Implementing sustainability

Sustainability is a key driver of the Australian water industry. The concept of sustainability (or sustainable development) carries with it the obligation to balance economic, environmental and social considerations; to take a long as well as a short term view seeking inter-generational equity; to act transparently and in consultation with stakeholders; to safeguard the environment; and to protect biodiversity.

The Middle Way assists water authorities to integrate sustainability into business processes using practical tools and approaches such as:

• Identification of material sustainability issues through stakeholder interviews, media scanning and other research
•  Preparation of sustainability policies, setting targets and selecting indicatorsMeasuring corporate sustainability performance using frameworks such as the Corporate Responsibility Index, the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, the UN Global Compact, and the AccountAbility AA 1000 standards.
• Benchmarking sustainability performance
•  Balanced Scorecards which embed sustainability into organisational strategy and performance management
• Sustainability (tbl) project evaluation using multi-criteria decision analysis
•  Sustainability reporting