Since first certifying in 2020, we’ve embedded B Corp values across our agency – from carbon neutral practices to better procurement, workplace wellbeing, and social impact.

Over the past three years, we’ve proudly developed our first Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan, deepened our support for First Nations partnerships, and continued our commitment to working with underserved populations with more than 30% of our clients coming from disability, aged care, environmental, indigenous and regional not-for-profit organisations.

We also achieved our lowest carbon footprint yet in 2023–24, verified through our ongoing Climate Active carbon neutral accreditation – which covers everything from our office footprint to staff commuting and working from home energy consumption.

We’re proud to have reached this milestone, but the work continues. B Corp or not, we will continue to strive to be a responsible business and a supporter of all cultures, lived experiences and perspectives – so that we can leave the world in a slightly better place for future generations.

You can find out more about what it means to be a B Corp in our article here.

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However, the Governance Institute of Australia’s Annual Ethics Index finds a disconnect between what consumers want (highly ethical behaviour) and what they think they are receiving (improving but still below average ethical performance). Fire services, ambulances and charities rate highest in ethical service and politicians, corporates and banking rank low. Real estate firms rank lowest.

One of the reasons this performance hasn’t budged much is that until 2007 there was no international benchmark for what was an ethical business. B Corp changed all that.

The Certified B Corporation Movement was started in the US by two individuals, Jay Coen Gilbert and Bart Houlahan, who had co-founded AND1, a basketball footwear and clothing company. 

AND1 was ahead of its time offering parental leave benefits, shared ownership of the company, 5% of profit donated back to charity each year, and audits of overseas suppliers to ensure worker health and safety. In line with their Silicon Valley cousins, they offered perks such as on-site basketball courts and free yoga classes. 

But when they sold their company in 2005 they were devastated to learn that all of these benefits were stripped away by the new owners. They decided, along with a friend from a private equity firm, Andrew Kassoy, to start a global movement that would use business for good and build-in ethical legacy structures that persist after sales and mergers.

B Corp’s growth has been explosive – from less than a 100 in 2007 there were 8,254 certified B Corporations across 162 industries in 96 countries in February this year with 650 in Australia and New Zealand.

Why do you become a B Corp?

The majority of B Corp businesses I have spoken to were practising ethical business behaviour long before they decided to apply for certification. They offered flexible working conditions and other benefits to their staff, supported their local community, chose suppliers based on social and environmental credentials and sought out customers that shared their ethos.

For them, being a B Corp provides a third party independent endorsement of what they are doing right which is just as important as an ISO standard or an industry award. It is no longer up to you to prove that you are doing the right thing by your employees, customers and community – it is an internationally recognised qualification that is irrefutable. In this new era of increased ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting by Boards, a B Corp provides a disciplined framework for good behaviour.  

How do you become a B Corp?

The process of certification is certainly no walk in the park. It starts with a B Impact Assessment, a self driven questionnaire in five key areas of business: governance, workers, community, environment and customers. There is a sixth questionnaire where you are required to disclose your work in what are called controversial industries (tobacco, human rights, fossil fuels and so on), provide assurances that you and your suppliers don’t support modern slavery and don’t have a record of fraud, bribery or corruption, among other things. 

Initially the Impact Assessment can seem like an easy Year 9 multiple choice. But for each of the 238 questions, your answer has to be supported by policies, systems and procedures, examples and case studies. It is a legal process run by B Lab auditors in each country who are trained to ask the difficult questions. You can’t just make it up.

To achieve certification applicants must achieve a minimum of 80 points and many businesses don’t make the cut. For those who do get through the first time, scores are often in the 80s and 90s, with recommendations for improvement from B Lab. 

When our agency achieved certification in 2021 it felt like a positive pat on the back for nearly 30 years of doing the right thing. But we knew we couldn’t stop there. Now undertaking our next three year round of certification we can look back on positive action in areas such as reconciliation (we completed a Reconciliation Action Plan last year), environment (we achieved Carbon Neutral through Climate Active in 2021), worker benefits (free health checks, vaccinations, mental health counselling and more advanced diversity policies) and community (volunteering, mentoring and pro bono work). We’d like to go from our score of 106 to the 120s over the next three years by developing even more “for good” policies in consultation with our in-house B Corp committee.

Is B Corp greenwashing?

One of the risks to a movement such as B Corp is maintaining credibility. There will always be tall poppy loppers and cynics who are intent on finding weaknesses in ethical actions by what they unkindly term “virtue signalling” businesses. But refreshingly, the harshest critics of the Movement are B Corps themselves. Having done the hard yards and turned away unethical clients and suppliers they are watchful of other B Corps who are not playing the game.

A recent February 2024 Consultancy UK online article, called out some of the transgressions.

“In 2022 a group of B Corp-certified coffee companies alongside Portland, Oregon-based non-profit Fair World Project, wrote an open letter to the organisation, in the wake of Nestlé-owned coffee company Nespresso receiving B Corp designation. The letter pointed to Nespresso’s “abysmal track record on human rights” and “extractive business model”, asking for stricter standards across B Lab Global.

“Later that same year, B Lab’s processes came under fire again, relating to then-B Corp Brewdog. An open letter from workers at the British brewery cited a “culture of fear” at the company, in which workers were bullied and “treated like objects” – even though Brewdog has achieved its highest scores in the worker-assessment areas during its B Corp evaluation. The fallout saw Brewdog lose its certification, but the damage to the B Lab brand had already been done.

