Second Asia Pacific Rainforest Summit
The Second Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit took place in Brunei Darussalam from the 3rd to the 5th of August 2016. It followed on from the first Summit, which was held in Sydney in November 2014. One [...]
Halal— A new perspective in marketing.
Pinnacle Quality helps companies achieve certification, principally in the sustainability area. However our capability statement also includes religious certification. Why? Simply put, this is often best addressed by integrating religious requirements into a quality systems [...]
COP21 and what it means for deforestation
The UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Conferences of Parties (COP) met for its 21st annual event in Paris in early December 2015. This event was historic in nature as the 195 countries [...]
Water Stewardship – certification and public reporting.
Water Stewardship - certification and public reporting. Where is the commercial opportunity for the services, Infrastructure and utilities sectors? Around the world there are an increasing number of certification standards that companies use to demonstrate [...]
About Child labour
As a sustainability consultant I advise the big and the small, all of whom want to book their place I heaven, or more precisely in the market, for their social and environmental performance. Even knowing various standards inside out as I do it does not prepare you for experiencing the most confronting of social issues, child labour. I had impressions of this as an unmistakable evil, a form of slavery, a bygone of a pre industrial or colonial age that we are committed to exterminate. […]
Understanding FSC audits
FSC audits are often not easy. Auditor focus, Interpretations and reporting seem like ‘variables’ between certifiers and even between auditors. Theoretically this should not happen since certifiers have their own set of FSC standards designed to make the audits robust and to the same standard all over the world. This seminar will focus on the FSC Accreditation standards. What they are, how they work, what you should expect. […]
A Seat at a Table
With the advent of market-driven sustainability standards there has been a variety of reactions from the Governments around the world who up until now ‘owned’ many national standards and controlled many trade processes such as food safety and export inspection. Some governments, cheered on by industry, saw the emerging standards as the threat, a loosening of control, and produced ‘Me too’ these standards. In some cases these were genuine attempt to manage sustainability in-house with credible environment and social conditions and continual improvement built in. […]
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it
My Brother in Law became a father relatively late in life. Before he had a Child of his own he was not renowned for risk aversion. But after fatherhood he became super conscience about every possible safety risk. All breakable objects had to be removed, there were no sharp edges allowed and any potential falls had to be blocked off. My wife began to refer to him as “Safety Bob”. Up until recently this was just an amusing family story but whilst working on sustainability systems in Papua New Guinea I had cause to remember the term Safety Bob. […]
Why become FSC Certified…
The FSC (Forest stewardship Council) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. “Being FSC certified shows that your business complies with the highest social and environmental standards on the market. As public concerns about the state of the world’s forests and timber resources increases, FSC provides you with a credible solution to complex environmental and social issues. […]
