprised of some of Australia’s leading sustainability professionals from firms including AECOM, Arup, Aurecon, GHD, Jacobs SKM, Parsons Brinckerhoff, URS, and Norman Disney & Young who are also the Gold Sponsor of the project.
The Decision Support Tool 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," Motto said.
“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, and former Chair of the World Green Building Council, Tony Arnel said every firm has to consider its own circumstances and environmental responsibility.
"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," Arnel said.
