The value of partnering

The environmental challenges facing the world are growing in scale and complexity. These include climate change; an emerging global crisis in water availability and water pollution; record loss of biodiversity and long-term damage to ecosystems; damaged aquatic ecosystems; deforestation and land degradation; and achieving the critical goal of poverty eradication in an increasingly natural resource-constrained world. Businesses have a critical role to play in addressing these challenges, and the SDGs provide a new lens through which companies can make a positive contribution through responsible business operations, new business models investment, innovation and technology and collaboration.

Kylie Porter, Executive Director, Global Compact Network Australia

Natural capital provides the foundation for a strong and healthy private sector in Australia. In business, the world over, we are recognising our natural capital exposures. While we are looking to minimise impacts on the natural resource base, there are also opportunities for business advantage to create greater value through new investments in products and services and realizing new markets.

We need to work more collaboratively within our sector, and with other sectors, to better understand our natural capital impacts and dependencies and address our collective natural capital risks. Even as many of you have already embarked on a sustainability strategy and made contributions to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, there are opportunities for us to work together to improve the environmental credentials of our sector overall. We can work together, and with others, to better understand environmental, social and governance (ESG) information and measure, manager and report on our performance. We can partner with others to achieve this, by using our resources, enterprise and innovation as well as our networks and supply chain influence to help build momentum, accelerate action and contribute to collective positive impact.

We urge businesses, large and small, whether public or private to demonstrate leadership by getting involved. Let’s look for opportunities to partner, across-sectors, to find solutions that offer mutual benefits - for the prosperity of your business and the health of our environment.

Andrew Petersen, Chief Executive Officer, Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia

The threat and impact of natural capital risks, and seizing the opportunities to invest in innovative solutions to address them, are more important than ever.

Investors are increasingly seeking impact as part of their investments. Through integrating natural capital into decision making we can unlock capital flows toward impact and sustainably themed investments to fund ideas and innovations that will drive real change on important environmental issues and help achieve triple bottom line objectives (environmental, social and economic).

Mobilising capital to realise the Sustainable Development Goals, and the business opportunities they present, will require collaborative approaches – to develop and implement new business models and financing mechanisms, to create more attractive investment opportunities by bringing together investment from public and private sources, and to develop better ways to measure, track and communicate impact.

Sabina Curatolo, Director Policy, Stakeholder Engagement, Social Enterprise Development - Impact Investing Australia

Our people have cared for our Country for hundreds of generations. We have an obligation to look after our country, as country in turn sustains and nurtures us.

Caring for our country is becoming more and more difficult, as pressures come from all directions on the health of our lands and waters. Aboriginal people leading the way and working in partnership with scientists, NGOs, the Government and Business, when done well, can have great benefits for our country and people. Partnerships are a way of bringing jobs, training, funding and other kinds of knowledge to help our time-honoured land management practises.

These people want to partner with us… and with our connection to country, on-ground experience, and highly skilled remote work forces, we can make the best outcomes possible.

Robbie Dalton, Chair Indigenous Advisory Committee to the Minister for the Environment and Energy

• Read more here about working in partnership with Indigenous Australians

Philanthropy in Australia is diverse and vibrant. Not beholden to electoral cycles or shareholders - our sector takes a long-term view in funding and incubating bold ideas that have real and lasting positive impacts. Philanthropy cannot match government in terms of total resources available, but philanthropy can achieve game-changing impact by being strategic, taking risks and scaling up workable solutions.

Australian philanthropists have helped forge the way for major environmental achievements. Strategic partnering with other funders, and with other sectors, provides opportunities to innovate, scale up our collective impact and find new ways of addressing increasingly complex environmental challenges. With a deep understanding of civil society, philanthropy has a long track record of empowering the leaders of not-for-profit organisations and building the capacity of movements for change.

By partnering, we can bring our diversity, agility, leveraging capacity and networks together with the assets and expertise of others, like the data and expertise of the science community, and the volunteers and delivery expertise of the non-government sector. Working this way, we can help catalyse new ideas and support solutions to achieve outcomes that really matter for our environment and communities, now and into the future.

Jill Reichstein, Chair, Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network

Interdisciplinary collaboration is already a fundamental way we work in research and academia. We know that bringing together diverse knowledge, perspectives and skills enhances the quality and useability of our research and innovations. Increasingly, research institutions are investing in strategies aimed at expanding the engagement, uptake and impact of research beyond the research sector.

By partnering with sectors beyond research, like industry, governments, community and Indigenous organisations, we can bridge the divide between the development and implementation of research findings and help design solutions to the enormously complex problems society faces. Partnering allows us to plan more strategically for the impact of our work and provides opportunities to identify where research is needed to help address social, economic and environmental challenges. Engagement across sectors supports the co-design of research initiatives and the transfer of knowledge and innovation generated through research.

As a partner, we bring the value of our international and national networks; our data, information and interdisciplinary knowledge; the student body and ability to access or influence the next generation; experts and trusted voices; our ability to test new ideas and our research and development capability. By partnering we can complement our strengths with those of other sectors, combine our resources and have a more strategic impact in addressing society’s greatest needs.

Dr Rachel Morgain, Australian National University Fenner School of Environment and Society
Knowledge Broker, National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub

With increasingly complex environmental and natural resource challenges, partnering more, across sectors with new and different partners will be key to leveraging the resources, expertise and people power we need to scale up our efforts and have more positive impact now, and for future generations.

Kate Andrews, Executive officer, NRM Regions Australia

Private land conservation in Australia is a critical part of enabling the long-term resilience and survival of Australia’s unique species and ecosystems. Trust for Nature and like-organisations around the country are working in collaborative partnerships with all levels of Government, not-for-profit and non-government organisations, universities, businesses, individuals and communities to create a common vision and goals for securing sites of significance on private land for future generations.

Victoria Marles, Chief Executive Officer, Trust for Nature

Australia faces a number of increasingly complex environmental issues that span across jurisdictions, sectors, ecosystems and communities. The Department of the Environment and Energy recognises that collaborative partnerships are essential to addressing these challenges.

Through the partnerships co-design process, we heard from organisations about ways we can support successful multi-stakeholder partnering. Potential partners want a clear indication of the Department’s intentions for partnering, a ‘front door’ to easily connect with us and share ideas, and deeper and more equal engagement with the Department through partnerships.

As a first step, we are addressing these needs through the release of the Partnerships Statement and accompanying webpages, and by providing clarity for potential partners on how to bring forward their partnering ideas. As an organisation, we are building our capacity to better negotiate and implement partnering arrangements. Underpinning this ambition is a commitment to upholding the five key principles of effective partnerships: diversity, equity, openness, mutual benefit and courage.

Adam Carlon, Assistant Secretary, Communications and Engagement Branch, Department of Environment and Energy