Taking Action for the Future
How organisations make successful change for
sustainability
ISBN 978-921733-13-0
© Commonwealth of Australia 2010
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Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the Australian Government Department of the
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
The case studies were researched and written by SallyAnn Hunting. Thank
you to those organisations and their staff who gave time to share their
experiences in sustainability in order to encourage others to do the same.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the
author[s] and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian
Government or the Minister for Environment Protection Heritage and the
Arts.
These case studies represent the views and experience of the
participating organisations. While reasonable efforts have been made to
ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the
Australian Government does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or
completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or
damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or
reliance on, the contents of this publication.
Contents
Overview
Yarra Valley Water’s Sustainability Culture
How Yarra Valley Water developed an organisational culture for
sustainability
NAB’s Climate Change Strategy
How the National Australia Bank used stakeholder engagement to
meet its commitment to carbon neutrality
Bankstown City Council and the Cooks River Sustainability
Initiative:
How Bankstown City Council developed community partnerships for
sustainable catchment management
Amcor’s Safety Integration Project:
How Amcor improved safety and reduced time lost through injuries
by integrating sustainability policy and practice across its business
operations
Overview
Business and industry are acknowledged leaders in sustainability through
innovation and operational improvement. Their involvement in the
production, allocation and management of resources, and promotion of
products and services, means they have responsibility for ensuring their
decisions and actions are sustainable.
Corporate objectives around sustainability can be supported by adopting
an ‘education for sustainability’ approach. This can lead to efficiencies and
cost savings, better management of risk, improved corporate reputation
and valuations, and increased morale and retention of staff.
The premise behind education for sustainability is that the challenges
organisations face in making a fundamental shift in their operations are
different from challenges they have faced in the past. In order to make this
shift, a different type of change process is needed. Change for
sustainability requires a learning or education approach to better equip
people to think about the future, understand the complex systems involved
and empower them to work together to achieve sustainable outcomes.
The four case studies presented here demonstrate how a selection of
organisations have begun to incorporate education for sustainability into
their strategy setting, policy formulation and everyday operations to
achieve sustainable outcomes.
The success of each initiative came from effective capacity building for
sustainability. This means the organisation built the skills of its
stakeholders to engage with sustainability and to apply core education for
sustainability components.1 These core components are:
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visioning—developing a clear, joint view of the future
critical thinking and reflection—having a better understanding of what
works, why, when and how
participation in decision making—involving people across the
organisation in change processes
partnerships—building strong links with stakeholders within and outside
industry groups to involve different perspectives and share learning
experiences
systemic thinking—embracing complexity rather than simplifying things
in order to really understand your organisation’s impacts.
Capacity building using these core components increases people’s ability
to think differently about what needs to change and how to change it. It
also improves people’s confidence in making decisions that can lead to
more informed action, and encourages collaborative work arrangements to
achieve more effective outcomes for sustainability.
1
ARIES, Education for Sustainability: The role of education in engaging and equipping people for change,2009.
Although each case study covers different aspects of a sustainability
strategy, they all demonstrate that organisations need to:
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understand the importance of building a strong organisation culture
around learning and sustainability that welcomes staff input into the
design and implementation of cultural change programs
communicate the vision and the change process to all stakeholders,
especially staff and customers
work with staff, customers and other stakeholders to create a shared
vision for the future
make time to reflect on this vision and the strategies to achieve it and
make adjustments if needed
recognise that industry best practice and government regulation are
important drivers for change
ensure change programs have clearly defined outcomes, that
outcomes are measured and that the results add to organisational
success
get Senior Management, including the chief executive and other
executives, to buy in to sustainability and publicly support change
programs
use a bottom up as well as top down approach to harness support from
all levels of the organisation.
By sharing their experiences in making change for sustainability, these
organisations provide examples, encouraging others to rethink how they
can take action for a sustainable future.
Yarra Valley Water’s
Sustainability Culture:
How Yarra Valley Water developed
an organisational culture for
sustainability
Summary
Yarra Valley Water is an award-winning retail water company with a strong
focus on organisational culture and on personal learning. It develops its
employees’ capacity to be able to work collaboratively and effectively to
deliver its vision for the future—that the organisational culture, company
structure, learning and development process should all be geared towards
sustainability. This case study demonstrates how the company has
created a ‘learning organisation’ and how shared knowledge is applied to
the projects it delivers.
This case study shows how Yarra Valley Water:
 prepared itself for the future
 used its organisational culture to create sustainability outcomes
 created a learning and development program for cultural change.
This case study demonstrates the following components of
education for sustainability:
 visioning
 capacity building
 participation
 partnerships
 critical thinking and reflection
 systemic thinking.
Yarra Valley Water achieved these business outcomes:
 more efficient use of the learning and development budget
 low staff turnover
 increased capacity to think about the future
 better outcomes for the environment
 effective ways of working internally and externally.
Introduction
Yarra Valley Water is the largest of Melbourne’s three retail water
companies and provides water and sewerage services across Melbourne’s
northern and eastern suburbs. Melbourne’s population has increased
steadily over the past 25 years and the company now services over 1.6
million people and 50 000 businesses. At the same time, Victoria has been
in severe drought and Yarra Valley Water faces challenges to deliver clean
water, process sewage and maintain the pipe infrastructure.
The company engages with many stakeholders: the Victorian Government
as its funder and regulator; other water authorities; customers; suppliers;
local authorities; property and land developers; and community and
environment groups. It proactively promotes sustainability by working with
external stakeholders through:
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a Customer Consultative Committee to help develop relevant policies
and programs for sustainability
breakfast forums for business and industry to share sustainability
outcomes and achievements
an Environmental Strategic Advisory Committee, a think tank of
practitioners, consultants and educators, which helps to define key
environmental issues for the company.
Yarra Valley Water sees its 400 staff, and the right organisational culture,
as key components in achieving sustainability. It believes that in order to
create cities of the future, organisations need to be fundamentally changed
to be businesses of the future. These businesses need to have
sustainability as a core strategy and proactively ‘make the future, rather
than letting it just happen’. This is because operating in today’s world is
more complex; growth needs to occur with fewer resources; there are
tighter environmental requirements; and there are higher community
expectations.
For Yarra Valley Water this future has a different urban water cycle with
more locally based water systems (known as distributed systems),
stormwater harvesting and improved local waterways, all of which will
improve community amenity and wellbeing. It sees a business of the future
as one where staff:
 explore interrelationships and potential opportunities
 work more with other businesses and customers to design shared
solutions
 plan better for uncertainty and risk
 understand how to motivate internal and external stakeholders to
deliver better outcomes.
To deliver its vision, Yarra Valley Water has established a formal learning
and development program that supports staff to identify new ways of
considering issues and developing solutions, not just focusing on technical
development. This program, together with a non-traditional organisational
structure, is helping Yarra Valley Water bring about the cultural change it
believes is necessary for the future. The details of how Yarra Valley Water
achieved this change are described below.
Organisational culture
Yarra Valley Water sees organisational culture as ‘building blocks to allow
us to deliver the future’. In order to develop an understanding of the
existing organisational culture and then work out ways it might need to
change, the company has monitored organisational culture over a number
of years.
This assessment started in 2001 with the Human Synergistics
Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI). The OCI is a survey which gives a
snapshot of organisational culture by measuring the behavioural types
people think are expected or implicitly required. Results from the OCI can
be shown at an individual or company level and are compared against an
‘ideal’ culture. The difference between the two illustrates which areas of
organisational culture need to change and the organisation then develops
strategies to achieve this.
In 2001, 26 managers completed an OCI questionnaire about the
preferred or ideal culture for Yarra Valley Water. This was followed up with
a questionnaire to be completed by all staff to find out what the ‘actual’
culture was like. The results were shared openly throughout the
organisation and revealed that:
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the preferred culture was ‘a high performance culture in which
managers display constructive behaviours that facilitate high-quality
problem solving and decision making, teamwork, productivity and longterm effectiveness’. These were the criteria that managers thought
were needed to deliver sustainable outcomes
the actual culture was seen as ‘defensive, avoidance-orientated,
oppositional and competitive’.