“On top of this, in 2023, a number of  B Corp marketing agencies began calling for B Lab to take a stance on Shell’s $200 million media review. Early in 2024, B Lab finally made headlines when it announced it would launch a formal investigation into the B Corp status of four Havas media agencies following the company’s controversial multi-million-dollar account with fossil-fuel giant Shell.”

So when you decide to be  B Corp you understand you will need to make some tough decisions.  Our company has used B Corp as a “conscience”. If a potential client seems to be a poor fit with our ethics and our staff culture we undertake additional research. Usually our instincts are proven correct and we politely decline the brief… even though we may be losing potential income. 

Is the B Corp movement just for greenies?

There is no doubt that B Corps operate at the progressive end of the business spectrum committed to making a positive difference, but we’re not zealots. 

Like all businesses we don’t shrink from the responsibility of making a profit so we can provide security for our employees and their families.  

Empathetic, collaborative customer service is an essential part of being a B Corp and we don’t refrain from challenging decisions if it means improving the quality of our products and services.

Being a B Corp provides a valuable benchmarking tool, enabling us to see what other businesses are doing and emulating their creative and progressive policies.

We are encouraged by the stories of leading B Corp businesses that are torchbearers for the movement: these include Patagonia Outdoor Clothing and Gear, Aesop Skin and Body Care, Beyond Bank, People First bank, Young Henry’s and Heaps Normal beers and Who Gives a Crap toilet paper which donates a percentage of sales to building toilets in third world countries. We also work collaboratively with B Corps in South Australia including Good Empire, GOGO events, Pinnacle Commercial Interiors, Human.Kind Studios and Social Change HQ.

These businesses don’t just make themselves and us feel good…they make the world good.

Are B Corps employers of choice?

Perhaps the most important outcome of being a B Corp is staff loyalty. Millennials and the various Gen acronyms now represent a higher percentage of the workforce than Baby Boomers and endless research shows that they are motivated by ethical behaviours and environmental action. Acknowledging this and encouraging activism has made our company a more dynamic and interesting place to work and we attract ethical, positive clients.

The bottom line?

This is not a get rich scheme for the founders, unless I’m missing something. Annual fees for small to medium businesses range from $2000 to $5000, depending on numbers of staff and revenue, which seems exceptional when B Corp has to fund B Lab offices all over the world, manage three yearly certifications and hold networking workshops and events. 

But there is a time cost. To give this the gravitas it deserves, as Executive Chair of Fuller, I committed to managing the first certification with the essential support of our Agency Manager, our administration team and a B Corp committee. For B Corp to be treated seriously by staff and clients it should be driven from the top of the organisation with the involvement of staff.

At the risk of sounding evangelised, B Corp is not the second coming, nor is it a Kumbaya collective. It is a serious certification that gives you the imprimatur to keep doing what you’re doing for good.

It also challenges you to always do better in the eyes of your customers and staff. 

Fuller was the first marketing agency in Australia to simultaneously achieve both B Corp certification and Carbon Neutral status through Climate Active in 2021. If you’d like to consider certification we’d be happy to talk.  

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We gained carbon neutral certification from the Federal Government’s Climate Active program in 2020 and have set ourselves a target of a 10 per cent reduction year on year to achieve our goal of net zero emissions by 2030.

Our 20 per cent reduction last year was largely thanks to switching to a green energy supplier, among a number of other initiatives you can read about here. We aimed to achieve a 10 per cent reduction this year by rolling over company vehicles to EVs and having our team focus on lower emissions on their commute to work – by walking, riding, carpooling and taking public transport. The years to follow will become increasingly difficult.

The journey to net zero is challenging, because it requires behaviour change and many things are out of our control — like not having access to carbon neutral computer equipment and the increase in landfill thanks to the recent end to soft plastic recycling.

It takes management support and a full team commitment to stay the course and focus on the things that you can control and that make the biggest impact.

Things that help us stay on track:

• Having a carbon emissions reduction strategy and focusing on the biggest pollution sources.
• Having a grass roots approach to managing our carbon footprint and empowering staff to drive carbon reduction programs and projects.
• Checking in regularly as a business to evaluate how our emissions are tracking throughout the year and adjusting accordingly where possible.
• Engaging an independent, external advisor to keep us on track, provide advice and help us with the certification process (we can highly recommend Suzanne Ridding of Sustainable Business Consultants).
• Talking regularly with the team about what we can individually do to contribute to a lower carbon footprint.
• Choosing an organisation to purchase offsets from that is meaningful to us – we have chosen the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation, which supports carbon farming projects in the Northern Territory.

If your business is interested in being carbon neutral, or starting the journey towards net zero, we’d be happy to share our story so far with you. If you’d like to learn more about our carbon reduction strategies, you can read about them here.

The post Fuller crushes carbon by 20% appeared first on Fuller.

I promptly stumbled upon the topic of Green Software Engineering (GSE) ⁠— an emerging discipline that combines climate science with software and hardware best practices.

After some general research, I wanted to learn more, and understand how best to implement the GSE practices at Fuller ⁠— both for ourselves as an agency For Good ⁠— and for our clients.

I reached out to Asim Hussain, Green Cloud Advocacy Lead at Microsoft, who was kind enough to take some time out of his schedule to point me in the right direction – namely the Green Software Foundation (GSF), and the Principles of Green Software Development.

