Latest NCS News
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
NCS GRI Certified Training Partner in Australia and NZ
It's official. Swinburne’s National Centre of Sustainability (NCS) is now a GRI Certified Training Partner in Australia and New Zealand. The Certified Training Program developed by the Amsterdam based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) aims to disseminate knowledge on sustainability reporting around the world. It has been developed especially to help report makers and users to more effectively use the GRI Framework and GRI reports.
The NCS will be delivering the Certified Training Program in partnership with the Net Balance Foundation (leading think tank that seeks to improve business sustainability). The Training Program consists of a minimum of 16 hours and will be delivered nationally commencing early 2010. For further information, contact Gitanjali Bedi.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
NCS responds to the release of the National Carbon Offset Standard
The NCS responds to the release of the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) and amendments to the CPRS announced on 24th November! In our letter to the Federal Government, the NCS urgers the Department of Climate Change to redress the NCOS to include a standard methodology for the treatment of GreenPower in an emission inventory and/or offsetting strategy. Read our letter to the Minster for Climate Change here.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
NCS wins Swinburne Vice Chancellor's Sustainability Award 2009.
The NCS has won the 2009 Vice Chancellor's Sustainability Award for Sustainable Ambassador program.
The NCS has worked in partnership with the City of Whitehorse to progress community-wide change towards sustainable living through the Sustainable Ambassadors initiative.
The Sustainable Ambassadors initiative is an innovative program that delivers a tailored version of the accredited unit of the Diploma of Sustainability- VPB436 Design And Implements A Behaviour Change Program - to members of the Whitehorse community. The aim is for the participants, made up of community champions, to become equipped with the skills to become change agents within their peer network, thereby creating a grassroots capacity for community-level behaviour change to support Council programs and sustainable living.
The first two phases has seen around 30 residents trained as Sustainable Ambassadors. The participants have worked individually or in teams to deliver small behaviour change projects. This provides the City of Whitehorse with a greater capacity to promote sustainable living through community-based change agents. An overview of the Sustainable Ambassador' projects can be downloaded from here.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Building and Home Improvement Expo
Building or renovating a home? It’s time to go green with the latest energy efficient products!
Visit Sustainability on Show and walk away with hundreds of green ideas to improve the health of your home
and environment – plus save money. Reduce your carbon footprint with building and renovating ideas and
products that conserve energy, save water and incorporate sustainable design. It’s a one-stop shop from
flooring to kitchens, water efficiency to building materials, see it all at Sustainability on Show a major
feature of the Building & Home Improvement Expo on Friday 9 July – Sunday 11 July 2010 at the Melbourne
Exhibition Centre. Open 10am – 9pm Fri & Sat, 10am - 5pm Sun.
Get advice and ideas on the latest in home improvements and home renovations. Visit buildexpo.com.au
for more details.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Project Manager Tomi Wimfree wins fellowship
Project Manager Tomi Wimfree won a prestigious International Specialised Skills Institute
(ISS) fellowship research international best practice in building and construction. Tomi will travel
to the USA to research sustainable residential building practices at the end of 2009.
Tomi is featured on page 5 of the ISS Newsletter
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
NCS Successfully lobbies for CPRS changes!
Throughout this year, the NCS has lobbied to the Federal Government to adjust Carbon
Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) to recognise voluntary abatement taken by households and
businesses and to reduce the CPRS cap accordingly. These recommendations
have now been adopted in the latest amendments to the CPRS announced on the 24th November - the summary
press release from Penny Wong's office is here:
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Sustainability Ambassadors
The Whitehorse Leader of 7 October 2009 featured an article on a
sustainability project undertaken by Ms Louise Helmot, a Whitehorse
Sustainable Ambassador. The NCS in partnership with the City of
Whitehorse has been working with local community members from Whitehorse
to build their capacity to be leaders for sustainable change. The
Sustainable Ambassadors project is a grass roots sustainability
initiative, funded by the Sustainability Fund, where community members
undertake training in an accredited unit of the Diploma of Sustainability.
Ms Helmot gas been working with local businesses to assist them
in incorporating sustainable practices as part of their day-to-day
operations.