The results demonstrated that there was a difference between the actual
and preferred culture, and actions were needed to bridge this gap. On the
positive side, the preferred culture included those elements seen as critical
to successful change for sustainability.
Developing a more sustainable culture
To change the organisational culture a clear ‘strategic intent’ or vision for
the future was devised. In developing the strategic intent, Yarra Valley
Water was just as interested in the process by which it was developed as
the resulting statement of intent. The strategic intent was informed by a
series of staff workshops in 2003 to explore what Yarra Valley Water
should do to become an environmental leader (rather than just being a
leading water retailer). The results were formulated into the strategic intent
by senior managers, shown pictorially, and known within the company, as
the Yarra Valley Water House as shown in the following figure.
The house formed part of an internal communication plan to help staff
understand that the environment was part of the company’s business and
to help define their role at work. For each part of the house the company
used a set of tools to deliver on the strategy, as outlined in the table below.
Component
Customer
Environment
Culture
Efficiency
Tool
Customer Service Strategy
The Natural Step
Human Synergistics methodologies
Six Sigma
Yarra Valley Water also introduced Blue Zone Days in 2003 (after the blue
‘preferred culture’ zone in the OCI) to engage people at all levels in the
change program and to set expectations of management practices. A
series of fun and engaging team sessions were held to look at the actual
and ideal behaviours identified in the OCI survey. This created a new
common understanding and agreement about the way staff should
approach work and relate to each other and an expectation of how
managers should behave.
Monitoring changes to organisational culture
Yarra Valley Water has a range of formal and informal ways to measure
whether cultural change is happening and how learning and development
creates better ways of working together. For example, often at the start of
staff development sessions each participant provides an example of how
their discoveries (about themselves) have changed the way they work.
This not only creates openness and honesty but also shares experiences,
actions and ideas.
The company also conducts surveys such as the Vibrant Workplace
survey and uses regular focus groups to gather qualitative feedback about
how people feel about their experiences at work. These methods of
evaluation are forced points of reflection and a valuable tool in monitoring
whether the organisational culture continues to be open, collaborative and
engaging.
The OCI questionnaire has been an important tool for monitoring cultural
change. In 2009 the company repeated the OCI survey which had
previously been conducted in 2001 (at the start of its new strategy), in
2003 and in 2005 (when many of the learning and development initiatives
had been completed).
The 2009 survey results showed that some of the cultural indicators which
were so strong in the 2005 survey had worsened instead of improving.
This result was not an unexpected outcome given the challenging
business conditions from 2005 onwards that sought to address drought,
price pressures, increased demand, and a government review of the retail
water sector in Victoria. The results showed that although the culture had
remained strong and generally in line with the ‘ideal’ culture, which had
significantly improved since 2001, some areas had regressed. The
Managing Director and senior management team identified that these
areas needed more attention.
In the open manner in which the company operates, the results were
communicated to all staff and the senior management team is planning
how to reinforce the culture through another ‘push’ for cultural change.
This demonstrates that organisational culture is not a ‘set and forget’
element of sustainability strategy. It needs to have a constant focus and be
reinforced through times of change and business pressure.
Refining the strategic intent
Over the past five years Yarra Valley Water has faced some critical
challenges. Victoria has been in extreme drought with water restrictions.
The pipe infrastructure is ageing and there has been significant residential
development on the fringes of Melbourne as the population increases.
Yarra Valley Water also faces pressure from customers not to increase
water prices (difficult in times of scarce water) whilst at the same time
‘putting the environment first’.
Recognising that corporate strategies should never be static, the company
began a process to further refine the strategic intent originally formulated
in 2003. This is nothing unusual, as companies often modify strategic
objectives to deliver a vision. However, it is the process that Yarra Valley
Water used in 2008–09 which is unusual.
The senior management team of 36 people, including the General
Manager and the divisional managers, attended ten half-day sessions
using the Landmark Education approach. Previously the team had spent
three and a half days on communication skills and active participation in
decision making. The Landmark Education approach is highly structured
and practical. These sessions were also about changing organisational
culture, especially building a culture of honesty and awareness.
The half-day sessions over a few months consisted of a range of learning
exercises, for example:
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explaining the company vision to each other in pairs, in plain language,
rather than in ‘corporate speak’. This made participants think about
what the vision really meant to them and how they could/should live it
in daily life
standing face-to-face and staring into each other’s eyes for several
minutes whilst thinking about whether they could work with this person
to deliver the vision. If they could not they had to articulate what was
preventing them from doing that. This was a powerful exercise and
helped identify and resolve issues between managers
empowering everyone to provide input into the strategy. Everyone was
asked to contribute in an open forum, even those who would normally
be observers in group meetings. The group discussed and reworked
the wording of the strategic objectives for the four components of the
Yarra Valley Water House until every single person was happy with the
wording and aligned with the objectives. Whilst this may be seen as an
extravagant use of time it was absolutely crucial to getting everyone on
the same page and buying into the objectives. The company believes
that a vision is not just words, it needs to be lived and breathed by
everyone.
In between the half-day sessions the managers were asked to undertake
individual reflective practice, which requires them to look at how they
conduct themselves and to reflect on their decisions. The combination of
workshop exercises and individual reflective practice increased
collaboration between the managers, improved effectiveness of project
delivery and gave individuals new tools for critical and systemic thinking.
The output of this process was also a clearer strategic intent for 2013
which is:
To lead the global water industry in serving the customer and
the environment, supported by our high performing business
culture and continuously improving our efficiency.
The four components of the Yarra Valley Water House were reworked into
four strategic elements and 15 underlying objectives. The strategic
elements still have the same names of customer, environment, efficiency
and culture and each of these now has a vision statement for 2013:
 Customer: Our customers recognise us as their best service provider
and are engaged in what we advocate.
 Environment: We provide our services within the carrying capacity of
nature and inspire others to do the same.
 Efficiency: We achieve our objectives at the lowest community cost and
consistently meet our shareholders’ expectations.
 Culture: We have a vibrant workplace achieving exceptional business
outcomes, successful partnerships and personal satisfaction.
Linking the strategic intent to individual performance
The strategic intent has clear links to strategies, activities and
performance. Each employee can clearly link his or her daily work to
delivering outcomes which help to fulfil the vision. A Balanced Scorecard
approach is used to implement sustainability initiatives and each of the
four strategic elements has a section in the corporate Balanced Scorecard.
Each element has a number of objectives with specific actions and key
performance indicators. Importantly, each objective is ‘owned’ by a staff
member who is accountable for implementing change and reporting on
progress. The Balanced Scorecard information is then aligned with each
individual’s performance effectiveness plan so everyone is clear on who
should be doing what and why.
Performance effectiveness plans were introduced in 2009. Every six
months the employee and manager meet formally to discuss how their
roles support the strategic intent and progress against key performance
indicators. In addition, business unit planning is aligned with both the
strategic intent and the individual plans. Performance effectiveness plans
aim to give clarity to staff on their role and how their manager can support
them achieve the objectives of the role.
Learning and development participation
Although the senior management team has undergone a wide range of
individual and team training to develop skills around thinking creatively and
critically about situations and complex issues, other employees have also
participated. The Human Resources department works with managers to
develop a learning and development plan for each individual. In 2008–09
the organisation delivered 440 training sessions that included leadership
programs focused on managing performance, managing change and team
leadership; and efficiency programs such as systems training and
information management, problem solving and risk management.
Other informal learning is supported through staff secondments to project
partners, a sustainability speakers program, an intranet site and the Yarra
Professionals Group which showcases projects that demonstrate creative
solutions to urban issues.
Organisational structure: the Requisite Organisation framework
In 2006 Yarra Valley Water began a major project to introduce a Requisite
Organisation framework into the company. The framework is a business
model that uses individual ownership and accountability to strengthen
organisational performance and is aligned to Yarra Valley Water’s learning
organisation approach. The new framework was piloted in Customer
Operations and then rolled out across the whole company over a two-year
period. During this time there were significant changes to job design,
evaluation, remuneration structure, recruitment processes, talent
management, succession planning and performance management.