From Asim, I learnt more about the problem that GSE is aiming to solve, the leaders in the space, and how we ⁠— as developers and agencies ⁠— can leverage GSE in our day-to-day work for the good of our planet.

The post What is Green Software Engineering? appeared first on Fuller.

“We want to ensure that we are being scientifically precise, while also communicating clearly with readers on this very important issue,” the Editor-in-Chief, Katharine Viner said. 

“Instead of ‘climate change’ the preferred terms are ‘climate emergency, crisis or breakdown’ and ‘global heating’ is favoured over ‘global warming’, although the original terms are not banned.

“The phrase ‘climate change’, for example, sounds rather passive and gentle when what scientists are talking about is a catastrophe for humanity.”

Four years later, the new Climate Minister Susan Close introduced legislation in the SA Parliament in May adopting the word “climate emergency”. Even though it was intended to put a full stop on what Close described as the “ten years of inaction and climate wars” under state and federal Liberals, the motion was supported unanimously by the Opposition. 

It is not surprising that media and politicians of the progressive left are moving to up-the-ante in their choice of climate language. The people of Australia spoke loudly and clearly at the recent round of elections that action on emissions reduction is a priority…and failure to listen is political suicide.  

On the other hand, the term ‘climate change’ provides a point of demarcation for the conservative right and for climate denying media and commentators, who see decarbonisation as an unjustified and economically damaging stampede. 

For example, The Australian’s Associate Editor Chris Kenny wrote last fortnight that catastrophising about climate is “bowing to the zeitgeist, ignoring the weather records and even ignoring the trials of our forebears in this land of droughts and flooding rains.”

So what are we supposed to do with the term climate change? 

There is no call to action, just a statement of the obvious. Yes, the climate is changing…but so what? Has the phrase climate change become a generic ho-hum term which no longer serves rational debate? Does it need a makeover, a verb….or a new brand?

When our agency is given a brief for a new brand, we start by asking lots of questions about a company’s or organisation’s story, long before we consider a visual identity. 

What is your purpose? What makes your managers and staff get up in the morning enthused and driven? What gives you a unique position or point of difference? What does your organisation promise its target audiences?

The United Nations defines climate change as “long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.”

But we all know that climate change by itself is only a small part of the story. Fossil fuels generate greenhouse gas emissions that trap the sun’s heat and raise temperatures. It is this rate of acceleration which is the cause, not climate change which is the effect. Is it possible people have lost sight of this equation?

The other danger of using the catch-all term of ‘climate change’ is it corrals all of society’s defensive activity into one narrow strategy of fossil fuel reduction: getting rid of coal fired power stations, increasing renewable solar, wind and hydrogen power, replacing internal combustion cars with electric cars, coming up with new feed technology to stop cattle farting methane. 

This simplistic “war on carbon” ignores many other pressing necessities that have a bigger agenda of protecting our planet. What about the degradation of our oceans by plastic waste? The deforestation of vast swathes of the natural heritage of developing countries? The yet-to-be discussed management of environmental waste such as lithium batteries, wind tower blades and salt from desalination plants? 

Stepping up the panic language and using words such as ‘catastrophe’ and ‘emergency’ might focus carbon reduction behaviours on the nominal end point of 2050 (or as many argue, 2030). 

But sensationalising sometimes has the opposite effect. 

Millions of smokers were unmoved by increasingly grotesque advertising of putrefying lungs. It was only when cigarettes soared to more than a dollar each that change happened. Catastrophising often creates feelings of helplessness and a reactionary response to stay with the status quo. Fear doesn’t sell. It only creates division and distrust. 

On the other hand, the theory of change communication suggests that if people can be shown how to achieve change step by step, if they can see their friends and neighbours adopting change, and are positively supported in their decision, a shift will happen.

Meta (previously Facebook) and Yale University recently combined to undertake its largest ever survey on climate change. 

A sample of more than 100,000 Facebook users from nearly 200 countries and territories were asked about their knowledge of, and attitudes and behaviour towards, climate change issues and what should be done to address them. 

Unsurprisingly, given the expected younger audience, the majority of respondents were somewhat or very concerned about climate change and believed that it will harm future generations. 

But two facts stood out for communicators.

While majorities in nearly all countries think climate change is caused at least partially by human activity, the statistics were by no means convincing.

Europeans were most likely to answer that climate change is caused by human activities, led by Spain (65 per cent) and Sweden (61 per cent). That leaves around 40 per cent of people in these “high awareness” countries who are still unconvinced about the role that people can play in reducing emissions. It also suggests that agreement on this key proposition is lower in influential and high emitting countries such as the USA, UK, France and Canada. 

The other disturbing fact was that “in most countries, a majority say they don’t hear about climate change at least once a week in their daily lives. Europeans are more likely to say they hear about climate change at least once a week compared to other regions.”

That seems staggering given that most of us think climate change is now a regular item in every TV and radio news service as well as newspaper columns.

So does this mean the Facebook generation (and by that I also mean Instagram, Twitter and TikTok users) are getting a very surface level of knowledge? 

Does this mean they only prick their ears up when climate change becomes a climate emergency? 

Have they become desensitised to the term climate change? Or are they just more interested in the Kardashians?

Last year we were fortunate to work with the South Australian Government’s Department for Energy and Mining to develop a new brand — initially messaging, and then a new visual identity. 

