Page 4 - Marlborough Chamber of Commerce Voice Magazine Spring 2023
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SUSTAINABILITY VITAL TO BUSINESS SURVIVAL
Sustainability considerations are no longer a nice-to-have, but will be increasingly vital to
business survival
At the Chamber, we see an increasing trend of Two of the most recent examples are the
businesses paying attention to environmental Climate-Related Disclosure standards
and social sustainability considerations, from implemented by the New Zealand External
greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and Reporting Board (XRB) from 1 January 2023, and
biodiversity impacts, to health and safety, the ongoing development of an emissions
employer and employee wellbeing, or social reporting framework for primary industries, under
investment. the He Waka Eke Noa Primary Sector Climate
Action Partnership.
Across the corporate sphere, it remains unclear
whether the attention being paid to these Apart from regulations on climate related
considerations is sufficient to arrest the disclosure, primary producers will also be
declining trends in a range of social and required to produce freshwater farm plans, to
environmental metrics. Partly as a result, identify, manage and reduce the impacts of their
regulatory responses to various social and activities on the freshwater environment. As of 1
environmental crises are gaining momentum August 2023, these plans are required in parts of
both locally and across the world. the Waikato and Southland regions. They will be
rolled out to all regions across the country by the
In New Zealand, a range of regulatory end of 2025.
interventions have been enacted by successive
governments, firstly and most notably in the Similar regulatory frameworks are under
area of health and safety. As we are aware, development globally in various environmental
company directors can now be held personally fields, including GHG emissions, freshwater
and individually liable for adverse health and quality, the use of harmful pesticides, the
safety outcomes on the part of their employees, reduction of deforestation or the protection of
contractors or customers. indigenous biodiversity. In many instances, these
international standards are more rigorous than
We have also seen the introduction of various comparable domestic regulations in New
pieces of legislation, along with accompanying Zealand.
policies and regulations, to address negative
environmental outcomes in in areas such as The New Zealand government has also entered
freshwater, soil health, air quality and GHG into various bilateral and multilateral free trade
emissions. These laws, policies and regulations agreements (FTAs) with key trading partners,
are often also intended to protect the integrity most recently with the European Union and the
of New Zealand’s major primary sectors, and United Kingdom. These FTAs include various
secure their ability to continue producing in the environmental and social provisions, which can
future. hold significant implications for domestic policies
of the parties.
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