Sustainability Policy

Constitutional committment to sustainability and the environment.

 Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria is an environmental non-profit organisation that has sustainability and environmental stewardship at the centre of it’s purpose. Sustainability is part of our DNA and our purpose, and as such, is written into our constitution, as well as our policies.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

1.             Introduction

• Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria (KABV) recognises that climate change is real and is affecting many weather and climate extremes across the globe. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other leading organisations, it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Strong, rapid and sustained changes in human decisions, actions and behaviours are required to limit human induced climate change.

• KABV is committed to considering its individual, collective and systemic practices in order to respond to the challenges posed by climate change to the environment.

• KABV is also committed to effectively listening to and learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ways of knowing, being and doing. KABV acknowledges and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ connection to country and the ongoing protection and custodianship of the lands and waters of this continent for thousands of years.

2.             Purpose

• The purpose of this policy and its procedures is to guide KABV in:

• responding to the challenges of climate change;

• integrating a philosophy of sustainability in its activities and standards;

• embedding and promoting sound environmental practices in all operations, services and products; and

• fostering responsible, sustainable and climate-conscious decisions and behaviours at an organisational level, including among management, staff, volunteers, [our members / the clients we serve / the people we work with], stakeholders and suppliers.

• This policy will better enable KABV to apply a sustainability lens to its activities and operations. As the causes of climate change and its impacts on the environment are widely understood by the IPCC and the world’s leading scientists and organisations, it is the aim of KABV to consider, find and implement meaningful ways to minimise its impact on the environment and contribute to solutions that seek to limit climate change.

3.             Definitions

For the purpose of this policy, the definition of:

• sustainability encompasses sustainability of the environment, ecology, people and economy; and

• social justice lens encompasses considering the impacts of climate change on different or vulnerable sectors of the community, as contemplated at paragraph 4.1.4 of this policy.

4.             Policy

KABV is committed to minimising its impact on the environment, fostering sustainability, repairing past harms and seeking improved future outcomes by:

• acknowledging and learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ways of knowing, being and doing in caring for country;

• fostering an organisational culture of sustainability, where responsibility to the environment, climate, climate system and ecosystems is understood and put into practice;

• supporting and allowing management, staff, volunteers, [our members / the clients we serve / the people we work with] to:

• better understand the interrelationship between their roles or activities and climate change impacts; and

• engage meaningfully with their emotional responses to climate change and its impacts;

• applying a social justice lens when considering the impacts of climate change on different or vulnerable sectors of the community [and our members / the clients we serve / the people we work with];

• identifying, analysing, evaluating, prioritising and addressing the physical, transitional, adaptation and liability risks associated with climate change and establishing [board / committee / management]-level mandates for climate risk oversight, monitoring and reporting;

• avoiding the use of products and practices that contribute to climate change, while promoting and favouring the use of products and practices that are at a minimum climate-neutral or, as a preference, have positive impacts on the environment;

• enhancing awareness within KABV and among [our members / the clients we serve / the people we work with], stakeholders, suppliers and the wider community about our actions in seeking to operate in an environmentally responsible manner;

• using reasonable endeavours to conduct audits and self-assessments of KABV’s compliance with this policy, in order to continually improve our environmental management systems and responses to climate change; and

• maintaining an open and honest dialogue with [our members / the clients we serve / the people we work with], suppliers and the wider community about KABV’s performance against this policy.

Environmental Sustainability Procedures

5.             Processes

• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ perspectives on climate change, including through:
  • inviting elders or representatives to share their wisdom at training sessions, functions or events;
  • encouraging staff to attend relevant workshops; and
  • promoting the reading of relevant research, books and reports.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to ensure its:
  • banking and finance providers do not invest in fossil fuel industries; and
  • investments are not in fossil fuel industries.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to conserve energy, including by improving energy efficiency.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that its operations, events, services and products are efficient in their use of energy and protective of the environment.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to avoid the unnecessary purchase of materials.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to reuse and recycle materials, purchase recycled materials and use recyclable packaging or other similar materials.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to prevent air, water or other pollution and dispose of waste safely and responsibly.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to monitor, consider and reduce supply chain emissions.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to give preference to renewable over non-renewable energy sources when feasible.
• KABV will consider any carbon-offsetting opportunities that may be available.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to utilise its particular knowledge and experience to contribute to environmentally sustainable techniques, technology, knowledge and methods.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to contribute to the maintenance and increase of biodiversity through its management of its property.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to meet or exceed all applicable government requirements and voluntary requirements generally observed in its field.
• KABV and its management will maintain an open and honest dialogue with staff, volunteers, stakeholders and the community about the environmental sustainability performance of its operations, services and products.
• KABV will use reasonable endeavours to ensure that staff, volunteers and suppliers are informed of and expected to follow (as the context requires) the Environmental Sustainability policy and these procedures and to report any environmental concerns to management. Management will use reasonable endeavours to consider any reported concerns and take appropriate action as it sees fit.