This is one of only a few government organisations in the world that has had the foresight to link energy and mining together in their remit — the result of a bi-partisan strategy going back 20 years.

Rather than having a separate department for sustainability or decarbonisation, sunrise industries such as solar, wind and hydrogen work hand-in-hand with mineral exploration and discovery. It sensibly acknowledges the simple codependency and complementarity between electric car batteries and the precious metals that are mined to make them.

The new brand proposition for the Department for Energy and Mining that we arrived at is “leading the global transformation economy.” This is not only justifiable (South Australia as a renewable pioneer certainly leads this international space) but visionary.

The most important noun here is ‘transformation’. It is this simple proposition that responding to and reducing global warming is a journey rather than an insoluble catastrophe. This balanced language is most helpful in terms of communicating the need for behaviour change. 

It took many of us years and years of failed attempts to give up smoking before success. Using condoms was not adopted overnight in the fight against AIDS. 

Setting targets such as a 43 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 is a worthy and important strategic focus. Committing to carbon zero by 2050 is for many businesses a new light on the hill which has reshaped their ESG policies and procedures.

But for the average citizen the purchase of an electric vehicle, or buying a Tesla home battery will necessarily take time…and money. It is just as important to acknowledge and reward step change, like stopping the use of plastic bags, recycling paper and cardboard and resetting the aircon thermostat and putting on another jumper: all measurable activities that contribute to the bigger picture. 

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “life is about the journey, not the destination.” 

Perhaps by encouraging people to join a transformative journey rather than overwhelming them with the fearful ‘destination’ of climate catastrophe, we can all make a more positive contribution to global carbon reduction and environmental revolution.

The post Rebranding climate change appeared first on Fuller.

As a communication agency, it provides an opportunity for us to reflect on how we can harness our creativity as a force for reconciliation.

Afterall, there’s power in good creative. It influences our emotions, changes our behaviour, and provides new perspectives — all of which are the building blocks of reconciliation.

Reconciliation Australia has coined this years’ theme “Be Brave. Make Change.”

They’re challenging individuals, families, communities, organisations, and government to ‘Be Brave’ and tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation to ‘Make Change’ for the benefit of all Australians.

As creatives, we’re in the box seat with a unique opportunity to make change — beyond a single week of the year.   

Here at Fuller, we’ve spent the past few months learning more about the histories, cultures, perspectives, and achievements of Aboriginal people through a series of workshops with Yamatji man and co-founder of Yuntulun Consulting, Tommy Hicks.

After providing valuable insight and mentorship for my Fellowship project, Tommy has become part of the fabric at Fuller, and we’re thrilled that he’s guiding us on our journey as we develop our first Reconciliation Action Plan.

Aside from developing a Reconciliation Action Plan, we’re committed to harnessing our creativity to contribute towards reconciliation in Australia. 

Education, representation and communication are a great place to start.

1. Education

Sadly, stereotypes are rife in the portrayal of First Nations people in advertising and mainstream media in Australia.

The reality is that when we switch on the news, we are still more likely to see a negative portrayal of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person, than a positive one.

It’s hard to begin to break down these stereotypes when there aren’t many varied or modern perceptions of First Nations people that exist in mainstream broadcast media or advertising.

Learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history — particularly through forming relationships with First Nations people — is a fundamental component of reconciliation, Tommy says. 

“Education will happen through relationships.

“To begin to deconstruct negative stereotypes, we must address the ‘us and them’ attitudes ingrained in our society.

“Forming relationships will allow us to find our common ground and in the interest of truth, begin the inevitably uncomfortable and confronting process of understanding who we are as a nation.”

There are many ways you can grow your understanding and awareness of First Nations people and culture in Australia, including: 

• Tuning into the ABC’s ‘You Can’t Ask That’ episode about Indigenous Australians, which tackles some of these stereotypes head-on.
• Engaging a cultural consultant to run cultural competency training, or a workshop, for your organisation.
• Look into some examples of Reconciliation Action Plans or the process of creating a Reconciliation Action Plan for your organisation.
• Explore the history of your local area from a First Nations perspective.

2. Representation

Increasing visibility of Australia’s First Nations people and culture in advertising and media goes a long way in helping achieve reconciliation. 

Afterall, you can’t be what you can’t see, Tommy says. 

“In my experience, when discussing future aspirations with young Aboriginal people — particularly young boys — they often have a limited perspective of what’s available to them. 

“They seldom envision themselves outside the sporting industry as it’s the only place they see their likeness adored by the public, and even that has its caveats.

“For them to be able to picture themselves owning a home, travelling the world or becoming a provider for those they love would be invaluable to their self-esteem.” 

Several government departments, brands and organisations have been increasing First Nations representation in recent campaigns.  

Clothing the Gaps, an Aboriginal clothing label, has launched a campaign called Shades of Deadly to challenge stereotypes around the appearance of First Nations peoples.

Their website states: “It’s not about judging each other by colour or appearance. It’s about our connection to community, culture, land and people which shapes us and identity.” 

Last year, the Department of Health launched For All Of Us, a campaign encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

For All of Us brought together household names including musician Baker Boy, model Samantha Harris, chef Nornie Bero, street artist Tori-Jay Mordey, Paralympian Amanda Reid and renowned Yidaki (Didgeridoo) player and vocalist William Barton in a bid to tackle vaccine hesitancy amongst mob. 

In addition to the advertising campaign, the Department of Health also produced a suite of culturally appropriate resources.