The Requisite Organisation framework ensures that everyone understands
where, how and why they fit in the company. It is also linked to Yarra
Valley Water’s strategic intent. All managers were trained in the concepts
and methodology of the framework and it is now firmly embedded within
processes and policies.
One interesting outcome of this change in structure is that there is now no
environment ‘team’ or environmental manager. Environment is seen as
part of everyone’s job whether they are in customer service or part of the
engineering team.
The sustainability-ready culture
Yarra Valley Water sees learning and research as enablers to change as
part of sustainability strategy. The company aims to generate excitement
at work and wants people to come to work to learn from others. This is the
essence of the learning organisation it has created. Even with these
enablers in place, companies still need certain conditions for change to
happen such as:
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strong values around improvement and innovation
collaborative, open, supportive leaders
systemic thinking and embracing complexity
diversity of thinking and doing
contributions from all (although there will be natural leaders and
innovators)
empowered staff who take responsibility and think and act
emphasis on ‘what ifs’ and scenario planning.
Importantly, everyone in the organisation needs to have an emotional
attachment to the sustainability strategy and a personal commitment to
deliver on the vision. This enables the company to make the future
happen.
The sharing of information across the organisation, both formally and
informally, about projects and processes and a willingness to be open and
honest are valued.
Yarra Valley Water also believes strongly in trying different approaches,
whether they ultimately work or not, because ‘if we resist we lose out on
the learning’.
Another vital condition is stability. This does not mean that Yarra Valley
Water has stopped recruiting, in fact the company grew from 291 staff in
2001 to 427 staff in 2009. What it means is that the Human Resources
processes have been critical in employing the right people, in developing
them and most importantly retaining them. Over the past ten years the
company has reduced staff turnover from 26 per cent to 9 per cent and fills
51 per cent of advertised positions internally. None of the 36 staff in the
senior management team have left the company and although training
costs have been reduced by 50 per cent they have a different focus and
are considered to be twice as effective.
Project management
Yarra Valley Water delivers a range of projects each year such as
replacing pipes, supplying water to new developments and implementing
new methods of water storage and treatment. These projects are run using
normal project management tools. They are planned, delivered and
reviewed but the key is ‘the quality of the inputs into the project’. The
planning stage aims to ensure that the right people are on the project and
that they deliver. The team is formed using the requisite organisation
model and it is very clear who is responsible for what and who each
person reports to.
Projects are scheduled as part of group planning processes and also feed
into performance planning for staff. Progress monitoring tends to be part of
monthly business planning. Nothing is different apart from the way this is
done and the quality of the staff involved. Creative, critical and systemic
thinking skills are increasingly embedded in the way people work. It also
uses collaboration and trust between members of the project team and the
partners the team works with. Implicit in project delivery is that staff
understand how their output adds value to the strategic intent.
Yarra Valley Water allies itself with stakeholders who show the same
commitment to sustainability for low environmental impact, low community
costs and high community outcomes. The company’s environmental policy
states ‘we strive to provide water and sewerage services within the
carrying capacity of nature and will inspire others to do the same’. As such
the company happily shares what might be regarded as commercially
sensitive information by other organisations in order to build the capacity
of others via conference papers, award submissions, annual reports and
being part of the sustainability and water communities.
Next steps
The results of the Human Synergistics Organizational Culture Inventory in
2009 showed that Yarra Valley Water should continue to focus on
changing organisational culture and to use structured learning and
development to reinforce values. The company still believes that in order
to tackle the challenges of sustainability and create a better future,
development of the individual and the creation of an innovative,
collaborative and supportive culture is vital. As such, Yarra Valley Water
continues to combine systemic thinking, critical thinking and reflective
practice in daily work and shares its experiences of change with others.
Further reading
www.yvw.com.au/yvw/Home/AboutUs
www.humansynergistics.com/products/documents/OCI.pdf
www.stormwatervictoria.com.au/excellenceawards.html#_Kalkallo_Stormwater_Harvesting
NAB’s Climate Change Strategy:
How the National Australia Bank used
stakeholder engagement to meet its
commitment to carbon neutrality
Summary
National Australia Bank Limited (NAB/the Group) is a global financial
services organisation operating in Australia, the United Kingdom, New
Zealand, the United States and Asia. The Group’s global headquarters are
in Melbourne and the bank employs around 40 000 people worldwide.
Corporate responsibility at NAB means doing business in a way that
respects the views of NAB’s stakeholders and takes into account the
longer-term economic, social and environmental impacts of its decisions.
NAB has reported annually on its corporate responsibility performance
since 2003.
In 2007, NAB decided to focus more closely on climate change. A key
driver of this was employees’ desire that NAB take action on this issue. As
part of its overall climate change strategy, NAB made a commitment to
become carbon neutral and prioritised energy efficiency as the primary
way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations.
NAB implemented a detailed strategy to work towards meeting its carbon
neutral commitment by the end of September 2010. The strategy involved
consulting and working with internal and external stakeholders. This
process was underpinned by a collaborative, highly participative approach
using systemic thinking and capacity building of employees to empower
them to take action. This case study shows how the carbon neutral
program was delivered in the Group’s Australian operations.
This case study shows how NAB:
 designed and implemented a carbon neutral program
 implemented change across a variety of business units
 built internal and external partnerships and networks to support
change.
This case study demonstrates the following components of
education for sustainability:
 visioning
 capacity building
 participation
 partnerships
 critical thinking and reflection
 systemic thinking.
NAB achieved these business outcomes:
 cost reduction through energy efficiency
 improved culture for climate change and sustainability
 strong working groups for sustainability across the organisation
 now seen as an industry leader on climate change.
Introduction
In 2003, NAB developed a corporate responsibility strategy and reported
on progress via a stakeholder scorecard as part of its 2003 Concise
Annual Report. Since 2004 NAB has produced an annual, stand-alone
Corporate Responsibility Report.
NAB has also:
 been an active member of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) Finance Initiative, a global partnership between UNEP and the
financial sector
 adopted the Equator Principles for project finance - these principles are
a set of globally recognised voluntary guidelines to assess and manage
social and environmental project financing risk, especially in emerging
markets
 won awards for its environment and community programs in Australia
and overseas.
The challenge, as with any global business or company operating in
multiple locations, is how to make corporate responsibility relevant and to
create a clear link between employees’ daily lives (at home and work) and
the future. One of the ways in which NAB has done this is by acting to
address climate change through a dedicated strategy; its commitment to
becoming carbon neutral is one step in this strategy.
NAB’s approach to corporate responsibility is driven at the highest level by
its statement of beliefs and behaviours. NAB believes that a company
implementing corporate responsibility is most likely to deliver sustainability
as an outcome of this behaviour.
NAB’s beliefs and behaviours
At the heart of our Group is a belief in the potential of our customers and
communities, as well as each other. This shared belief unites us, and
motivates us:
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to do the right thing
to help our customers and communities
to realise potential.
Supporting our beliefs is a common set of enterprise behaviours that ask
us to always:
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be authentic and respectful
work together
create value through excellence.
Our beliefs and behaviours are the foundation of our culture and our
brands, and guide our strategy.
Practically, this approach is centred around three core commitments:
1. getting the fundamentals right with its customers by delivering fair
value and quality advice
2. being a good employer through investing in the skills and capabilities of
its employees
3. addressing its broader responsibility to society by supporting
communities, managing its environmental impact and having a positive
impact through its supply chain.
These commitments form the basis of NAB’s Corporate Responsibility
Framework:
The framework is underpinned by:
 objectives, actions and measurements for each commitment area
 stakeholder engagement to understand the issues important to each
stakeholder group and to help NAB define its corporate responsibility
agenda and related strategic direction
 governance and leadership from executive and senior management.
From 2006 onwards it became clear that NAB’s employees and other
stakeholders were increasingly concerned about climate change, based on
experiences in Australia and overseas. This occurred in the context of the
release of the Stern Review,2 which brought climate change to the
attention of the business community, and Al Gore’s film An inconvenient
2
NH Stern 2007, The economics of climate change: the Stern Review, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge UK.
truth,3 which attempted to explain the issue of climate change to the
general public and provide a sense of the need for urgent action.
