The Green Building Council of Australia has released the final framework of its long awaited Green Star Communities rating tool. GBCA chief executive Romilly Madew said that the agreement will help establish the Green Star tool as a best practice benchmark for sustainable community projects after a memorandum of understanding was agreed upon by every state and territory Government Land Organisation in Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Recent Australian research, writes Phillip Sargeant (Aug. 26), has shown that small organisations within the professional services community are particularly distanced from issues related to environmental sustainability.  A study conducted in November 2009 by Beaton Research and Consulting, in conjunction with the Nossal Institute, collected responses from 11,802 individuals working in professional services. These respondents gave their opinions on sustainability reporting and their general beliefs around acting sustainably at work. Read the rest of this entry »

A survey in the south west of England indicates that ‘green energy’ jobs could be the key to escaping the current economic downturn. Despite the recession, the number of people employed in the renewable energy sector grew to over 5,000 – a 78% increase. While the UK’s Energy Security and Green Economy bill must include measures to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) cut carbon emissions, according to a report Making Sense of Going Green. Read the rest of this entry »

For the first time, the World Green Building Council International Congress will take place in Asia in the lead up to World Green Building Day on 23 September. It is one of a trio of eco-events in Singapore next month to create Southeast Asia’s biggest and most important gathering of ‘green’ builders and property developers ever organised. Meanwhile, Australia is putting renewed focus on greening existing building stock. Read the rest of this entry »

The following article, writes Professor John Cole, appeared on 4 August 2010 in the Courier Mail Viewpoint section in a series entitled “Future Fix” about what needs to be done to shape Queensland’s future.  It was called “Green is only way for state to go”.  Professor Cole fleshes out some of the themes from this article in the sections below. Read the rest of this entry »

Apple has refused to allow its iPhones to be included in the UK’s first-ever green ranking scheme for mobile phones.  The scheme gives phones a rating of zero to five based on their environmental footprint and major manufacturers including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have signed up. The network O2, which is launching the rating system this week, said 93 per cent of the devices its customers use will be covered. Read the rest of this entry »

Consumers now have little information about the true ecological impacts of what they buy says author Daniel Goleman. But that may be about to change, as new technologies that track supply chains are emerging and companies as diverse as Unilever and Google look to make their products more sustainable. Read the rest of this entry »

The first of the big four global accounting firms, reports the ABC of Carbon, has set up a practice specifically for cleantech.  Ernst & Young’s move highlights a trend for major consultancies to get into sustainability services. Major amounts of capital are flowing into clean energy and clean technology – most notably in Europe, North America and Asia – as governments increasingly want to use the sector as a driver for international competitiveness. When will Australia get the message? Read the rest of this entry »

Business, government and the Townsville community came together on Tuesday 10 August for an important forum on making North Queensland a world leader in solar power. Read the rest of this entry »

Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. While the benefits of delivering these new communities are obvious, adoption by large-scale residential developers beyond boutique, special-purpose developments has been limited. Read the rest of this entry »