Tourism Australia is adopting a dual-naming approach for capital cities and other specific locations around Australia by using the known Aboriginal name alongside the English name.

Perth Airport has also begun informing travellers of the traditional custodians of their destination as well as the commonly used name on flight information screens throughout the terminals.

Before representing Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, cultures, or language in a creative campaign, make sure you’ve consulted with the community.

“Consultation is important for a few different reasons,” Tommy says.

“The most obvious being that content is culturally safe for Aboriginal people, but also the opportunity it provides to learn and have healthy conversations.

“This will allow the development of relationships based on trust and respect with your local community.

“The diversity of the Aboriginal community is something that must always be acknowledged, we are hundreds of proud nations united, it’s not a one size fits all in every instance.”

3. Communication

Recognising and understanding Indigenous languages – along with applying respectful and culturally sensitive terminology in communications – goes a long way in assisting reconciliation.

Conversely, when used incorrectly, language can reinforce harmful stereotypes, as well as cause discrimination, offence and hurt.

“Using language, either Aboriginal or English terms commonly used by communities, can be an effective mechanism to build relationships,” Tommy says.

“Understanding the diversity of our languages or even using them can convey your appreciation for what was here before. 

“For languages to be alive they need to be spoken, so it can also be a way to play a role in the preservation of a key piece of the culture local to you.”

A great place to start is by finding out who the custodians of the Country that you are living or working on are. To do this, check out this map and postcode finder developed by AIATSIS. 

A range of resources exist to help creatives use culturally appropriate and respectful language:

• 50 Words Online is a platform where Aboriginal language groups post 50 common words (with audio pronunciation) for people to hear and learn.
• The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has developed ‘Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Audiences’ which provides guidance and considerations on appropriate language usage for marketing and communications purposes.
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Style Manual can help you use culturally appropriate and respectful language when writing with, for or about First Nations Australians.
  
• Take a look at the Reconciliation Action Plan Good Practice Guide, which contains a section about demonstrating inclusive and respectful language.
• Australians Together has also developed a handy Language and Terminology Guide.

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For most Australians, the Statement from the Heart will be about as familiar as Appendix 23 in the Budget papers. You’re more likely to know the lyrics of Waltzing Matilda, even though it was released five years ago.

That a majority of Australians would not be able to recall even a few words of this gracious document or understand what it means, is an indictment on a political era that has functioned on fear. 

Changing that ignorance and achieving a positive referendum result will be a monumental communications exercise for the new Government. 

The most recent polling conducted by the Guardian suggests that more than half the sample — 52 per cent  — now support a treaty with Indigenous Australians. This is a five-point increase from 2017, when the question was last asked.

53 per cent of respondents also supported a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament in line with the Uluru statement, an eight-point increase since 2017. 

Even though half of us support the idea of constitutional recognition, many of us still feel helpless about how to achieve it.

As we reach the end of National Reconciliation Week 2022, a first step might be to familiarise ourselves with the text.

ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART 

We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: 

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. 

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown. 

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years? 

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood. 

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. 

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness. 

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. 

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. 

Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination. 

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history. 

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

The new Labor government has essentially adopted a staged approach to change.

Firstly a First Nations voice to parliament, a forum through which First Nations can advocate to the parliament and government. This voice will be enshrined in the constitution, so it cannot be removed by any current or future government. 

The Government hopes that the referendum will be held in 2024.

Secondly, the statement calls for a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making. “Makarrata” is a Yolngu word that means to make peace. 

Built into the Makarrata Commision will be the third stage: truth telling. 

The details of this final stage remain unclear, but it is expected that the commission would be unbiased and open in uncovering injustices experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, much as the inquiry into the stolen generation in the late 1990s did.

The communication challenges

While the Statement is not exactly a call to revolution, Australia has been incredibly slow to deliver constitutional rights to Indigenous people.

It’s more than a century since South Australia became the first electorate in the world to give equal political rights to both women and men, including Indigenous men and women. 

However, it took until 1962 for the The Commonwealth Electoral Act to grant all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the option to enrol and vote in federal elections — but enrollment was not compulsory. It was not until 1984 (almost a century after the SA law change) that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people gained full equality with other electors under the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Act 1983. This Act made enrolling to vote at federal elections compulsory for Indigenous Australians.

The last indigenous-issue referendum was in 1967 when Australians voted overwhelmingly to amend the Constitution to allow the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and include them in the census. That was so unanimous (91 per cent) that a ‘No’ case was not even developed.

But that history of success is not typical of referendums in Australia. 

As constitutional lawyer Greg Craven wrote in The Weekend Australian: “The Australian people are by disposition constitutionally cautious. They know they have a pretty good Constitution, so they will not change if they perceive the least danger.”

Craven argues that this referendum will “not be about good media and attractive packaging.”

“As many opinion leaders as possible – plus some more – need to be in favour of the voice.”

He is nevertheless optimistic based on the move by the nation’s religious leaders — from Catholics and Anglicans to Hindus and Moslems — to support the Statement immediately after the election.

“This unprecedented alliance shows….the voice is not a fringe issue promoted by Indigenous activists and their leftie allies. It has the considered support of a vast array of serious people concerned with serious issues,” he says.

Fuller Brand Communication is an apolitical agency that has never abused the trust of our staff or clients by taking party political sides in elections. We, like most other small businesses and corporations, don’t want this reflection on several hundred years of neglect, to be another unseemly political shouting match. 

