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PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

13 APRIL 2011

8 SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD – SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT TOOL IMPLEMENTATION Maree Grenfell: 8/27/3-07: #3094753

RECOMMENDATION: That Council notes the progress of the Sustainability Scorecard project.

INTRODUCTION: Council has developed a Sustainability Scorecard which is a framework to measure and report on Council’s sustainability performance. The aim of the Scorecard project is to implement Council’s Corporate Sustainability Policy whose intent is to embed sustainability into all of its activities. The integral part of this framework is a Sustainability Assessment tool which enables Officers to assess projects, operations and decisions against holistic sustainability criteria. Council will have noted the recent inclusion of a Sustainability Assessment as part of every Council report which is the result of an Administration Instruction formalising its use. Essentially the tool functions as a questionnaire and provides a graphic output of the responses provided against four key areas within Council’s sphere of influence: Improving Resource Efficiency, Conserving Biodiversity, Enhancing Community Health and Wellbeing and Sound Governance and Economic Sustainability. The aim is to prompt the questions that should be asked every day to improve Council’s sustainability performance and to empower Officers to build sustainability considerations into every project. In addition to the Assessment tool the Scorecard framework includes a monthly snapshot report and an annual scorecard report. The Sustainability Scorecard – Sustainability Assessment tool has been relaunched as Version 2. Version 2 has been developed as an innovative and automated, intranet based tool which provides advanced functionality and interactive features such as ‘more information’ and ‘hover over’ fields. The new Sustainability Assessment tool is a first for local government in Australia and has been backed by an Administration Instruction for use which has been adopted by Council’s Executive Team. This report concludes parts one and two of this project which included Sustainability Assessments development and implementation, plus Monthly reporting.

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BACKGROUND: Version 1 Council endorsed the use of the Sustainability Scorecard – Sustainability Assessment tool by all staff in July 2010. The original tool was developed as an excel workbook. The Sustainability Scorecard – Sustainability Assessment tool was developed in consultation with a large and representative Project Reference Group from all areas of Council. Arup worked with Council in identifying the sustainability criteria and lead indicators that shape the tool specifically to Council’s business. The questions that comprise the tool were chosen due to their suitability to all areas of Council. Participatory workshops were facilitated to determine the areas of Council’s influence with regard to holistic sustainability. The tool was developed to be high level enough to apply to all areas of Council while providing the opportunity for specific areas of business to drill down into more detail.

Sample of V1 Assessment tool layout

Sample of V1 Assessment result graphic output

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COMMENT: Progress to date Following the endorsement of the Sustainability Assessment tool by Council in July 2010 the following work has been undertaken: 1. Tool Automation – version 2

For efficiency and functionality the Sustainability Assessment has been developed as an on-line and interactive tool. The design of the new tool has taken into account Officer feedback and provides many user benefits.

These include:

1. Automation of Sustainability Assessment results for monthly and annual

reporting; 2. ‘Hover over’ and ‘more information’ features for interactive usability; 3. Intuitive functionality and ease of use; 4. Advanced technical system for benchmarking data with other Councils; 5. Ease of auditing Sustainability Assessments for accuracy; 6. Consistency in interpretation of assessment questions and results; and 7. Potential to interact future Energy and Emissions Data Management System

and State of the Environment report (development phase).

The automated tool is easy to use and understand. It enables data from the completed assessments to be automatically aggregated for Council data sets and reported on. It also enables the Scorecard outputs to be generated whenever a point in time report is required. It dramatically decreases the staff hours associated with completing the assessment (an assessment can be completed and a report generated in approx 10 minutes).

Arup were contracted to automate the tool with assistance of Council’s Information Services and the Sustainability Officer. The automated tool was completed and ‘soft launched’ in December 2010. It was launched formally with the adoption of the Administration Instruction, user manual and final deployment in March 2011. For screenshots please see attachments.

2. Training

A training package was developed and delivered to approximately 250 Council staff during September and October 2010.

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The training sessions were one hour and included activities and learning outcomes including a definition of sustainability, the application of sustainability principles across Council, a timeline of global sustainability, Council’s policy framework, an outline of the Sustainability Scorecard and instructions on how to use the Sustainability Assessment tool. Participants provided positive feedback on the presentation and content of the training sessions.

3. Integration with Council systems

To ensure the Sustainability Scorecard is successful in implementing the Corporate Sustainability Policy, existing Council policies and templates are being updated to provide consistency in terminology and intent. Part of the Scorecard’s effectiveness is in teaching and reinforcing the questions that should be asked on a daily basis relating to sustainability.

The following templates have been updated and the following have been identified as opportunities:

Updated • Updated Purchasing Policy (to be adopted before the 2011/12 financial year) • Updated Capital Works submissions template • Updated Water and Waste CW budget submissions process • Updated General Council Report template For consideration

• Updated Project Management templates • Updated Grants application template • Updated Procurement templates Where we are now Administration Instruction Council’s Executive team have shown leadership by adopting an Administration Instruction for use of the Sustainability Assessment tool. From 7 March the Sustainability Assessment tool is being used in the following scenarios:

