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News, views and upcoming events
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Business leaders call for action on climate
In this piece for Stuff, Mike Burrell and Mike Bennetts, on behalf of SBC and CLC, urge both the public and private sectors to get on with what needs to be done. They also spoke to Kathryn Ryan about our new shared vision, why sustainability is more important than ever, and our forthcoming recommendations to the next Government about priorities for climate action. 
Quote of the week
“We have an opportunity to set New Zealand on the path towards a prosperous, sustainable, regenerative, zero carbon future where all New Zealanders thrive. It won’t be easy. It will take courage, vision, and tenacity. But we can do it.”
Annual Council Meeting highlights
Our 2020 Annual Council Meeting included a discussion on leadership for a thriving and sustainable future for all, with Transpower, DB Breweries and The Warehouse Group. We also heard from Karen Silk, Advisory Board Chair, and Mike Burrell. Watch the highlights
Can we design out loneliness? 
Connection is more important than ever. WSP has partnered with the Helen Clark Foundation to support their work on the issue of loneliness, and policies that would allow social connection to thrive in Aotearoa. WSP experts have also explored how loneliness can be addressed in their own disciplines. 
 
Trees of welcome 
Z Energy and Trees That Count have partnered with the Human Rights Commission and the local community to plant a thousand native trees in Queenstown as part of the National Welcome Forest – Te Waonui a Tāne – as a symbol of manaakitanga for new migrants.
Talking transport emissions 
As well as participating in our Heavy Freight Emissions Roadmap project, Toll Group is busy rolling out or scaling up its sustainability initiatives like Environmentally Sustainable Design in its buildings and driver training for fuel efficiency, covered in this article for TransportTalk (page 15). 
Speaking of green buildings...
Kiwibank moves into its new Auckland corporate premises this month. The six-Green Star rated building will help it meet its sustainability targets, particularly reducing energy usage 30% from 2018 by 2022. Kiwibank has also committed to a sustainable fit-out of the building by reusing materials from previous offices - and what couldn’t be reused has been donated, upcycled or recycled.
I can sing a rainbow 
Congratulations to all the finalists and winners at the Rainbow Excellence Awards, including Auckland Council for the SKYCITY Community and Advocacy Award, the Grant Thornton Innovation Award and the Rainbow Tick Non-Commercial Sector Award, and ASB Bank for the Chorus Ambassadorship Award as well as the Purple Sherbet Representation in Marketing Award.
Our atmosphere and climate 2020 
Climate change is already happening in New Zealand and could have a profound impact on future generations of New Zealanders, the new report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ shows.
New member profile: Chorus
Chorus is New Zealand’s largest telecommunications infrastructure company, and builds and maintains broadband networks in line with the infrastructure-focused elements of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. More details in the latest annual report.
SBC member events

Overview of SBC’s strategic pillars: Leadership, Climate Action, Thriving People
Webinar postponed until further notice
Join the SBC team to hear their thinking on the programmes of work to deliver the strategy, and opportunities to be involved.

Register and more information
Other sustainability events

Future of Work Collective
Online events programme | 12 - 16 October 2020
10 Future of Work Labs plus one free Q&A session hosted by Mindset of Design 2020. 

Register and more information

WEBINAR: The life cycle story of utility poles
Thursday 22 October 1:30pm
A life cycle approach is necessary to gain the full environmental story of any product, and this is exactly what Life Cycle Assessment or LCA offers. For Orion’s utility poles, this covers everything from forestry to disposal of poles at end-of-life. Orion's Pip Newland and Josh Pope discuss how a full LCA with thinkstep-anz’s help revealed areas with significant opportunities for improvement.

Register and more information

 Stories of Change 3: Regenerative Model - Water Resilience in Mexico City 
Online | Wednesday 28 October, 4pm 
A three-part series from the School of System Change which discusses how systemic frameworks can help us understand social change, and how you can facilitate group discussions using these frameworks such as Multi-Level Perspectives, Iceberg Model, and Regenerative Model.

Register and more information

Climate Change + Business Conference 
Aotea Centre, Auckland | 11 - 12 November 
The conference will explore the extent to which businesses, policy-makers, and civil society have seized the opportunity presented by Covid-19 to transform our future. 

Register and more information

Convergence for a carbon transition | 2020-2030
Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and online | Thursday 26 November 

One-day conference with real examples of radical path change ideas from the new field of “Transition Engineering”.
Register and more information

ICNZ 2020 Speaker Series: Our climate and New Zealand's resilience into the future.
Thursday 26 November 
The Insurance Council of New Zealand's 2020 Speaker Series offers access to international and local experts to discuss the topics and issues that are affecting the sector, both here in New Zealand and around the world.  

Register and more information

Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards
25 January 2021
The Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards honour those who use their passion to make our country a better place.

More information
More information about SBC events. For other low emissions events see the Climate Leaders Coalition events calendar.

Please send your Pānui stories (30 words plus image) to
sbccomms@businessnz.org.nz 
15 October 2020