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New Zealand businesses need to think big and long term on sustainability issues, and export any innovative ideas to the rest of the world, says visiting Swedish sustainability expert Hans Lundberg.
Dr Lundberg, senior adviser to the Swedish Environmental Research Institute and environmental adviser to King Carl XVI Gustaf, works throughout the world as project leader/promoter of sustainable cities.
"I believe it's possible to incorporate sustainability into the mindset of business leaders and employees, which will decide who are the winners in the race towards sustainability in a changing climate," he says.
He also thinks New Zealand companies should exploit the image of New Zealand more when marketing their products overseas, as Swedish companies such as Volvo and Electrolux do.
"I think Sweden and New Zealand have a lot of similarities - they are two small countries at the end of the world, very much devoted to the environment, clear air and nature."
New Zealand, with its excellent wine and food products, could be a small France, says the Swede. With clean technology, the food and beverage industry could be a huge business for this country.
He says Fonterra's handling of the San Lu baby milk crisis in China was an example of bad risk management. "I truly think Fonterra handled it in slow motion. This is one clear example which will go quickly into the textbooks."
Management must be very transparent from the beginning, he says.
Peter Neilson, chief executive of the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development, who met Lundberg on his visit, says the time is ripe for New Zealand export companies to find new markets and build up their current ones as long as they are adhering to international standards of sustainability.
He agrees that New Zealand companies should exploit their New Zealand roots more. Companies such as the Grove Mill winery and producers of manuka honey are already benefiting from the New Zealand brand overseas.
The sustainability issue could be a huge opportunity for New Zealand, says Neilson.
Crown research institute Landcare Research is the creator of carboNZero, a greenhouse emission management and measurement programme, and has already taken this intellectual property to Britain.
Landcare has licensed British-based Achilles Information to use Cemars, its carbon footprinting programme, and looks set to benefit from the Climate Change Bill passed in Britain last week, making emissions targets legally binding for British companies. In three years' time, 33,000 British companies will have to have measured their carbon footprint.
In New Zealand, Westpac has asked for a Cemars report for its operation.
Mike Tournier, business manager at Landcare's carboNZero division, says Landcare has been doing carbon as a core competency for the past 15 years. "We take very much a 'NZ Inc' approach."
The way Landcare sees it, its carboNZero programme will enable New Zealand exporters to continue to lower market barriers and raise prices on products because of their quality.
Landcare is working, through Achilles, to take the carbon footprinting programme to other parts of Europe and the Americas. Tournier has also been to Australia with a view to licensing an Australian partner.
"They are behind us. We have passed our legislation; theirs is still a green paper," says Tournier.
The majority of companies coming to Landcare for help on carbon emissions are utilities companies and logistics specialists, he says. "A lot of it is strategic leadership, measuring, and how you practically manage reductions and communicate that to the greater [population].
"Carbon measurement and management provides an opportunity for business to look at old problems with new eyes.
"I think it's fair to say we are seeing overwhelming interest from what I would traditionally call conservative businesses recognising that even if you put the climate change debate to one side, there's quite a paradigm shift in terms of consumer behaviour.
"It's a market where consumers are wanting to make ethical purchasing decisions, and that's having an effect on where they deploy their money.
"Number two, some traditional businesses don't understand it, don't agree with it. But it does represent a risk, and they need to understand what that risk is, then decide the next steps."
Landcare is able to show the pure economic benefits of being carbon-neutral with its Grove Mill case study. The Marlborough winery has reduced operating costs by 17 per cent and for every $1 invested in carboNZero they have had $15 back, says Tournier.
The New Zealand wine industry is one of the most advanced in making its products sustainable, says Roger Kerrison, senior adviser at Aura Sustainability, an environmental consultancy which specialises in helping food and beverage exporters.
At a recent Sustainable Winegrowing meeting, Grove Mill winemaker David Pearce spoke about the modifications and redesign in packaging the company had achieved. The company could now fit 1980 boxes into a container heading overseas, up from 1760 previously, for example.
Another area the company is working on to improve its carbon footprint is to bring down the weight of the bottles. "If you cut it by 30 per cent, you cut the waste stream by 30 per cent, and that's a significant benefit," says CEO Rob White.
In the British market, Grove Mill has increased sales by 50 per cent in the past year - and most of that has been on the back of these sorts of programmes, he says.
The improvements have gained new distribution channels. Grove Mill now sells to Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose.
