Shift 5

Create Prosperity Based on Sustainable Practices

Use sustainability as a point of difference to capitalise on global market opportunities by genuinely and visibly basing what we do on sustainable practices.

Auckland/NZ faces the challenge of being a small, physically remote economy. Access to global markets is likely to become increasingly dependant on NZ businesses' ability to prove that their products and services are produced sustainably to an extent that the food miles created in exporting them are outweighed. Rising oil prices will increase the material, energy and transportation costs of economic activities, and businesses will need to look at resource effectiveness to maintain profitability. From a regional economic perspective, transitioning towards a ‘weightless' and ‘knowledge' economy would reduce Auckland's vulnerability to resource scarcity, price hikes and trade barriers.

This shift provides emphasis on:

  • Radical resource productivity
  • Eco-effective design
  • Service and flow economy
  • Developing the capacity of people
  • Sustainable business.

Radical Resource Productivity

Radical resource productivity refers to transformative leaps in design and processes to create more with less resource. Factor Ten (a 90 per cent reduction in energy and materials intensity) and Factor Four (a 75 per cent reduction) are targets for many governments including Australia, the Netherlands, and Norway, who have all publicly committed to Factor Four. Corporations including Dow Europe and Mitsubishi Electric see radical resource productivity as a powerful strategy to gain market advantage. However in the long-term, efficiency alone can not be the only approach as it only slows resource depletion and pollution. Therefore the concept of efficiency has increasingly been broadened to eco-effective design.

Eco-Effective Design

Eco-effective design focuses on creating the right products, services and systems instead of making the wrong ones more efficient and less harmful. This includes designing products for optimal recycling and reuse. It is also about innovation and new ways of doing things, new business processes and models. Currently, most products are designed by combining different materials which cannot be later separated and salvaged. Eco-effective design, however, ‘designs in' a product's ability to be recycled and reused from the start. Eco-effective design signals a shift from linear to cyclic systems of production. Several cyclic systems of production are outlined below.

  • Industrial ecology aims to create industries in which every form of waste is a raw material for another product. The focus is on systems and integrative analysis rather than specific elements. Key techniques include life-cycle analysis which is analysis of material stocks and flows and energy consumption throughout the system. Industrial ecology is concerned not just with static analyses of systems but with their resilience and functionality over time.
  • Biomimicry uses biological design and processes as a basis for industrial design, attempting to eliminate the concept of waste. This is also reflected in the concept of Cradle to Cradle thinking, which considers all waste as resource, and optimistically believes industrial processes and urban design have the potential to increase natural capital and improve the quality of natural systems.

Service and Flow Economy

This concept signals a shift from an economy of goods and purchases to an economy based on the flow of economic services. In New Zealand, for example, businesses buy photocopying services; the service provider owns the copier, maintains it and replaces it when it is due for an upgrade. In North America this concept has extended to office heating, lighting and furnishing. The strength of this approach is that it is in the supplier's interest to provide quality products that last, are easily maintained, and the supplier can claim back the product and recycle it into a new model. This substantially reduces waste and increases local employment for servicing and recycling the equipment.

Developing the Capacity of People

People are our most important asset in creating sustainable prosperity. A focus on encouraging people to reach their full potential can be strengthened through increasing support to disadvantaged schools and students with learning disabilities, providing life-long opportunities for education, staff development within firms and through local government providing community based learning opportunities.

Sustainable Business

Sustainable business requires integrating environmental management, social equity, economic development and consolidating the community and environment. This involves new models of engaging with the community and environment to internalise externalities. Institutional frameworks need to align and mutually support sustainable development. This requires adjusting business strategy, practices, culture and management capabilities.