Externally, the community and environmental stakeholders reflected a
growing desire for companies to respond to climate change. Internally,
there was strong global support for action from employees. In particular,
employees in Australia wanted NAB to take action to reduce its
greenhouse emissions and broader environmental impact (in 2006, 90 per
cent of the Group’s greenhouse emissions came from its Australian
operations).
NAB strongly advocates a leadership by example approach to change. In
March 2007 the incumbent Group and Australian CEOs, John Stewart and
Ahmed Fahour respectively, announced that NAB intended to be carbon
neutral globally by the end of September 2010.
Defining ‘carbon neutral’
An increasing number of organisations and individuals around the world
have set out to make their operations carbon neutral. This means they
cancel out the direct, and sometimes indirect, greenhouse impact of a
defined set of emissions from their operations. There are different
approaches to becoming carbon neutral, but the steps usually include:
 measuring and monitoring your carbon footprint
 reducing energy consumption as much as possible
 purchasing green power or using alternative, cleaner sources of energy
 purchasing carbon offsets for the remaining greenhouse gas emissions
 verifying that the emissions have been offset.
How NAB developed its carbon neutral plan
First of all, NAB developed a climate change strategy with the following
five elements:
1. Leading by example: ‘establishing and minimising our carbon
inventory, making our operations carbon neutral, publicly reporting on
our progress and being involved in the debate and development of
solutions to climate change’.
2. Engaging and helping NAB staff: ‘supporting our people who wish to
personally take action on climate change’.
3. Understanding and supporting NAB customers: ‘through advice, as well
as developing product and service offerings to appropriately support
local markets’.
4. Building partnerships: ‘with a range of stakeholders, including
suppliers, to help identify and implement solutions that assist our
people, customers and communities to take action’.
5. Continuing to grow NAB’s understanding of climate risks and
opportunities: ‘to consider the impact of climate change on our lending
decisions, as well as other areas of relevant operational policy’.
3
D Guggenheim (director), A Gore (presenter) 2006, An inconvenient truth: a global
warning, Lawrence Bender Productions, Participant Productions.
NAB took steps to involve all staff and also established a high-level Group
Climate Change and Environment Committee as a forum for group-wide
governance and oversight, strategy development, advocacy, shared
learning and critical thinking. The committee monitors implementation of
the climate change strategy according to milestones and targets and
reports to the Group Risk Management Committee and the NAB Group
Board.
At a regional level, local management committees provide governance and
oversight. In Australia, this committee is the Australian Environmental
Leadership Committee. It has representatives from operational areas such
as property and procurement, product lines, corporate functions,
sustainability related functions and risk. This committee oversees
development of local strategy and implementation plans and contributes to
global strategy on environment and climate change.
A flagship program of NAB’s climate change strategy is the Carbon
Neutral 2010 program which aims to:
 reduce greenhouse gas emissions by being as energy efficient as
possible
 switch to alternative energy sources
 offset any remaining emissions.
How NAB defined, measured and verified its greenhouse gas
emissions
This task was huge and included first establishing what emissions NAB
should include in its carbon inventory. To do this NAB developed carbon
inventory guidelines in consultation with external stakeholders in Australia,
New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, including local
government, regulators, non-government organisations and experts in
carbon markets and management. The guidelines set out the boundaries
for NAB’s carbon footprint and the principles used to select emissions
sources included in the footprint. Additional internal reporting guidelines
cover how greenhouse gases should be measured and converted to a
standard unit.
After the guidelines were established, NAB started to measure a broader
set of greenhouse emissions from across its global operations. The
previously reported sources of emissions were expanded to include:
 business travel, including emissions from car fleets, taxis, use of
personal cars for work, air travel, hotel stays, train travel in the UK and
rental cars (but not employee commutes)
 building-related energy, including electricity, gas, diesel and
refrigeration
 waste to landfill and paper usage
 water in the UK (guidelines for water emissions factors are produced
by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. No
such guidelines are available in any other country in which NAB
operates).
NAB also put in place action plans and targets by country for key
emissions sources. In Australia, that included establishing a ‘pipeline’ of
emissions reduction projects to track the identification, prioritisation and
implementation of measures to reduce emissions in NAB’s building
portfolio.
Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility teams worked
together to ensure that the action plans were realistic and achievable
within timeframes. The plans were reviewed to check they would result in
emissions reductions and increase employee understanding and
engagement.
In Australia, employees have voluntarily driven the push for change. For
example, a volunteer Green Team community of more than 640
employees champions certain green initiatives and encourages employees
to reduce their environmental impact in the buildings where they work.
NAB has engaged an independent external auditor to help ensure that
emissions are correctly defined, measured and offset. Currently, NAB is
undertaking pre-assurance activities in advance of an assurance audit to
verify it will become carbon neutral by the end of September 2010.
How NAB built support for its climate change strategy
Building a strong support base for acting on climate change in a large
organisation requires creating partnerships at all levels and areas within
the organisation. In order to do this the Environmental Sustainability and
Corporate Responsibility teams identified key people at NAB in positions
of influence (positional power, technical knowledge and gatekeepers) and
created links with and between these people over the course of the threeyear strategy.
In Australia, NAB conducts an annual employee environmental survey. For
the past three years the survey has shown an increasing shift in
awareness about what NAB is doing to respond to climate change and
other environmental issues. The survey has shown a strong growth in
employee support for NAB’s carbon neutral program. Similar surveys are
now being conducted in other regions. There is also a general recognition
within the company that NAB’s response to climate change needs to be a
core part of its business.
NAB also uses external benchmarks to see how it is performing relative to
other financial organisations and other companies generally. For example,
NAB uses the Business in the Community survey in the UK and the
Carbon Disclosure Project and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index
globally.
Liz Minchin, The Age’s multi-award-winning environment reporter, followed
NAB’s journey to see what drove support for the Carbon Neutral 2010
program. Ms Minchin concluded that after NAB had built momentum and
internal support for its strategy, NAB’s employees became more
empowered to make change themselves.4 Employees felt they had the
right level of understanding about what NAB was trying to do and had
increased their skills and knowledge to get involved in the action plan. This
strong grass roots push from employees was built on the goodwill created
by NAB’s positive stance on climate change, and more broadly on
corporate responsibility, since 2003.
NAB has worked to support and engage employees, recognising the
advocacy role they play amongst their peers and their communities
outside work. Examples of initiatives to engage employees include:
 green teams set up by employees, now operating in most of NAB’s
commercial offices. The teams work to minimise use of resources such
as paper, energy and water and are now supported by a full time
coordinator
 environmental awareness advertisements on nabTV, an in-house
television station also available on the company’s intranet. The
Environmental Sustainability team produced the advertisements which
involved every member of the Group Executive team displaying
positive environmental behaviours to showcase what leaders thought
about the environment
 using the walls in the lifts at NAB’s Melbourne headquarters for
environmental messages which people can read when travelling
between floors.
How NAB has reduced its emissions
Buildings: NAB now has a policy that the design of its commercial
buildings should attain a minimum 4 Star Green Star rating, aspiring to a 5
Star Green Star rating. For example, NAB’s new headquarters in
Melbourne achieved a 5 Star Green Star rating by working with the
architects, the building project manager and the Melbourne City Council.
Having sustainable buildings is another way NAB hopes to lead by
example.
Air travel: NAB aims to reduce air travel related emissions which account
for a substantial proportion of its carbon emissions. In Australia the target
is a 20 per cent reduction by September 2010. To reduce its global air
travel emissions NAB has:
 implemented an employee-driven Target Your Travel program to
encourage Australian employees to reduce their air travel
 improved and increased video conference facilities globally
 instigated two travel-free months each year in the UK
 implemented a taxi-share program in New Zealand and Australia
 piloted the offset of air travel emissions in Australia and the UK since
2008.
