- Kate McKeand & Helen Scott, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
DOWNLOAD CONFERENCE PAPER - 53-kate-mckeand
Sustainability and local government are terms that are more and more often being heard together. Over the last decade, local government has transformed from mainly being about “roads, rates and rubbish” to being stewards of community assets. These assets are not only physical, but also include social, cultural, economic and environmental assets. Local governments are re-engineering the way they operate to more holistically manage their business, and that’s what a true focus on sustainability lets you do.
In this paper, ICLEI outlines its key learnings from working with councils on sustainability over the last decade, particularly through the Triple Bottom Line Capacity Building Program and the Sustainability Reporting Alliance. This paper also describes the key barriers to and enablers of sustainability integration, ICLEI’s Sustainability Integration Pathway approach, and how a systematic approach to sustainability integration is successfully being implemented with local governments across Australia.
ICLEI has identified eleven key steps to integrating sustainability in local government, referred to as its “Sustainability Integration Pathway”, under the broad management cycle headings of Review & Improve, Plan, Implement, Measure and Report. More specifically, these steps involve:
1. Establishing a Business Case and position on the sustainability integration pathway
2. Political commitment and leadership
3. Policy development and adoption
4. Strategic and corporate planning
5. Mainstreaming sustainability into business processes and systems
6. Stakeholder engagement and leveraging
7. Communication, education and training
8. Data and information management
9. Performance measurement
10. Sustainability reporting
11. Continuous improvement
BIOS:
Kate McKeand, Director-Sustainability Strategy (former), ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability-Oceania
Kate joined ICLEI in 2006 as Executive Manager, Sustainability Services and more recently held the role of Director, Sustainability Strategy.
Kate is an environment and sustainability manager with experience in the not-for-profit, government, consulting and private sectors. At ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, she helped local councils integrate sustainability into corporate planning, decision-making, reporting and communication.
Kate holds a Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Engineering (Cleaner Production) and is currently studying for a Master of Business Administration. Her previous work experience includes managing the Environment Program at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, developing energy efficiency solutions for industry at the then Sustainable Energy Authority (now Sustainability Victoria) and as an environmental consultant.
Professionally, the main focus for Kate is to improve sustainability outcomes by integrating sustainability considerations into business operations, driven through corporate strategy and communications.
Helen Scott, Manager, Sustainability Services, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability-Oceania.
Helen Scott is the Manager of Sustainability Services, ICLEI Oceania. Incorporating her diverse background in business, not-for-profit and education, Helen works directly with local governments around Australia to develop robust processes to integrate sustainability into their planning, operations and decision-making processes.
Prior to joining ICLEI Oceania in early 2007, Helen Scott was Corporate Program Manager with Global Sustainability at RMIT University, where she worked with corporate clients on a range of sustainability projects including organisational sustainability gap assessment for business, mentoring and training, project managing sustainability reporting for clients and sustainability research.
Combining her passion for sustainability and expertise in marketing and communications, Helen Scott co-authored, ‘Carbon Offset Providers in Australia 2007′, a comprehensive report, which provides Australian organisations wishing to offset their emissions with comparative information regarding offsetting services available. In addition, Helen was a member of Oxfam Australia’s Advisory Group in the development of their Climate Change Policy.
As the Manager of Sustainability Services, Helen combines a range of interactive and facilitated approaches with her specialist knowledge, strategic advice and technical skill to ensure local government are equipped with well-developed knowledge and understanding to incorporate sustainability and triple bottom line principles into everyday operations.