For more information on the Sustainable Ambassadors project Click here
Monday, 7 September 2009
NCS in the Financial Review
On September 7th, the Financial Review published a feature article including interviews with past
participants of the Carbon Accounting course. The ongoing success of this course continues to demonstrate
the NCS as the pre-eminent authority on Carbon Accounting in Australia.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Damian Sweeney presents on behaviour change
Damien Sweeney, Project Manager Business & Community Sustainability, presented on behaviour change at the Victorian Association for Environmental Education (VAEE) annual conference on 3-4 September 2009. Damien presented alongside Colin Hocking of Victoria University and Geoff Brown of Tangent Consulting on what behaviour change models work best. The NCS is active in delivering and evaluating behaviour change programs and is organising a national conference with major partner Sustainability Victoria for May 2010. Called Show me the Change, the conference will be a unique event that will attract key people from all levels of government and non-government organisations as well as consultants involved in behaviour change programs, with one of the key aspects better understand complexity and the art of evaluation. The conference website is www.showmethechange.net.au
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Swinburne chosen as sustainable training provider
Swinburne’s National Centre of Sustainability (NCS) will be one of the first training providers in Australia to deliver an internationally accredited course on sustainability reporting. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has chosen Swinburne as a partner to deliver the course throughout Australasia. GRI is an international organisation which provides a global reporting framework for business sustainability.
Monday, 24 August 2009
The NCS joined the Swinburne Student Amenities Association
The NCS joined the Swinburne Student Amenities Association during the week of 17 August- 21 August 2009 to promote the SSAA's Enviro Week. The NCS organised displays on environmental and social sustainability at all five campuses, and were joined by Etiko (www.etiko.com.au) at the Hawthorn and Prahran campuses. The NCS display prominently featured the Diploma of Sustainability as a dual qualification that can enhance a student's career prospects.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
National 2009 savewater! awards® finalists announced
A judging panel consisting of 21 water industry experts from all over the world has today announced the 31 finalists for the national 2009 savewater! awards®.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Sustainability still a long way off for Australian businesses
Australian businesses may be hampered by too many stakeholders with mutually exclusive goals to achieve true sustainability, said Swinburne academic Associate Professor Linda Brennan.
Monday, 13 July 2009
City of Whitehorse Sustainability Ambassadors Project Status
The first phase of the Ambassadors is completed, with the new
Sustainable Ambassadors having undertaken a great range of projects
that have led to practical, grounded behaviour change in a range
of settings.
For a summary of their projects, please download the overview of the projects (PDF, 1.9MB).
Phase 2 of the Ambassadors has commenced and the participants are once more undertaking a great range of community-based change projects.
Read more about the City of Whitehorse Sustainability Ambassadors program here.
June 2009
Companies find a competitive
green edge
A
business environmental mentoring program is showing that ‘going
green’ can win customers and profits.
Yarra Valley nurseryman David Van Berkel was annoyed that people passing his stand at garden shows would take his company brochures but leave behind his plastic showbag. So he came up with an innovative solution – he asked his supplier to put a perforated strip across the bottom of the bag, which customers could tear off to turn the bag into a tree guard. People now happily accept the plastic carrier. It’s useful to them and becomes a marketing tool for the nursery.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Sustainable Consumption Seminar, Hawthorn Town Hall, 17 June
The
City of Boroondara in partnership with the National Centre for Sustainability,
Swinburne University, is presenting a seminar on Sustainable Consumption
on 17 June, 7pm, at Hawthorn Town Hall.
The seminar features a great lineup of speakers:
Jason Clarke, problem solver, innovator and lateral thinker, and one of Australia's most sought after creative thinkers. Jason is the founding father of Minds at Work (www.mindsatwork.com.au), a commercial collective of professional thinkers determined on changing the world for the better.
Giselle Wilkinson, President of the Sustainable Living Foundation, and author of the Conscious Cook. Find out how to view and appreciate food not only from the point of personal health and taste, but also through the lens of the global sustainability movement working to reduce our impact on our very stressed planet.