4
D. Green and L. Minchin 2010, Screw light bulbs: smarter ways to save Australians time
and money, University of Western Australia Publishing
Cars: In Australia, NAB reviewed its car fleet policy with its main supplier,
Toyota. Most of the fleet was reduced from six cylinder to four cylinder
vehicles and gradually NAB is switching to Toyota hybrid cars, the Prius
and Camry. Some employees with company cars have undertaken driver
education to increase awareness about how their driving habits influence
car emissions. Similar, but locally specific, initiatives were implemented in
the UK and New Zealand.
Efficient technology: Data centres are very energy intensive and NAB’s
two data centres in Australia account for about 30 per cent of its Australian
greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009 NAB commenced a ‘tri-generation’
project using a gas fired generator at one of these data centres. This
project will allow NAB to generate 80 per cent of its energy requirements
for this data centre and reduce emissions by
20 000 tonnes CO2-equivalent each year.
Partnerships for climate change
NAB uses the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard as a basis for
its stakeholder engagement. The company monitors stakeholder
relationships to ensure the partners it works with are aligned with NAB’s
values and that NAB itself is being an effective partner.
NAB has used the Edelman Relationship Index to measure the quality of
its relationships from a stakeholder perspective. This tool examines
stakeholder relationships via four key dimensions: trust, mutuality of
control, commitment and satisfaction. It surveys stakeholders in the media,
general public, opinion leaders, regulators and government and provides
both qualitative and quantitative feedback. The survey results have helped
NAB develop stakeholder engagement strategies for climate change and
other areas of interest and concern, as well as tracking how the quality of
the relationships change over time.
NAB has developed relationships with stakeholders as part of its climate
change strategy including:
 the Total Environment Centre (an Australian environment not-for-profit
organisation): NAB provides long-term support for the Total
Environment Centre’s Green Capital Events program and works with
the Green Capital team in areas of mutual concern related to
environment and climate change
 key suppliers: NAB works closely with suppliers to ensure they
understand why being carbon neutral is important to NAB and how
together they can achieve this goal. In 2009 NAB set up a Supplier
Sustainability Program in Australia to educate, support and influence
suppliers. The program is based on Supplier Sustainability Principles
which specify the minimum sustainability requirements for NAB’s
suppliers. Development of the principles and a related accreditation
scheme for suppliers involved collaboration with other financial
institutions as part of the UNEP Finance Initiative
 community groups: NAB supports a number of community
organisations in their advocacy and awareness raising for climate
change including the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Run for a
Safe Climate and World Wide Views.
How NAB offsets its emissions
NAB consulted the same group of stakeholders who provided input on the
carbon inventory guidelines in developing its carbon offset acquisition
guidelines.
These external stakeholders provided valuable input on what could be
used as carbon offsets in different jurisdictions. NAB recognised that the
offsets needed to be credible, quantifiable and permanent. This led to one
of the most significant carbon offset procurement projects by an Australian
company. A competitive tender was conducted involving 36 suppliers in
seven countries to establish an international panel to advise on purchasing
carbon offsets. The procurement process involved a comprehensive global
market analysis, review of international offset standards and evaluation of
offset projects in other countries.
How NAB builds staff capacity for change
NAB’s leadership role on climate change is strongly supported by its
learning and development program, most notably the NAB Academy which
runs learning and development programs for staff from entry to executive
levels.
The NAB Academy helps employees to build critical and systemic thinking
skills and provides staff with capabilities they will use across all areas of
the business. In collaboration with the NAB Academy, NAB is developing
an e-learning module to help employees understand what it means to be
carbon neutral.
NAB also supports the Green Teams with awareness raising initiatives
such as Ride to Work days and participation in Earth Hour.
The network of dedicated Environmental Sustainability and Corporate
Responsibility personnel and voluntary Green Teams helps to implement
the climate change strategy and this has had a knock-on effect in the
business units where these green ‘champions’ sit. Not only have they built
knowledge and understanding in their business areas about climate
change, they have also been able to develop new ways of working across
business units to achieve change in other areas.
NAB’s achievements to 2010
NAB’s three-year Carbon Neutral 2010 program has had a range of
carbon reduction outcomes. To date, achievements include:
 completing 314 energy efficiency projects in Australian properties
saving 45 000 tonnes CO2-e,5 with plans to exceed the targeted 46 000
5
Equivalent carbon dioxide – concentration of CO2 that would cause the same level of
radiative forcing as a given mixture of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.


tonnes CO2-e savings by the end of September 2010. Another 80
projects are in various stages from scoping to implementation
supporting the renewable energy sector by purchasing 10 per cent of
electricity from accredited Green Power generated from Victorian wind
farms. To date, NAB has invested $2 million in Green Power
offsetting travel related emissions for measured business travel in
Australia and the UK in the 2008–09 reporting year.
In addition, NAB has been involved in government consultation as part of
the emerging regulatory environment. In Australia, NAB participated in
piloting the Australian Government’s online reporting system for National
Greenhouse and Energy Reporting and in the UK, has been part of the
taskforce on the implementation of the Carbon Reduction Commitment
Energy Efficiency Scheme. NAB has also engaged in climate change
advocacy through responding to the Carbon Disclosure Project information
request to companies in Australia and being a signatory to the Bali,
Poznañ and Copenhagen communiqués on climate change.
Next steps
NAB’s initial climate change strategy was planned to run from 2007 to
2010. In 2009 NAB decided to undertake a staged review of its climate
change strategy and carbon neutral program, beginning in late 2009, in
order to develop the second phase of its strategy from 2010 to the end of
2013. This review process comprises:
 Feedback sessions with stakeholders. Focus groups and face-to-face
interviews cover what stakeholders know NAB implemented to reduce
its greenhouse emissions, what they think of this and what they expect
of corporates, and in particular banks, in terms of climate change. The
sessions include stakeholders such as regulators, environment and
sustainability non-government organisations, specific internal groups
such as Green Teams and the Australian Environmental Leadership
Committee, and Australian customers.
 A survey of employees in parts of the Group who have not yet been
surveyed. This will focus on what a sample of these employees think
of NAB’s actions to date and what they consider future goals should
include.
 A ‘visioning session’ held as part of an internal Climate Change
Conference in August 2009, facilitated by futurists. Futurists track
relevant trends, analyse them and think creatively about their direction
and meaning. The session critically examined what employees thought
NAB should and could do for climate change in the future. It also
covered the measures NAB had already implemented and explored
what the next phase of the strategy and the carbon neutral program
could be.
Feedback from the review is contributing to the development of the post2010 phase of NAB’s climate change strategy building on the
achievements to date.
Further reading
www.nabgroup.com (Corporate Responsibility and Corporate
Responsibility Report)
www.climatechange.gov.au
Bankstown City Council and the
Cooks River Sustainability
Initiative:
How Bankstown City Council
developed community partnerships
for sustainable catchment
management
Summary
Bankstown City Council is a partner in the Cooks River Sustainability
Initiative. This project aims to improve the quality of the water in the Cooks
River in Sydney, create new relationships within and between the project
partners and develop a vision and action plan for six local subcatchments.
The council engaged stakeholders in order to develop a vision and actions
for the Rookwood Road subcatchment and to build capacity within the
council and the community to think about water as an integral part of longterm environmental management and land use planning.
This case study shows how Bankstown City Council:
 used visioning in its long-term water planning
 developed partnerships for sustainable outcomes
 worked with internal and external stakeholders to build their knowledge
and understanding so they can take action for sustainability.
This case study demonstrates the following components of
education for sustainability:
 visioning
 participation
 capacity building
 partnerships
 critical thinking and reflection
 systemic thinking.
Bankstown City Council achieved these business outcomes:
 increased engagement with the community
 improved community and council capacity to integrate water issues into
long-term planning
 contributing to cleaner water in the Rookwood Road subcatchment
through water-sensitive on-ground works in 2010/11 and by engaging
and informing the community
 strong, ongoing partnerships with other councils.