We want this to be a positive contribution to the healing of our country.

How the business community can be an example of leadership

Back in 2019, fourteen Australian organisations united for National Reconciliation Week to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart. 

The ‘Response to the Uluru Statement’ was developed by BHP, Curtin University, Herbert Smith Freehills, IAG, KPMG, Lendlease, National Rugby League, PwC Australia, PwC’s Indigenous Consulting, Qantas, Richmond Football Club, Rio Tinto, Swinburne University of Technology and Woodside.

The response supported the call for a referendum to enable constitutional reform and encourage others to join in the national dialogue.

Sadly, it is not clear from my research if that Response is still valid or indeed if there have been other signatories. 

However, one thing the organisations did have in common was a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

Since 2006, Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs)  have enabled organisations to strategically take action to advance reconciliation.

RAPs are based on the core pillars of relationships, respect and opportunities, and they provide tangible and substantive benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This includes employment opportunities, economic equity and support for self-determination. 

RAPs assist businesses to embed the principles and purpose of reconciliation. The RAP network is a diverse group of more than 1,100 organisations that directly impact over three million Australians at work every day.

As a small business that is currently working our way through our own Reconciliation Action Plan, I can say that while the process is necessarily confronting and challenging it is also culturally unifying and enormously rewarding.

We have all learnt more about our unconscious biases and reflected on how our communications industry (and the media we often work in partnership with) have been part of the problem, but should now be part of the solution.  

There are only a few times in our lives when we can make a real contribution to history that will be remembered by our grandchildren. This is one of those times. 

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But how can we achieve this in a way that moves beyond simply ‘ticking the diversity box’ for a campaign?

Despite our good intentions, it takes more than just simply featuring a range of people from different cultural backgrounds or someone with a visible disability in your ads. These days, consumers will sniff out tokenism from a mile away — which can not only lead to reputational damage, but send us backwards in building a more peaceful, and cohesive society.

To give both our team at Fuller, and the broader industry, the skills and confidence to apply a diversity and inclusion lens to the work we do in an authentic and meaningful way, I developed a practical guide for how marketing and communications can be used as a tool for social change, as part of the Fuller Fellowship initiative.

The Fuller Fellowship was established in 2020 by Fuller’s Managing Director and founder, Peter Fuller, and is a 12-month program for a staff member to undertake a travel and research study in an area of professional interest.

My Fuller Fellowship journey has involved undertaking research, some revealing interviews with individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds, and a personal journey of reflection as I’ve delved into the exciting, yet sometimes misunderstood topic of inclusive marketing.

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I feel a bit like that after achieving Fuller’s carbon neutral accreditation back in December, purchasing our first Tesla and moving to renewable energy.

Now it seems everyone’s on the bandwagon. But that’s a good thing.

While our Prime Minister is picking his way through back bench climate scepticism like an Indian faith healer walking on hot coals, business is under no illusions that the future has arrived.

Globally, there has been a huge shift by corporations who are now paying attention to what customers want, and responding to the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions by 2030.

But is this a trend-driven marketing movement, or an authentic acceptance of responsibility by corporates and long overdue leadership to look after the planet?

A lightning-fast move from Ford

When it comes to turning a deeper shade of green than their competitors, the Ford Motor Company’s release of ‘Lightning’, the company’s first electric F-150 truck, just about takes the carbon cake.

The F-150 is as much a part of middle America as red check lumberjack shirts, tractor caps, goatee beards and bloody big guns. In fact, most F-150s come with customised gun racks capable of holding a small arsenal…just in case a deer or moose attacks you on the way home from Carl’s Jr.

The other ubiquitous component of the F-150 is a 395hp 5.0-Litre Ti-VCT V-8 engine. When a good ole boy starts one up in the backwoods of Vermont, fashion princesses on Fifth Avenue drop their soy mocha lattes.

But there was President Joe Biden last week doing noiseless wheelies around the test lot and giving himself whiplash, as Ford execs patted themselves on their green backs.

The decision cannot have been taken lightly by this conservative 117 year old motor company. While this is certainly no Tesla — the body shape and basic cabin arrangement remain familiarly 1960s Detroit — there are a lot of nods to technology with big screens, hands-free driving capability and Android/Apple media connections…and no more under-bonnet growl from that big V8.

So will electric power shift the traditional F-150 audience? It is a $42 billion question for Ford — that’s the revenue from sales of 900,000 F-150s in 2019.

Tech reviewer The Verge, referencing a study by Car Gurus in 2019 found that over a quarter of vehicle owners polled said they would consider an F-150 EV, 45 per cent said they would not consider one, and 27 per cent were undecided.

By comparison, 31 per cent said they were interested in a Tesla Cybertruck and 16 per cent would consider a Hummer EV. Among Ford truck owners in particular, 39 percent say they will probably or definitely own an electric truck in the next ten years.

So if these rusted-on internal combustion lovers can shift into carbon-neutral gear, what’s next?

The big move

Palmolive is a bit like Ford — a household name for consumer products for most of the last century. But they too have moved, with Palmolive’s Eco Dishwashing Liquid’s biodegradable formula and 100 per cent recycled bottle, the most radical thing the corporate giant has done since Madge dangled her cuticles in it 30 years ago.

