Selected Presentations and Speeches
- Linking Pollution Prevention & Strategy for 21st Century Business Success
Closing Address to 10th Canadian Pollution Prevention Roundtable , Halifax, Nova Scotia. June 15, 2006. - Down to Zero: Waste Reduction and the Art of the Possible
Keynote Speech to Recycling Council of British Columbia 32nd Annual Conference , Sun Peaks Resort, BC. June 1, 2006. - Green Really is the Color of Money
Green Business Summit Keynote Speech, Vancouver, BC. November 3, 2005. - Seeing the World with New Eyes: Hortus Cultura in a Discordant Age
Keynote Address for: Sustainable Horticulture Think Tank Kwantlen University College, Langley, British Columbia. June 14, 2005. - Into the Great Wide Open: Landscape Architecture and Design in an Era of Economic, Social and Environmental Change
Keynote Address for: Water Sensitive Ecological Planning and Design Symposium Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. February 25 – 27, 2000. - Measuring What Matters – Powerpoint Presentation.
- Strategy, Sustainabilty and Competitive Advantage – Powerpoint Presentation.
Less is More in Sustainability Reporting
The emergence and (tentative) mainstreaming of sustainability has helped unlock new sources of innovation and opportunity for business – to say nothing of helping to reduce humanity’s footprint on the Earth. That ‘s the good news. The bad news is that in the rush to demonstrate their sustainability credibility, many companies are spending too much time and money on sustainability reports groaning under the weight of too many “metrics” and “indicators”. By way of example, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines – an influential set of sustainability reporting tools – suggest up to 81 indicators! Even the Balanced Scorecard, the most influential strategy measurement template of the past decade, recommends 20-25 measures. These one-size fits all efforts don’t really speak to or “fit” anyone. Worse, tracking too many measures may cause managers to lose sight of the few that really drive the achievement of strategic objectives. Hence, less is actually more when it comes to measuring and communicating sustainability performance.
