The Planetary Accounting Network
Applied research for a healthy planet
The Planetary Accounting Network 'PAN' is an independent, not-for-profit research centre.
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We believe that living well requires a healthy planet. PAN works to enable people, businesses and governments to make decisions that will revitalise and sustain our environment. PAN have three main streams of work:
1. Planetary Accounting
We quantify what is needed for people to live within the Planetary Boundaries.
2. Applied Research
We undertake projects that will help people to live within the planet's limits.
3. Training
We offer customised training programmes from short one-hour workshops to week-long programmes and training series that last over several months.
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Our goal is to create an international community of like-minded people who can work together towards living within the planet's limits.
OUR PEOPLE
Kate Meyer
Founding Director
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Kate has a vision of world where people flourish on a healthy planet.
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Kate is an engineer, a sustainability scientist, and a consultant. Her early career was focussed on sustainable building design in NZ and then Singapore. She led the environmental design for many significant and cutting edge built environment projects in NZ and Singapore before moving to Perth to set up a sustainable buildings team for engineering firm Arup.
Kate noticed a large gap between the science of sustainability and business and government policies and approach. She shifted her focus away from the built environment and started a sustainability consultancy firm in Perth, and later NZ (Ecometrics) which helps organisations understand and manage their environmental impacts. In 2014 she began a PhD to look at how to best address the gap between science, behaviour, and policy.
The result was Planetary Accounting.
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Andrew Cowie
Chairman
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For Andrew living well means having access to a beautiful, natural environment, which is his source of joy and one he hopes to preserve for his children and their children.
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Andrew works for a leading Australasian engineering consultancy where he supports clients in improving their businesses through the application of emerging technologies. His key strengths are in communication, facilitation, ideation and project management. Over his career so far Andrew has been fortunate to work in over 15 different countries across a very wide range of industries. This also allowed him to get to know and work with a lot of great people.
Andrew is an optimist who believes that innovation is the solution to our problems and will improve our future. Despite this optimism, Andrew is extremely concerned about today’s pressing environmental issues and trends. He joined the Planetary Accounting Network as the framework provides the opportunity for everyone to be empowered with the right information to make 'the right choice' for the environment and consequently us; something that he feels is currently missing.
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Brigid Kelly
Board Member
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Brigid sees the benefit in planning and focusing on positive solutions.
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Brigid is a resource management specialist and has worked in a number of roles in the resource management field. Throughout her career she has been involved in considering the environmental aspects of a number of development and infrastructure projects as well as being an active participant in industry working groups and committees.
Working with a range of businesses and organisation has developed her appreciation for different approaches to environmental responsibility. While organisations are different, the need for reliable, quality information for good decision making is universal.
Communicating this information in a useable and understandable way is the key.
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YVONNE LARCHER
European Coordinator / Administrator
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Yvonne is passionate about doing her part in finding and supporting sustainable solutions for us and our planet.
Yvonne is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades with a love for the outdoors.
She is a senior finance leader and has worked within various industries (e.g. the transport sector, the oil & gas industry, professional services, the jewelry industry and IT start-ups) and in different roles (from finance related roles to executive advisory) in the private and public sectors in Europe as well as in New Zealand.
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Having grown up on the Austrian countryside, she learned at an early age the connection between humans and their environment. She rediscovered this insight again at a later stage when she settled in New Zealand. Seeing the impact of human activities on our planet made her wanting to do her part in stopping this destructive behaviour and working towards a sustainable future for humans and our planet.
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Yvonne brings her experience managing finances and working with large corporates to her Planetary Accounting role – helping to communicate environmental science to stakeholders in business, risk, and accountancy terms.
BREE LORNIE
Treasurer
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Bree wants to ensure future generations inherit a healthy planet.
Bree considers herself lucky to be able to raise her family in Glendowie, Auckland. With Tamaki River to the front and the beautiful Churchill Park close behind she feels blessed to give her children a quintessential kiwi upbringing. It is important to her that nature can be preserved.
Bree has a professional background in people and project management. During her career she gathered competencies in the areas of client services, finance as well as strategy and planning. Before joining PAN Bree was the treasurer for the East and Bays Parents Centre.
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RACHEL DANCE
Graphic Designer
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Rachel believes pictures are worth a thousand words and wants her illustrations to reach an audience of all ages as well as all levels of knowledge with our sustainability message.
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Since her childhood Rachel has been inspired by nature and Aotearoa’s magnificent landscape. Her awareness of nature’s fragility and consequently the importance of preserving our natural environment for generations to come grew when having her own children. Since then she has been focusing on how she can support preserving and improving our environment.
Rachel is a creative spirit and therefore naturally gravitated towards a career in Graphic Design. Previously she worked in the design area in media and corporate environments, where she was involved in Art Direction, Design, Illustration, and Photographic Retouching. In her role as Graphic Designer at PAN, Rachel specializes in Illustration and Infographic Design. This means she translates ideas on sustainability, particularly sustainable building design, into illustrations and visual storytelling, making sure a picture is really worth a thousand words.