Introduction
Bankstown is located in southwestern Sydney and covers around 77
square kilometres. In 2006 the population was approximately 170 000
people with 35.9 per cent born overseas and 32.3 per cent from a nonEnglish speaking background. Bankstown has a well-developed business
community of more than 15 000 businesses which employ over 70 000
people. In addition to the central business district, Bankstown City Council
area includes an airport and a Strategic Employment Corridor around the
M5 Motorway.
The Cooks River starts in Bankstown and flows 23 kilometres east and
southeast through successive council areas into Botany Bay. The Cooks
River catchment covers about 100 square kilometres and has suffered
extreme degradation since the start of European settlement. Most of the
natural vegetation has been cleared. Dumping of industrial and domestic
waste including sewage, and stormwater pollution, have led to a significant
decline in water quality.
Bankstown City Council is a partner in the Cooks River Sustainability
Initiative, funded from 2007 to 2010 by the NSW Environmental Trust’s
Urban Sustainability Program. Other partners include Ashfield, Canterbury,
City of Sydney, Hurstville, Marrickville, Rockdale and Strathfield councils,
and the National Urban Water Governance Program at Monash University.
The Cooks River Sustainability Initiative aims to:
 improve the quality of the water that flows into the Cooks River
 create new relationships within and between councils and the
community that will provide ongoing long-term benefits for the Cooks
River
 develop a vision and action plan for six local subcatchments, one of
which is the Rookwood Road subcatchment.
The project team
A project team, physically located at Strathfield Council, administers the
Cooks River Sustainability Initiative. A steering committee includes project
officers and managers from each council. Members meet every two
months to discuss progress on subcatchment planning and action
implementation, to share experiences and information, and to provide
updates on the governance framework for the river.
In addition to the steering committee, there is an Executive Champions
Committee consisting of managers and directors from each council. The
committee meets every quarter to review an update from the steering
committee and discuss any barriers to implementation. The key role of the
Executive Champions Committee is to support their project officer (who
sits on the steering committee) to manage the work required and to be a
strong advocate for change within their own council.
Research
Although the Cooks River is heavily polluted throughout its length, there
are different challenges within each council area: there are different types
and uses of land, many cultures and communities, and the councils in the
catchment are at different stages in their understanding and response to
sustainability.
To address the diversity of issues in the catchment and to inform the vision
and action plan for each subcatchment, research on each council area and
the catchment was conducted. This comprised social, physical and
organisational profiling.
The Cooks River Sustainability Initiative Project Team developed two
social profiling questionnaires which were reviewed and approved by the
steering committee. The first questionnaire surveyed community attitudes
towards water and the environment. This was mailed out. The second
surveyed how businesses used water, how they saved water and their
current environmental management strategies. This survey was carried
out by mail, online and by phone.
Physical profiling looked at land use, drainage and water flows in and out
of each subcatchment in order to develop a water budget. It highlighted
the amount of potable water which could be saved by harvesting and using
rainwater, stormwater and wastewater.
Organisational profiling involved three components:
1. A high-level survey within each council to find out what staff
understood about the environment, sustainability and urban water
management. The survey also covered what staff knew about how
these areas were currently managed and how well their council
performed.
2. A more detailed survey of staff with a direct role in urban water
management to drill down into some of the findings from the high-level
survey.
3. A half-day session with key staff involved with urban water
management, facilitated by staff from the National Urban Water
Governance Program (NUWGP) at Monash University (one of the
partners in the project), again to gauge the level of existing knowledge
and skills for change within each council.
The organisational profiling was extremely valuable because it gave all
councils feedback on where they stood in terms of staff capabilities to
implement and support integrated urban water management.
Bankstown City Council is also involved in the Mid-Georges River
Sustainability Initiative (MGRSI). This project provided another opportunity
to assess organisational capacity and to learn from the research
undertaken at the NUWGP as follows:

The MGRSI focused on ‘Advancing Water Sensitive Urban Design in
the Georges River Catchment: A Rapid Assessment of ‘Institutional

Capacity’ in two local government agencies’. Early in the project two
half-day workshops were held at Bankstown City Council to help staff
to gain a better understanding of how the Council manages water and
what actions are needed to move towards a more water sensitive city.
The workshops for the MGRSI confirmed the Cooks River
Sustainability Initiative organisational profiling results with regard to
Council's current capacity for sustainable urban water management.
The NUWGP had recently completed a three year research project
investigating the institutional barriers to sustainable urban water
management and the governance factors required to transition to
Water Sensitive Cities in Australia. The research highlighted the lack of
suitable institutional capacity (skills and knowledge) as the most
significant challenge to implementing sustainable urban water
management.
The research conducted early on in the Cooks River Sustainability
Initiative gave each council a holistic view of the current situation and key
issues within its subcatchments. It helped councils understand what the
community and business thought about water and how water was viewed
as a resource. Importantly, it gave a significant amount of detail as to the
current capacity of each council to implement change within the
subcatchment so that a plan to develop a vision for the Cooks River could
be devised.
Developing the vision
Following the research stage, the steering committee developed a
community consultation plan to feed into development of subcatchment
visions and action plans for 2050. The visions and action plans were to
focus on four areas: our suburbs, our green spaces, our waterways, and
our community.
Most councils consulted with their communities as a stand-alone process.
However, Bankstown City Council felt that water vision and action plans
should be formed more systemically, looking at all the pressures on the
subcatchment and acknowledging the conflicts between land use, water
and population growth. Council wanted a broader approach rather than
just a focus on water because so many other issues were interlinked.
Consequently, the team decided to:
 change the vision end date to 2031 (rather than 2050) to be in line with
the NSW Metropolitan Strategy and the local area planning process
 formulate the vision as part of the local area planning process. There
are seven local area plans, one of which covers the Rookwood Road
subcatchment, and they are informed by the Bankstown Community
Plan.
Drafting the community vision and action plan
Council held a community water planning forum for the Rookwood Road
subcatchment in October 2009. The participants included 25 people who
responded to an open invitation to the community (a broad cross-section
was selected) and key stakeholders such as Sydney Water, Landcom (a
NSW Government owned developer), TAFE, two councilors and a local
community environment group.
Before the forum all participants were given background information on
land use in the subcatchment, the water budget for the subcatchment and
the results of the community water survey. During the forum they were
divided into groups and used visions developed from community
engagement in Council’s Local Area Planning Process to develop goals
and actions that would help to turn the visions into reality. Participants
were encouraged to work together, to ensure all voices were heard and to
think holistically.
At the end, the participants voted on the goals and actions they thought
had the highest priority. The outcomes from the forum were then used to
create the following vision for the subcatchment for 2031:
Our streets are beautiful, interactive spaces that are used day and
night by the community. Our parks are safe, accessible and
sustainable living spaces that connect the community to each other
and the environment around them. Our waterways are clean,
rainwater and greywater are collected for reuse and the community
and other stakeholders work together to promote water
conservation and recycling.
As a result of this process, participants now see water as an integral part
of environmental management and land use planning. Council staff who
led the forum increased their knowledge about what is important to the
community and how the community views water in the context of council’s
operations.
How to get community ownership of the goals
Council sees community involvement as vital to improving water quality. It
has supported the community to take ownership of the subcatchment
vision, rather than it just being led by council. Examples of community
involvement are:
 local people selecting plantings for regrowth sites and water gardens
 community events, such as barbeques, at remediation sites when work
is completed
 water tours with residents and businesses to show where water comes
from in the subcatchment and where it goes to. These tours show
residents and business owners how council treats and reuses water at
the council depot; the Padstow raingarden which captures runoff; and
the Chullora wetland area which is being rejuvenated by the
SouthWest Enviro Centre.
After the forum
The vision, goals and action plan were formally drafted and published on
the Rookwood Road subcatchment website for community access. The
subcatchment management plan will soon be finalised and council will
incorporate the actions as part of a new water management framework.
Council took the community’s inputs and ensured the goals and actions
were linked to strategies in local area plans. The project team then
reflected on how best to ensure the community goals were implemented.
Council is continuing to use the Executive Champion role to drive this
process. The council project team will liaise with the relevant council
departments to ensure that the action items are included and prioritised in
long-term plans such as the four-year Stormwater Levy Plan and
Corporate Plan.
