Collaboration to help businesses address climate challenges

Media release

24 July 2019

Collaboration to help businesses address climate change challenges

Leading consultancies join forces for good

A new partnership between Porter Novelli New Zealand’s Sustainability Practice and Oxygen Consulting will provide organisations with a full spectrum of sustainability services, from measurement and reporting to strategy, communications and engagement.

The collaboration has been announced to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) and today’s EMBARK conference, a one-day event to empower business action on climate change. The CLC brings businesses together to accelerate the transition to a low carbon environment - Porter Novelli and Oxygen Consulting are both members of the CLC and Sustainable Business Council.

James Walker, Executive Director – Sustainability at Porter Novelli, says the consultancy’s collaboration with Oxygen is built on the cooperative spirit of the CLC.

“The Climate Leaders Coalition was founded on the concept that businesses need to come together with a shared vision, and cooperate to meet the challenges presented by climate change. Porter Novelli and Oxygen will work together to provide advice to businesses on how to develop their strategies, measure their progress and tell stories.

“We’re looking forward to combining our expertise in sustainability strategy, story-telling and engagement, with Oxygen’s considerable experience in the setting measurable targets and reporting progress,” says James.

Oxygen Consulting is led by Sarah Holden, who has more than 15 years of experience working with organisations to map out sustainability programmes, set targets and report on their progress.

Sarah says: “Combining our expertise at Oxygen with Porter Novelli’s experience in sustainability communications, government relations, marketing and media, our partnership provides businesses with the best possible opportunity to get the settings right and get their story heard.”

Porter Novelli and Oxygen Consulting seek to maximise organisations’ ability to implement sustainability practices and then influence, advocate, share and partner with others.

James Walker will be speaking at EMBARK 2019 in Auckland.

For more information on Porter Novelli and Oxygen Consulting’s offering, contact James Walker at: JamesW@porternovelli.kiwi and/or Sarah Holden at:

sarah@oxygen-consulting.co.nz

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About Porter Novelli New Zealand

Porter Novelli New Zealand is an award-winning public relations consultancy, offering communications, marketing, strategy and sustainability services. Porter Novelli works with a range of clients, from global corporations to government agencies, small businesses and not-for-profits.

The consultancy is part of a vibrant network of 45 advertising, communications and marketing agencies in New Zealand and Australia, owned by the Clemenger Group. It has links with 100 Porter Novelli offices in 60 countries. Porter Novelli NZ is a member of the Sustainable Business Council, Climate Leaders Coalition and is Rainbow Tick accredited.

About Oxygen Consulting

Oxygen Consulting enables organisations to maximise their long-term business performance by providing services that strengthen social, environmental and economic outcomes. Oxygen Consulting’s services support all technical aspects of the organisational sustainability journey, including materiality risk assessment, sustainability strategy and planning, performance metrics and reporting, as well as organisation capability building.

Oxygen Consulting is a member of the Sustainable Business Council, the Sustainable Business Network, and the Climate Leaders Coalition.

About Sarah Holden

Sarah Holden has more than 15 years of experience helping organisations achieve measurable success through business sustainability. She has worked with a range of businesses including Westpac NZ, IAG NZ, Suncorp NZ, AA Insurance, Allpress Espresso, Spark NZ, Naylor Love and CustomPak on the development and execution of sustainability and corporate responsibility measures.

Sarah has a PhD in environmental and marine science and has been a member of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) Advisory Board and a Future Leader Alumni representative on the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) Advisory Board. She has also served as a judge for the annual SBN Sustainable Business Awards. Sarah is a member of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

About James Walker

James Walker leads Porter Novelli’s sustainability practice. James joined Porter Novelli from the Ministry for the Environment, where he was on the senior leadership team, as Deputy Secretary Partnerships and Customers. James led the Ministry’s public consultation on the development of the Zero Carbon Bill, the policy work to phase out single use plastic bags and move to a circular economy.

Prior to his time in government, James was on the leadership team of Woolworths New Zealand. He was General Manager of Corporate Affairs, a role in which he oversaw the organisation’s corporate reputation and sustainability strategy. He worked on industry-defining initiatives around food waste; transgender transitioning policy for team; plastic shopping bags; and transition out of caged eggs. James began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where he worked on international trade and environment issues. Between 2011 and 2013 he was the Deputy Ambassador to the Netherlands.

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