A local sustainability adviser to industry says there’s been a distinct “penny drop” among businesses, which are increasingly pursuing green initiatives.
Megyn Carpenter, who operates Sustainability Success, said businesses were more willing to implement sustainability practices.
She said that shift in attitude took time.
“There’s definitely a huge change in the last year to 18 months, where people are becoming a lot more interested, a lot more keen to do something about climate change, and a lot more interested in sustainability and what that means,” Ms Carpenter said.
“Before that, people were asking, ‘What is clean tech? … sustainability sounds good but is it more environmental? How does it affect me in business?’
“But now, people are really understanding that it is a business advantage to be sustainable.”
Ms Carpenter has proactively promoted her services but there were now more businesses coming to her for sustainability advice.
“The way that they’re understanding it is the whole ‘people, planet, profit’ idea, and they’re understanding that the business advantage is there because customers are actually asking for sustainable options,” she explained.
“They’re expecting that businesses do their part for climate change, and they’re starting to ask really key questions of business; you know, ‘What are you doing for sustainability? What are you doing for the climate? Where do your raw materials come from? Do you use slave labour in your products?’
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“They see what I call ‘unnatural disasters’ – the floods, the droughts, the terrible bush fires – and people who haven’t understood what the scientists have been saying for decades, are now saying, ‘There might be something to this climate change’, because they’re seeing it in their own backyards and they’re seeing people suffering … they’re seeing the financial impact of it.”
Ms Carpenter recently released a book on the topic, “Sustainability Success in Business”. She is also president of the local industry body, Cleantech Industries Sunshine Coast Inc., and Deputy Lead, Environment & Sustainability, of the Sunshine Coast 2032 Olympics taskforce.
“It makes so much common sense to do something about sustainability and climate change, but there hasn’t been a lot of motivation to do that in the past, but now people – particularly business are sees the advantages because the demand is there,” she said.
“Demand is really starting to pick up and expectations of business is increasing, so a lot of peole are expecting businesses to do something about it.
“There’s definitely an uptick in interest in sustainability and clean tech.”
For more details, visit Sustainability Success.
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