Disney is now a leader in environmental custodianship, reducing emissions at its sites through solar energy, cutting plastic packaging and pursuing a zero-waste policy. Since the 1970s, 30 per cent of their properties have been dedicated nature reserves and now the company is also building solar farms to power its parks. Who knew?

Hewlett-Packard, one of the first companies to report its greenhouse gas emissions, claims that its global recycling program has kept 875 million HP cartridges, 114 million apparel hangers and 4.69 billion post-consumer plastic bottles out of landfills…and they are reusing plastics from bottles and bags in their cartridges.

Nike, still bruised from its reputation-damaging forays into sweat-shop labour, is now promoting its ‘Move to Zero’, advertising a more sustainable range of products using 20 to 50 per cent recycled polyester.

Starbucks is also embracing environmental sustainability across the board, with Fair Trade Certified and Certified organic coffee, recyclable coffee cups and cutlery and a new chain of low energy stores that use LED lighting and less air conditioning.

Google, which has always been an innovator, has been carbon neutral since 2007 and now plans to be carbon-free by 2030. As the largest purchaser of renewable energy in the world, it is well ahead of other corporations in sustainably powering its massive processing facilities.

Planet-friendly alliances

Back home in Oz, more than 50 retailers and manufacturers got together earlier this month in the new Boomerang Alliance to reduce plastic use in Australia. Their goal is to eliminate unnecessary plastic and aim for 100 per cent recyclable or compostable packaging. Signatories include Coles, Wooloworths and Aldi, plus manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, Pepsico and Arnotts.

Backing up the industry announcements, Woolworths went one-better with a double-page “ultra-green” advertisement in weekend newspapers proclaiming its earth-friendly range of cleaning products, paper tissues, and toilet paper as well as, bizarrely, the lifecycle of a Woolworths carrot.

Australia’s greatest wine company Penfolds — still reeling from the Chinese left-hook in January to cut wine imports — announced at the weekend that it is pursuing net-zero emissions by 2030. Impressively, this will be achieved by finding renewable ways to reduce electricity – their major contributor to emissions — without taking the convenient path of purchasing carbon offsets. This could be the signal for Australian winemakers and grape growers to join in the carbon-neutral push, given that future consumers will be coming from climate-aware countries such as Australia, Europe, the UK and the US, rather than China.

Meat and Livestock Australia are on the same journey – not an easy mission when they represent a lot of methane-generating Poll Herefords and Black Angas owners. But again they are determined to find ways to sequester carbon rather than write an offset cheque.

Market function

So to return to the original premise — is climate a marketing trend? Or is it a true business leadership shift?

Telstra’s Head of Energy Ben Burge summed up this ‘rush to green’ at an Australian Institute forum recently which was reported in the Saturday Advertiser.

“The company’s carbon-neutral certification is much more than a compliance tick,” he said. “It is now a market function for us.”

Most enlightened companies now believe that climate and sustainability are an essential part of their business strategy, just the same as human resources, finance and information technology.

Businesses are seeing a real benefit in connecting with their customers and clients by doing things that are good for the planet.

But authenticity is the key. Customers will soon detect greenwashing that makes you look good but provides no worthwhile contribution to emission reduction.

So how can you be authentic? Achieving carbon-neutral certification through the national Climate Active initiative takes a year of mainly administrative record checking. It’s not onerous and like all third-party accreditation processes, it enables you to understand more about your business and organisation and improve your systems and processes.

Measuring your emissions means finding a roadmap to reduce them to zero through a mix of practical steps that will resonate with your customers and also make you an employer of choice when hiring and retaining staff.

These include banning non-recyclable takeaway coffee cups and plastic water bottles, composting kitchen scraps, installing LED lighting to reduce electricity use and reducing photocopying and paper waste. One of our staff initiatives is even to use pencils (made from recycled cardboard) instead of biros in the bid to take hard plastics out of the recycle chain!

But measuring and managing emissions alone is not enough. If indeed climate is a marketing function as much as a risk management function, businesses need to tell their customers what they are doing, advocate for the future, be brave and yes, show leadership.

Don’t worry — they won’t label you as a “greenie” the way they would have ten years ago. Climate action is the new public expectation of businesses.

And if you’re still in doubt, ask yourself, what is the risk of climate inaction?

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As a family company – not just family owned and managed but also an employer of more than 25 families – we have a heightened sense of responsibility to contribute to a society that we are proud to hand on to our children and grandchildren.

In December 2020 Fuller became the first marketing agency in Australia to achieve carbon neutral certification through the Federal Government’s Climate Active Program, and in the same month was also awarded BCorp certification through the global BLab program.

While these are major milestones for us, they are both certifications that will continue to challenge Fuller to stay on its journey of doing good, being better, giving more and taking less.

Here are just a few ways in which Fuller has achieved these certifications, and how we intend to hold on to them, for the good of our people, and our planet.

Carbon Neutral

Climate Active carbon neutral certification was awarded to us after we established in-house sustainability policies, committed to an independent evaluation of our carbon emissions and developed an emissions reduction strategy.

These are some of the things we are doing to reduce our carbon footprint, year on year.

• Annual measurement and reporting of our carbon emissions to maintain Climate Active certification.
• Waste reduction through in-house recycling and composting and a ban on takeaway coffee cups and plastic drink bottles.
• Replacing all lighting in the building with LEDs.
• Switching to a green electricity supplier.
• Reviewing our suppliers and switching to more sustainable products.
• Becoming a partner of Carbon Neutral Adelaide to share our ideas with other businesses.
• Purchase of first electric company vehicle and a commitment to roll all company vehicles over to electric or hybrid by 2023.

