Chapter 4
Promoting Sustainable Business Practices
Sustainability is now a world-wide business trend. It is driving changes in business operations. It represents also an opportunity for New Zealand to build on its image and competitive advantages in this field.
Many businesses are already embracing sustainable business practices. The government needs to take account of these early adopters of sustainable business management practices when designing business regulation for sustainability. They should benefit from, not be disadvantaged by, measures like carbon credit allocations.
Other businesses will need more encouragement to take on the sustainability challenge. Provision of financial incentives would encourage faster and more substantial improvements in plant and processes
in order to reduce carbon footprints or to produce the same (or new) products more sustainably.
SMEs, in particular, need practical help to start the journey to sustainability. They need straightforward and inexpensive publications and assistance that provide practical advice on how to improve environmental sustainability or how to address any environmental regulations, in a cost-effective manner and on a moderate budget. Enviro-Mark's20 partnership with local authorities is a good example of a scheme where this type of support is available. There is scope for this to be more widely promoted and accessible.
Those businesses going international also need affordable advice and assistance on how to derive maximum advantage from the environmental soundness of their products or services. Provision of such advice would also facilitate consistency in the sustainability message New Zealand companies communicate in overseas markets.
SBAG recommends:
That publications be produced that give practical and implementable advice and support for SMEs to improve their environmental performance and to derive business benefit from the recognised or certified environmental sustainability of their products and processes.
Country of Origin Labelling
If all the benefits of the sustainable production techniques used by New Zealand firms are to be captured, consumers need to know that the product they are purchasing comes from New Zealand.
Country of origin labelling provides a competitive advantage for New Zealand firms both domestically and overseas. Knowing that New Zealand is the country of origin helps sell products and services. We should do more to secure this advantage.
Clothing and some other manufactured goods are currently required to be labelled with their country of origin. We believe that this requirement should be extended to all imported and domestic foodstuffs.
This should not be designed as a product safety or import-substitution measure. It is predominantly an opportunity to gain what we believe will be competitive advantage when consumers are able to know with certainty that their food was grown and processed in New Zealand. Provided the labelling requirements are kept simple (i.e. the country of origin of the "defining" or most significant component, such as the plums in plum jam), the compliance costs on business should be minimal.
SBAG recommends:
That all foodstuffs sold in New Zealand be required to be labelled with the country of origin of the "defining component" or the most significant component of the foodstuff.
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