Nick Ray, from the Ethical Consumer Group, runs Shopping with a Conscience supermarket tours, and produces the Ethical Guide to Supermarket Shopping. Find out about food miles, genetic engineering, multinational ownership, fair-trade, packaging and more!
Anne-Marie Spagnolo, from Ethical Investment Services, is a financial advisor and author of The Ethical Investor. Find out how to make money and feel good about it.
People can register to attend by phoning 03 9278 4889 or online:
http://www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/environment/environmenthome/
susliving/workshops/individual
Monday, 18 May 2009
Funding Available for Sustainability Training in the Victorian Fibre and Textile Industry
The International Fibre Centre (IFC) has recognised that sustainability
issues are becoming an increasingly important consideration for
the Victorian textile industry with significant implications for
longer-term viability and global competitiveness. The Victorian
textile and fibre industry has been hard hit by the global economic
downturn with delays and cancelling of contracts from trading partners
translating into plant closures and job losses. In addition, the
combined spectre of climate change, peak oil, and an increasing
regulatory environment for carbon accounting are increasingly impacting
on the industry. The ‘lean and green’ approach is the right model
at the right time and will build innovative and competitive capacity
in response to the global economic and environmental challenges.
Read the full article and the key dates for application submission.
Please go to the Application Form (PDF download). Assistance in completing the application form is also available from Brooke Farrugia on 03 9214 8604.
Monday, 27 April 2009
NCS advertises in WME magazine
2009 Boroondara Living for Our Future Festival
The NCS participated in the 2009 Boroondara Living for Our Future
Festival on Saturday 21 March. The festival, coinciding with the
Farmers' Market, attracted a large and diverse crowd. There was
much interest shown for Swinburne's Diploma and Graduate Certificate's
of Sustainability. The NCS has worked with the City of Boroondara
for the past several years in project managing and delivering
the Living for Our Future workshops and seminars to the Boroondara
community. The previous seminar on Watersmart Gardens attracted
over 100 residents. A seminar on Sustainable Consumption featuring
a great panel of presenters made up of Jason Clarke (Minds at
Work), Giselle Wilkinson (Sustainable Living Foundation), Nick
Ray (Ethical Consumer Group) and Anne-Marie Spagnolo (Ethical
Investment Services) is planned for the evening of 17 June 2009
at Hawthorn Town Hall.
NCS Commentary
The NCS has commenced a commentary series that provides a viewpoint on current issues that are topical to NCS business, including sustainable education, behaviour change, and carbon accounting and sustainability.
Click here to our NCS Commentary page.
NCS Annual Report 2008
The National Centre for Sustainability is pleased to release the 2008 Annual Achievements Report. Click here (pdf 880kb)
NCS comment on the proposed National Carbon Offset Standard
In February 2009, the Department of Climate Change invited interested stakeholders to comment on the proposed approach to a national carbon offset standard. The standard will provide guidance on what constitutes a genuine, additional voluntary offset credit, set requirements for the verification and retirement of such credits, and provide principles for calculating the emissions of an organisation, product or service which could be offset.
Read the NCS response, which advocates change to the CPRS and seeks to support organisations, individuals, households and community groups who want to voluntarily reduce aggregate greenhouse gas emissions here.
Renewable Energy Target scheme - NCS comment on exposure draft legislation
In February 2009, the NCS submitted a position paper to the Department of Climate Change regarding the exposure draft legislation on the design of the expanded national Renewable Energy Target scheme. The purpose of the submission was to urge the Commonwealth Government to reconsider the proposed amendment regulations to the implementation of the expanded commitments within its Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) scheme. Read the NCS comment here.
Media Releases
- April 2009:
Cheap and efficient solar energy on the horizon - November 2008:
NCS Swinburne goes Hybrid - October 2008:
$12.6 Million National Sustainability Centre Opens - August 2008:
Changing the climate online
Swinburne introduces Australia's first accredited carbon accounting course
Water conservation game makes ATOM awards finals - July 2008:
Shrinking Australia's growing ecological footprint: new book charts the way
Farm water management software wins international student IT prize - May 2008:
Entrepreneurship students win major business award for renewable resources company
