Today’s announcement by the Environment Minister Amy Adams that the Government will legislate for independent environmental reporting is an important step forward for the future of New Zealand’s economy and environment, says the Sustainable Business Council, a division of BusinessNZ.

 Penny Nelson, Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Council, says “This is welcome news as our economy is reliant on the environment. In order to inform as well as strengthen everyone’s accountability over their use of resources, we need to be able to clearly show the linkages between economic performance, environmental quality and the state of our natural resources.

 “Better information will allow businesses to fully understand their impact on the environment in their day-to-day activities and the efficiency of their resource use. It’s about considering how the environment and business can work in harmony, and making better decisions around this.

“The proposals announced are ambitious and need to be clear on the purpose of the reporting so we can focus on priorities and data can be sifted efficiently. Defining priorities is crucial if we are to avoid irreversible and large scale losses to our environment, and therefore our economy.

“Business looks forward to being part of the conversation with government, environmental groups and data providers about the best data that is useful for decision-makers and cost effective to provide.

“If we are going to be serious about greening our economy, green growth-related indicators need to be at the heart of this new legislation. This will allow us to benchmark ourselves internationally and measure whether New Zealand is actually becoming a greener economy overall.”