1. Demystifying sustainability to create profound business improvement – practical insights from real experience Dr Nick Fleming, Chief Sustainability Officer CMIC Conference, 20 September 2012

2. achieve outstanding success Key messages  Sustainability issues are escalating, not diminishing  Sustainability provides a powerful lens and trigger for business improvement if approached practically and strategically  Well governed businesses are establishing a sustainable competitive advantage because they have bothered to pay attention Introduction

3. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Factors influencing success Introduction 197019801990200020102020 Time Cost Quality Growing sustainability focus and business complexity Time Cost Quality Safety Time Cost Quality Safety Waste minimisation Time Cost Quality Safety Waste minimisation Resource efficiency Carbon price Climate risk Biodiversity maintenance Community livelihoods Project drivers Insurers Financiers Inst’l investors Stock exchanges Shareholders Customers Governments Lobby groups Insurers Financiers Inst’l investors Stock exchanges Shareholders Customers Governments Lobby groups

4. achieve outstanding success ‘Fit for purpose’ assets  Commence and remain affordable (viable)  Highly efficient and operate with a small ‘footprint’ (efficient)  Make sense as a piece in the wider infrastructure puzzle (relevant)  Are valued by stakeholders now and over their operating life (constructive) What does sustainability mean in practice?

5. achieve outstanding success ‘Fit for the future’ enterprises  Viable – compliant with laws and regulations, managing risks  Efficient – managing costs, reducing resources and eliminating waste  Relevant – producing valued goods and services ‘fit for the future’  Constructive – contributing to social well-being, and so maintaining a ‘social licence to operate’ What does sustainability mean in practice?

6. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Number of organisations Strategic leaders Aiming for compliance Proactively responsible Managing risks Policy expression Practical action in operations Bridging the ‘policy-practice gap’ What does sustainability mean in practice? making sustainability real

7. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Bridging the ‘policy-practice gap’ What does sustainability mean in practice?

8. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Goulburn Valley Water Case Study

9. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Goulburn Valley Water – embedding sustainability Case Study Plan Policy Actions

10. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Goulburn Valley Water – embedding sustainability Case Study Business excellence framework Hardwiring into operations

11. achieve outstanding success Goulburn Valley Water – embedding sustainability BEFORE  Confused leadership  Sustainability = environment  No strategy  Internally focused, office-based activities  Lead by 1 person, staff cynical  Safety culture  Misaligned operations  Office and field operations silos  Little improvement focus and knowledge sharing Case Study AFTER  Aligned leadership, clear strategy  Sy = economy, society, environment (finance, customer, environment)  Customer, supplier and staff focus  Leaders guide but owned by all staff  TBL culture  Aligned operations working for continuous improvement (‘Sust. Excellence Framework’)  Shift to whole-of-life value creation  More team-work, less re-work

12. 10/4/2015 achieve outstanding success Goulburn Valley Water altered business model Case Study Bruce Hammond, General Manager of Technical Services, said “It was SKM’s work with GVW that helped us realise that ‘ core business ’ for us is as much working with the regional community to keep it strong and prosperous, as it is providing water supply and managing wastewater. It opened our eyes and lead to the Precinct initiative.” Buffer Zone Boundary Shepparton WWTP

13. achieve outstanding success Goulburn Valley Water altered business model  Synergistic operations  Wastes into resources  Creating regional economic growth and jobs  Liability to income generating asset  Enhanced brand, reduced costs Case Study GVW biogas storage Diamond Energy Veolia Env Services Western Composting Construction Waste Recovery Kinetic Renew- ables Solar Power Biosolids processing Farming Tree lots Farming Aerobic Lagoon Shepparton WWTP

14. achieve outstanding success Observations  You can ignore sustainability as a term, but not the issues, risks and opportunities.  Is your organisation ‘fit for the future’? Well run, progressive organisations are asking themselves this question.  If approached in a pragmatic yet strategic way, sustainability can trigger and unleash substantial business benefits beyond efficiency improvement Concluding thoughts