EnviroSmart Pilot Programme Celebration

Thank you Rod Oram.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I greet you in the languages of the realm of New Zealand - English, Maori Cook Islands Niue and Tokelau:  

Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni

I greet you: Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and former colleague as an Officer of Parliament, Dr Morgan Williams; I greet you Mayors, Councillors and Representatives of the North Shore City Council; the Waitakere City Council; Papakura District Council; Auckland City Council; Auckland Regional Council and Manukau City Council; Likewise representatives from Landcare Research and Hugh Logan from the Ministry for the Environment; Distinguished Guests not least Hon Peter Neilson, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Thank you for the invitation here tonight to celebrate the completion of the Auckland EnviroSmart pilot programme.

The EnviroSmart Programme, with its emphases on improving environmental performance is a significant achievement in New Zealand and it is excellent to see the momentum the programme has gained over the relatively short period of time since it started.

Indeed, while we are here tonight to celebrate the conclusion of the Auckland EnviroSmart pilot programme, it is also to be acknowledged that the success of this programme has led to the launch of the national EnviroSmart programme earlier this year.

In that alone, the pilot programme can be said to have been a significant milestone in New Zealand's story.

It is, perhaps, a clich that we live in a green country, but in the manner of clichs, there is an underlying truth, to some degree.

Our environment defines us as New Zealanders and shapes how we live, how we work, how we play and it sets our small country apart in the world.

Our environment is our brand overseas and it is valuable to us. Visitors come here for our environment, and they buy our produce overseas for the same reason, at least in part.

As a relatively new country, we have a far shorter history of environmental misuse than many other countries.  Of course, we have made mistakes and work is required to remedy those. But importantly, a lot of our energy should be focused on our efforts on what we do in the future rather than what we have done, - or not done, in the past.

I recently learned something, which illustrates to me just how central our environment is - and should be - to us.

One third of New Zealand is protected in parks and reserves.

That is more than eight million hectares, of our total 26 million hectares, which are formally protected.

This means we have protected more conservation land than almost any other country in the world.

It is remarkable too, that we have such a clear commitment to our natural landscape when you consider that most New Zealanders live in towns and cities.  We are one of the world's most urbanised countries, with almost 86 percent of us living in urban centres.

This exhibits that wherever we live, enough of us still feel connected with and protective of our land to seek its conservation for future generations.

This is what conservation is all about. It is about what kind of New Zealand we want for tomorrow.

And this is where business has an integral role to play.

The people here this evening are in the driving seat. Whatever you do today will affect our environment tomorrow - for good or for bad.

Conserving the environment is certainly the duty of every New Zealander.  Decisions made by our business leaders, will have a great effect.

The economy and the environment cannot operate independently. I think we are all coming to recognise this more and more. Perhaps as little as 20 or 30 years ago it may have been accepted that business not only did not have a duty in protecting our environment, but that its core values may have been incompatible with conservation.

Now it is being recognised that not only are they compatible, they are bed-fellows, they are partners.

They are each others' better half.

The businesses represented in this room tonight recognise this and I congratulate each of you for turning that recognition into action through the Auckland EnviroSmart pilot programme.

Becoming a more environmentally aware and sustainable business can be richly rewarding.  In fact, environmental best practice can make excellent commercial sense. With the right infrastructure and strategies in place you can improve efficiency, save your business money, improve your environmental performance and enhance your reputation.

The last part of this is particularly important within the New Zealand context. A great business is one that recognises what its customers want and it adapts accordingly.

I believe that we, as a country, are more and more seeking to work with businesses that are sustainable and that employ environmental best practice.

As our own awareness increases of how we each, individually, impact on the environment, our expectations of the businesses we deal with, also increase.

We want to feel good about the houses we live in and know that it is not at the expense of the environment we also treasure.

We want to know the clothes we wear are made under conditions of which we approve, and from products we feel safe wearing.

We want to know that the food we eat is wholesome and will be so for our children in the years to come.

But we have to be pragmatic. I do not believe most New Zealanders to be at a stage where they are prepared to pay significantly more to have these things - either with their time or their money.  So, the challenge for business in adopting best environmental practice is to keep products or services competitive and sustainable all at once.

Your business stories prove this is possible.

Your success in working within the Auckland EnviroSmart pilot programme is more than just good news for your individual businesses. It is all the more important because it represents real change by businesses operating within New Zealand's largest city.

Auckland, as we all know, is home to about one third of our people. And it is growing.

This represents its own unique set of environmental challenges and the work achieved as part of EnviroSmart is an important part of addressing these from a business perspective.

Of course, your success has set a precedent for EnviroSmart programmes throughout the rest of the country, giving us an opportunity to become an environmentally sustainable country.

I congratulate each of the businesses here tonight for your work. It has required from you equal measures of vision and determination.

I would also like to acknowledge the local authorities present that are so much part of the EnviroSmart programme.  You have supported this initiative right from its conception and have therefore made a significant contribution to its overall success.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for the invitation here this evening to share in the fascinating story of EnviroSmart - and, may I underline the fact that I consider this very much to be a case of 'the story of EnviroSmart to date'.  And finally may I observe that there are two fine words in this country's first language manaaki whenua - care for the land - which is your by line - that sums this all up.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa