“There’s an inevitability about sustainability,” says Peter Townsend. “If you think about it, the only alternative’s extinction.”

The Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief chaired the Redesigning Resources conference held in Christchurch in July and says local government has a leadership role in this area.

“Local government does have a role to demonstrate to its community that it is prepared to lead in areas that are important and sustainability’s one of those areas,” Mr Townsend says.

“They should be working on it wherever it can be applied, provided they’re taking into account the economic, social and environmental divisions, because they’re all important.”