Keeping the community informed
The Cooks River Sustainability Initiative has a Media and Communications
Committee made up of representatives from each council. The committee
developed promotional material and media releases on the results of the
community water survey and maintains a comprehensive website. A bimonthly newsletter goes to interested community members and Council
has reported on the initiative in its environmental newsletter Sustainable
Bankstown.
Increased sustainability knowledge for council staff
The funding from the NSW Environmental Trust specifically allowed for
capacity building within the community, Cooks River Sustainability
Initiative staff, council staff directly involved in the initiative and other
council staff.
Steering committee members have increased their understanding and
awareness of community issues on water and the environment. They have
also gained significant skills in working collaboratively and in thinking
critically as a team. The committee is now developing a governance plan
to ensure that the actions are implemented, the efforts of each partner
council are consolidated and the Cooks River ecosystem is restored. One
of the key findings is that change should go beyond planning,
implementation and review: it should also be adaptive and respond to new
information and feedback.
Following its involvement in the Mid-Georges River and Cooks River
sustainability initiatives, council invited all staff to a technical workshop
about sustainable urban water management. Over 60 staff attended and
heard speakers from the University of Western Sydney and the National
Urban Water Governance Program discuss the environmental, social and
governance issues associated with urban water management. The
workshop demonstrated how staff from different backgrounds think
differently about solutions to urban water management and water sensitive
urban design. The workshop also helped participants think about the
backgrounds and values of fellow staff and how to work more effectively
with them in the future.
In addition, the Cooks River Sustainability Initiative has:


organised technical working group meetings with engineers across the
eight councils to discuss and workshop the design of water sensitive
urban design initiatives
funded council officer attendance at a number of sustainable urban
water management training, workshop and conference events in
Australia.
The partnerships developed across the eight councils in the Cooks River
Sustainability Initiative will bring long-term benefits to this part of Sydney
through both the technical knowledge gained over the past three years
and better ways of councils working with each other and their
communities. This group has a huge opportunity to provide valuable input
into other urban issues such as land use planning, urban design, energy,
waste and population growth in terms of planning, process and policy.
The project team made presentations to other council staff on the Cooks
River Sustainability Initiative and their work in the Rookwood Road
subcatchment, to share the process and outcomes and to develop holistic
and critical thinking capacity within council. This included creative thinking
about how to fund the initiatives and link them with other actions such as
planning car parking (including gardens in the design to capture rainwater
runoff from these hard surfaces) and using rainwater harvesting (at the
council depot) to reduce water use.
The project has also helped Bankstown City Council identify champions
who are willing to become involved in more holistic planning and decision
making about water. This has created a support base which will help
ensure actions are implemented.
Next steps
As part of the new governance framework that is being investigated for the
Cooks River catchment, it is likely that Council will now develop visions,
goals and actions for the remaining two subcatchments in its jurisdiction.
Council staff will review and reflect on the effectiveness and efficiency of
the Rookwood Road process and outcomes and share their conclusions
with the steering committee. This process will also be supported by the
development of the new governance model for the Cooks River
catchment. Critical thinking will identify barriers and levers to successful
implementation and staff will reflect on the skills and tools needed to
address the issues and continue to improve water quality.
Further reading
www.ourriver.com.au/cooks-river
www.bankstown.nsw.gov.au/
www.urbanwatergovernance.com
Amcor Safety Integration
Project:
How Amcor improved safety and
reduced time lost through injuries by
integrating sustainability policy and
practice across its business operations
Summary
Amcor is a large global packaging manufacturer with multiple sites in the
Asia Pacific region.
One of the challenges Amcor faces is how to implement complex supply
chain and service delivery across a range of cultures and regulatory
environments. Amcor uses a continuous improvement model, which
empowers employees to lead change from the bottom up. Safety is a core
part of Amcor’s sustainability strategy but safety and the creation of safe
workplaces often mean different things in different countries. In 2010
Amcor faced the challenge to integrate consistent safety policies and
processes in its sites in Australia, New Zealand and several countries in
Asia.
This case study shows how Amcor:
 implemented change across multiple sites, divisions, business groups
 created a strong project team
 used a capacity building approach to change.
This case study demonstrates the following components of
education for sustainability:
 visioning
 capacity building
 partnerships
 critical thinking and reflection.
Amcor achieved these business outcomes:
 less time lost through injuries
 stronger safety procedures and policies
 improved culture of safety
 partnerships across sites and countries
 better reputation internally and externally.
Introduction
Amcor manufactures a broad range of plastic, fibre, metal and glass
packaging products, and provides packaging-related services. It operates
in 43 countries at over 300 sites with approximately 35 000 employees.
Amcor’s belief statement or strategic goal is ‘we believe in responsible
packaging’. Its core values are about:
Amcor has a goal of no injuries and aims to provide a safe working
environment for its employees, contractors and site visitors. In
manufacturing companies this goal is vital and Amcor uses a best practice
approach to ensure its machines and manual processes are safe.
In February 2010 Amcor purchased Alcan’s manufacturing plants in Asia
from Rio Tinto. These, together with Amcor’s existing sites in Australasia,
were combined to form Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, with a head office in
Singapore. Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific is one of Amcor’s six business
groups and manufactures flexible packaging for the food and healthcare
markets.
Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific sites are located across Australia, New
Zealand, China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand and additional sites in
India are currently under construction. The Australian and New Zealand
operations have high levels of capital investment with state of the art
machinery and about 80 to100 employees per site. The Asian operations
generally have older, less technologically advanced machinery and are
more labour intensive, with up to 400 employees per site.
At the time of the February 2010 purchase, all sites had very different
environment, health and safety policies and procedures and all operated
under different regulatory regimes.
At the same time of the February 2010 purchase Amcor created a ‘new’
Amcor brand allowing both companies to move forward together and
create a ‘new’ Amcor.
As part of the move to the ‘new’ Amcor a 100 day Safety Integration
Project was proposed to implement best practice across Amcor Flexibles
Asia Pacific, with a focus on benchmarking safe working practices to
ensure Amcor retained its strong safety record.
The project team
The project had strong backing from senior executives, who recognised
the need to improve workplace safety as a component of sustainability
strategy. The Asia Pacific Vice President of Technical, Research and
Development and Continuous Improvement was appointed as project
sponsor. The Vice President has extensive experience in manufacturing
plants in Asia.
An Australian-based project manager (covering Australia and New
Zealand) led the project team which included the Asia Pacific Vice
President and three Senior Safety Managers from China, Indonesia (also
covering India) and Thailand. Of the project team, only the project
manager had experience in education for sustainability, having used this
change process in previous environment, health and safety improvement
programs.
Beginning the process
Amcor’s continuing licence to operate depends on how well it manages
environmental risk, employee risk and reputation risk. It was clear before
the Safety Integration Project started that these risks were identified and
managed differently across the sites now part of Amcor Flexibles Asia
Pacific. One of the first actions taken by the project manager and project
sponsor was to meet each other and develop a high-level overview of the
existing operations in the three areas of the business which were now
amalgamated. They met in Thailand and spent three days looking at each
country’s operations in detail. They concluded that, within the newly
merged entity of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific (Australia, New Zealand and
Asia);
 the ‘old’ Amcor Australia and New Zealand sites had strong
environment, health and safety systems in place due to a history of
strong regulatory requirement and enforcements. Although common
systems, the implementation of the systems was decentralised and
managed at a site level. Amcor calls this bottom-up approach ‘freedom
within boundaries’
 the ‘old’ Amcor Asia sites had only basic environment, health and
safety systems in place although a culture of awareness of safety
issues existed
 the ‘old’ Alcan sites had strong environment, health and safety systems
and practices, despite less strict regulatory environments and
enforcement. Risk was managed by a top-down approach of directives
rather than consultation with employees. Alcan had also a rolled out a
behaviour safety program based on management safety observation
tours.
Developing the project plan
The project team decided that in order to ensure the success of the project
they needed to meet face-to-face in the planning stage in order to develop
working relationships which support the implementation stage. The project
team allocated three days for a visioning workshop in Thailand, led by the
project manager.