1. When procuring goods or services above the value/cost of $15,000; 2. When writing a report to Council where a course of action is recommended; 3. When planning a project/activity/service over the value/cost of $15,000; 4. When implementing a project/activity/service over the value/cost of $15,000;

and 5. When completing a project over the value cost of $15,000

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Any Council officer can use and is encouraged to use the Sustainability Assessment tool for relevant projects/activities/services outside of these situations. Additional training Given the changes to Sustainability Assessment tool and the launch of the Admin Instruction additional training will be delivered on the assessment tool and its use. Specialised training will be provided to areas of Council requesting additional support. Monthly Snapshot Reporting The automated tool allows for all completed Sustainability Assessments to be reported on in a simple graphic per department for a specified date range. This will provide information on Council’s ongoing sustainability performance which will fit into the existing internal Monthly Reporting process. The information reported on is lead indicators and the model suggests that as lead indicators improve, lag indicators (annual indicators such as total greenhouse gas emissions) will also improve. Where to from here Council undertakes voluntary annual reporting including a State of the Environment Report and a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory. A review is underway to assess the reporting currently undertaken to ensure it is relevant to Council’s business. As part of the Sustainability Scorecard Project, sustainability lag indicators have been developed to collate on an annual basis. This data will be used in conjunction with the lead indicators collated from the Sustainability Assessments to provide a new data set. This will provide an annual scorecard to the external community providing transparency on Council’s sustainability performance. This work will be underway until the end of the financial year.

CONSIDERATIONS: Corporate and Operational Plans: The Corporate Plan includes a Vision, three Focus Areas and six Goals. The Vision sets the framework for Council’s sustainability vision: "…a future where the region is thriving and is inspirational in the way it balances economic development, environmental management and social well-being” The Sustainability Scorecard will assist Council achieve it’s the vision of being Australia’s greenest region. In addition the Scorecard will contribute to meeting the Objectives for each of the following goals in the corporate plan.

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The six goals are: 1. Caring for the environment 2. Building vibrant communities 3. Delivering integrated planning 4. Delivering services and infrastructure 5. Creating a prosperous region 6. Striving for organisational excellence The development of the key sustainability criteria in the Sustainability Assessment tool was assisted by a matrix of intents from the Corporate Sustainability Policy and the goals and objectives of Council’s Corporate Plan. The Sustainability Scorecard is a key project under Goal 1 of the corporate plan. Statutory: There are no statutory obligations relating to this report. Policy: The Sustainability Scorecard project was developed as to assist Council integrate the Corporate Sustainability Policy into Council operations. The development and implementation of the Sustainability Scorecard responds to the six intents of the CSP: The CSP identifies the following six intents: 1. Respond to the challenge of climate change. 2. Maintain and restore the natural environment. 3. Use our resources more efficiently. 4. Reduce our environmental impact. 5. Display strong leadership to the community. 6. Reduce financial losses associated with inefficient energy and resource

consumption. In addition, the Sustainability Assessment tool will create awareness of opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which is inline with Council’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Policy. The use of the Sustainability Assessment tool is also a measure included in the implementation of Council’s Climate Change Strategy. Financial and Risk: This project has been budgeted as part of the Operational Plan for years 2009/10 and 2010/11. One of the four themes of sustainability in the scorecard is “Delivering Sound Governance and Economic Management”. The Sustainability Assessment tool addresses the following points to consider economic sustainability: - whether the activity being assessed provides local employment benefits - whether the activity being assessed uses locally grown and/or sourced products - whether the activity being assessed contributes to operational cost savings - whether the activity being assessed has been budgeted for in Operational plan.

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Sustainability:

The intent of the Sustainability Scorecard – Sustainability Assessment project is to drive improvement in each criterion specified in the Sustainability assessment tool. For this reason a Sustainability Assessment on the Sustainability scorecard project achieves 100% in each of the four areas: - Improving resource efficiency - Conserving Biodiversity - Enhancing Community health and Wellbeing - Delivering sound governance and economic management

CONSULTATION: There has been extensive consultation with staff in the development of the Sustainability Scorecard and specifically the Sustainability Assessment tool.

OPTIONS: This report is for noting.

CONCLUSION: The Sustainability Assessment tool is an innovative and user friendly mechanism for Council staff to assess the sustainability of projects, operations and decisions. The intranet based tool is interactive and provides consistent terminology and innovative functionality for understanding and communicating sustainability which is aligned with the Corporate Plan. The information technology embedded into the tool allows for automated calculations to produce a graphic and summarised Sustainability Report which is being included in Council Reports, Capital Works submissions, procurement templates and other Council processes. In addition the Sustainability Assessment results can be collated and reported on per department as part of the Monthly internal reporting process. In adopting the Administration Instruction for use of the Sustainability Assessment tool, Council is demonstrating leadership in advancing the uptake of sustainability consideration in all Council activities.

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The Sustainability Scorecard is a change management process assisting Council in communicating sustainability in a consistent and meaningful way. Implementing the Scorecard has involved a shift in organisational culture plus significant financial commitment. Council has demonstrated strong leadership to the community, particularly the business community, by making this firm commitment to improve operational sustainability. The Sustainability Scorecard demonstrates a dedicated long term commitment to implementing Council’s Corporate Sustainability Policy and creating an organisational culture of sustainability.

ATTACHMENTS: Screenshots of V2 Sustainability Assessment tool Maree Grenfell Sustainability Officer Peter Boyd Manager Planning Strategies

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Attachment 1 – Screenshots of the Sustainability Assessment tool

  CRC Intranet page on Sustainability Scorecard 

  Sustainability Assessment tool homepage 

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 Sustainability Assessment tool navigation page  

 Project Information page 

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 Sustainability Assessment tool layout of questions  

  Sustainability Assessment  tool –  select answers which highlights  correct  choice – answer  is  colour coded and corresponds to Sustainability report    

            Hover over text for definitions   

More information   Clicking on this icon will display a dialog box with more detailed information specific to that topic. It also contains ideas to optimise results.

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  Sustainability Report automatically generated upon completion of four page Assessment    

  Page 2 of Sustainability Report – Summary of responses 

Negative

Neutral

Positive

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  Sustainability Assessment  tool Search  function – allows  searching by  field or allows user  to build search using filter