Sustainability and Life Cycle Management

BusinessNZ is delighted to host Future Footprints: Sustainability in the Marketplace with the New Zealand Life Cycle Management Centre – at Te Papa, Wellington, on 4 April.

BusinessNZ has two years’ experience of working on a Life-Cycle Management (LCM) Project in partnership with Landcare Research.

The LCM project aims to increase the competitiveness of New Zealand’s manufacturing firms by embracing the principle of continuous environmental improvement through taking a life-cycle perspective.

By learning how to manage the life-cycle of products more effectively companies can both realise market opportunities and simultaneously improve environmental performance.

Future Footprints: Sustainability in the Marketplace will:
• Promote life-cycle thinking as a component of smart production and consumption;
• Enhance understanding of the drivers behind increasing and/or rapidly changing demands in the marketplace for products/services;
• Improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities across product and service life-cycles and determine what additional information is needed to help NZ exporters to respond;
• Encourage discussion on whether existing goals and/or actions can be aligned to support New Zealand producers/service providers to better operate in an international marketplace.

Event 1: Public Forum at 1:00pm Monday 4 April, at Te Papa, Wellington
The Conference forms one part of the overall programme. It will provide participants with different perspectives of what is happening in the marketplace regarding demands for green metrics and what this might mean for producers, exporters and policymakers.

Speakers include:
• Dr Alan Knight, advisor to UK businesses and governments on sustainability policy
• Professor Roland Clift, Emeritus Professor in Environmental Technology, University of Surrey, UK
• Katherine Jennrich, Senior Manager at Wal-Mart with responsibility for Wal-Mart’s Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Innovation Program
• Sir Paul Callaghan, New Zealander of the Year 2011 speaking on Sustainable economic growth for New Zealand
• Minister for Trade, Hon Tim Groser
• Representatives from Fonterra and Zespri

Event 2: Policy Round Table on 5 April at the Ministry for Environment
The policy round-table will capitalise on the discussions and key messages of the Public Forum and focus on the role of policy in this complex area of business and environmental performance.

With Dr Paul Reynolds chairing and Colin James acting as facilitator of the discussion it will be a stimulating and informative session for participants.

ENDS

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