At the workshop the participants defined the key issues for the
project, which included:
 differing policies/procedures between countries and sites
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differing regulatory environments between countries
different safety cultures
different languages
different approaches to building capacity for change for safety i.e.
bottom-up versus top-down
different factory operations i.e. high versus low levels of capital
investment in state of the art machinery and high levels of manual
processes in Asia (due to lower cost labour).
The divergence of policy and practice, regulatory environment and safety
culture identified by the project manager and project sponsor was
confirmed at the workshop. In addition, the team agreed that not one site
had all elements of best practice and that they could probably get a better
outcome for the project by combining best practice examples from all the
different and ‘new’ Amcor sites.
The project team worked collaboratively over the three days and thought
systemically about the issues. The team developed a vision to integrate
and synergise the currently existing environment, health and safety
systems to ensure the way to zero incidence. From this vision, they agreed
to a set of objectives and key outcomes. This involved comparing and
contrasting the specific operating environments at each of the sites and
agreeing how to combine the best features from all of them. The planned
outcomes were grouped under Amcor’s ‘three-pronged safety program’ of
leadership culture, good systems, and safe workplaces. The team also
wanted to develop and/or strengthen a culture of continuous improvement
rather than imposing a huge one-step change.
The project team developed a plan for the next 100 days, with timelines for
each deliverable and quick wins, which would help build momentum and
support for change. At the end of the three days, the project team had
formed a strong bond and a good working relationship and better
understood the cultural contexts in which they were working. Rather than
imposing a single set of policies and practices across the new Amcor
Flexibles Asia Pacific the project team were able to work creatively to work
out the best approach to deliver the safety vision.
Importance of the project plan
The project plan became critical during implementation when the
participants went back to their offices. The plan was designed to be highly
visual and to fit on one page. This one pager allowed quick identification of
issues, challenges and stumbling blocks. Having all the deliverables
simply written in clear English helped overcome potential language
barriers between the participants and ensure that everyone understood the
priorities and timeframes.
The project team held fortnightly phone conference calls during the 100
days of the project. Before each meeting team members submitted a
progress report (standardised across the sites) to help them understand
how the project was progressing. The project manager reviewed the
individual reports and summarised them in one page, allowing for a
comprehensive bird’s eye view of progress.
Capacity building during implementation
Led by the project manager, the team used reflective practice to share and
evaluate progress and to build an understanding of what was needed to
create a culture of continuous improvement. In the conference calls the
project manager used a series of questions to get the team to think about
why something had happened faster, slower, or with more or less difficulty
than expected. This helped identify country, culture or site specific barriers
to implementation. Importantly the conference calls enabled the project
team to share their experiences and critically examine their own role in
driving change within their respective locations. It especially enabled the
team to understand and acknowledge how their own cultural background
and values influence their assumptions about change.
In between the fortnightly meetings, the project team shared best practice
examples and trialled changes at individual sites before rolling out new
processes and policies across all sites within a country. There was a high
level of phone and email interaction between all project team members
and these communications were made easier because of partnerships
formed in the three-day visioning session.
The project manager also met each fortnight with the team who had
overall responsibility for all the integration projects (other than safety
integration) that were happening at the same time. This allowed transfer of
information and knowledge about successes and barriers to change more
broadly across Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific and built capacity and
understanding about the cultural and operational differences across the
sites.
How employees learned to improve workplace safety
Implementation at the site level focused on working with site management
teams to engage employees in making decisions about safety. This was to
empower employees to help drive the changes required and give them
permission to create a safety culture rather than it being imposed on them.
For example, although the ex-Alcan sites in Asia had a program to
improve man- machinery interface and safety controls there had been little
learning and development to build the capacity of the employees to think
about safety and actively develop new processes and operations to
improve safety. To build capacity the project team developed the modified
Safety Behaviour Program, which was rolled out across all sites in the
business group. The purpose of this program was to develop strong
partnerships with employees with the message ‘We care about your safety
because you are important to us and your family’.
The program includes a Safety Leadership Tour. The employees working
on the factory floor give managerial level staff (technical and nontechnical) at the site a tour of their work, walking through their daily
machine and manual handling activities. The manager then asks questions
like: ‘That was a risk, how could it be improved?’ and ‘What do you think
you could do to increase safety?’. The questions are open-ended and
designed so the managers can observe the processes and get feedback
from factory floor staff. The purpose is to give ownership of safe working
practices to factory floor employees so they become more aware of how
safety can be improved and assist site managers in making change. The
manager is not allowed to take notes during this half-hour tour. The
manager needs to be, and to be seen to be, listening and asking
questions. After the tour the manager completes a short report about any
unsafe behaviour, ideas for change and follow up which is given to the site
manager for action.
In order to build these tours into normal factory operations, the project
team was able to include a site level key performance indicator of the
number of safety leadership tours per million hours worked into monthly
site safety reporting. This will help monitor how many tours are conducted
and whether the tours help build capacity and reduce injuries and
reportable cases.
The project team also introduced a program to share good practice
solutions for reducing risk in our factories.
Outcomes of the Safety Integration Project
Outcomes were planned over different timeframes. In the short term the
focus was to ensure that the activities undertaken at each site delivered
the intended change. Each fortnight for 100 days the project team
measured actual outcomes against objectives, both in changes to policies,
systems and procedures and whether project deadlines were met. The
project one pager summaries were an invaluable tool as they effectively
measured progress whilst allowing adjustments to the original plan.
In the medium term the focus was on capacity building to improve existing
and create new safety cultures. Through this process each project team
member identified key site staff who could be moved into a safety leader
role. This helped to reiterate the value Amcor places on safety and also to
provide an accessible point of contact for factory floor employees. This
role is especially important in those sites where safety was not originally
part of the site culture.
There was also significant capacity building within the project team. The
team members developed ways of working together across geographic
and cultural boundaries and used critical and systemic thinking to plan and
implement change. They have already used these skills and the strong
working partnership they formed for other projects.
In Australia, the project manager made a presentation to the Amcor
Australasia Executive Team about the project, including the success of the
Safety Behaviour Program and how the Safety Integration Project has
improved risk management across Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. The
Safety Leadership tours will now also be rolled out across the Amcor
Australasia business.
Site managers indicated that the Safety Integration Project quickly created
a much more bottom-up approach to change with a clearer direction
around what a safety culture looks like. Staff at all levels started to suggest
ways to improve safety. Some ideas came through the Safety Leadership
Tours.
Partnerships
Amcor Australasia has a Safety Leadership Council, set up for senior
safety managers across all business units of Amcor in Australia and New
Zealand. The council meets each month and its purpose is to transfer
knowledge and lessons learnt across the business. The project manager is
part of the council, to share the thinking processes involved in the Safety
Integration Project and how the objectives were delivered. The project
manager also gained from being part of the council as the safety
leadership culture component of the integration project was sourced from
discussion with this group of managers.
Safety Action is an external training organisation which has delivered
safety training for Amcor and designed and run staff surveys in Amcor
Flexibles Asia Pacific. Safety Action has a strong background in
manufacturing and safety and runs quarterly breakfast meetings attended
by leading safety managers. The purpose of these meetings is to
showcase projects implemented by Safety Action’s clients and the project
manager has been invited to present the outcomes of the Safety
Integration Project at this forum. The presentation will hopefully strengthen
connections with other manufacturing companies, as many of the
attendees face similar business risks to Amcor. The partnerships formed in
this forum are a valuable source of industry information and best practice
in safety.
Next steps
The project team will continue to monitor and measure the outcomes of
the Safety Integration Project over the next 12 months in order to ensure
change is embedded within Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific. Shared projects
will continue beyond the 100 day integration project and the members of
the team are still very much in contact with each other and consult either
individually or as a team on a range of issues. The project manager has
become a mentor to the senior safety managers and supports them to
think creatively, aligned with the vision of no injuries. Significant corporate
knowledge has been built as a result of the project and the challenge will
be to continue using this knowledge in the future.
Further reading
www.amcor.com/about_us/sustainability_amcor
www.beingamcor.com