• Signing a Climate and Diversity Protection Agreement with sustainability organisation South Pole to manage our carbon offsets.
• Contributing to two carbon offset projects: a tree planting program at the indigenous-led Mt Sandy Conservation Project on the Coorong, and a wind power farm in Taiwan.
• Formation of the “Green Team”, made up of staff volunteers, to keep our environmental initiatives on track and drive new ways of reducing our emissions.
• Staff required to report on what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint at work and at home, at their annual performance review.
• Providing advice and resources for our clients who would like to become Climate Active certified or adopt more sustainable business practices.

Ethical Business

Fuller was also awarded BCorp certification in December 2020 through the global BLab program.

BCorps are ethical businesses that balance purpose with profit. There are 3500 global BCorps and 257 in Australia, including brands such as Patagonia, Aesop and Beyond Bank.

We have had a long history of working with not for profits and social organisations to improve their outcomes so this was a way to formalise our credentials.

In 2019-2020 we undertook a rigorous audit of our financial accounts, management policies around staff, customers and suppliers, and our contributions to the community and the environment. This was independently assessed and scored against a global benchmark of businesses that balance profit with purpose. 

While we have always been an employer of choice, we have established some additional ethical initiatives this year as a result of our BCorp certification and to stay on our journey of doing good, being better, giving more and taking less.

• A staff wellness program (including free medical tests and counselling).
• A volunteering program (which mandates three days volunteering per year for each staff member).
• A staff led community service initiative to assist local organisations.
• A commitment to buy locally and sustainably across all areas of company purchasing.
• Increasing, year on year, the amount of work we are doing for underserved communities.
• Development of our first Reconciliation Plan through Reconciliation Australia.
• Growing our pro bono support of multiple not for profit organisations in the arts and community services sectors.
• Encouraging clients to commission local South Australian musicians and artists for their branded content work (we provide a research and licensing service to match clients with relevant artists in partnership with Music SA).
• Providing advice and resources for our clients who would like to become a BCorp or implement more ethical business practices.

If you’re interested in starting your own journey – or are already like us on the track – we’d love to talk about this new and exciting future.

Fuller Fellowship

The Fuller Fellowship was established in 2020 by Fuller Brand Communication’s Managing Director and founder, Peter Fuller. Based on the principles of the Churchill Fellowship — ‘learn globally, inspire locally’ — the Fuller Fellowship is a 12-month program for a staff member to undertake a travel and research study in an area of professional interest.

The inaugural recipient of the 2020 Fuller Fellowship was Fuller’s Senior Communications Consultant, Eloise Richards. With an interest in promoting the benefits of inclusion and diversity, Eloise explored how marketing and communications can be used as a tool for social change.

“My Fuller Fellowship journey has involved undertaking research, some revealing interviews with individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds, and a personal journey of reflection as I’ve delved into the exciting, yet sometimes misunderstood topic of inclusive marketing,” she said.

“I wanted to give both our team at Fuller, and the broader industry, the skills and confidence to apply a diversity and inclusion lens to the work we do in an authentic and meaningful way.”

In doing so, Eloise developed a practical guide to undertaking inclusive marketing, which can be downloaded here.

“My hope is that this guide will encourage our profession to move beyond simply ‘ticking the diversity box’, and instead, genuinely elevate the stories and voices of people who are marginalised or underrepresented within our communities, to influence positive social change.”

The 2021 Fellow is Fuller’s Lead Web Developer, Marko Rapaic.

The post For Good appeared first on Fuller.

Probably a 100-decibel alarm clock on these frosty sunrises.

But seriously what is that internal driver that makes you want to get up, get dressed, walk to work, click on your laptop and sip your first latte of the day?

Purpose is a core question we ask of businesses and organisations when we take them through our branding strategy sessions. We are looking for values that organisations share and hold dear – things that they believe are essential to their success and would, if necessary, fight hard to protect. Once that key purpose is articulated, we can reveal an authentic, honest and real brand story that staff will unite around and customers will connect with.

Funny thing is, we rarely find CEOs saying that their core purpose in life is to make more money. Certainly there is a duty of governance for all Boards and managers to be profitable, and provide a return to staff, shareholders, and (for government agencies), taxpayers.

This is how mortgages are paid, how food ends up on tables, how businesses grow, and economies flourish.

But for most of our clients, cash is an enabler – it’s how we make that cash that reveals who we are.

An organisation’s purpose is an aspirational destination – to provide futures for their people, improve society, maximise the innovative talents of staff, do things that make the world a better place.

At this moment in our history, most of the world’s purpose has seemingly been reduced to survival. For the unemployed and underemployed their purpose is to make ends meet. If you’re a business owner, you lay awake at night worrying how to keep your staff employed beyond the euphemistic post-Jobkeeper “cliff”.

But despite spot fire outbreaks and ongoing travel restrictions, it’s now clear that some semblance of business-as-usual might just be possible on the other side of this pandemic – albeit a far more disrupted and ever-changing reality. Now is the time to prepare for the post COVID-19 economy by reflecting on lessons learned – about working together, looking after the vulnerable, watching out for our families and neighbours, calling out selfish behaviour like toilet paper stockpiling and breaking border rules.

So could “doing good” become a new economic as well as social purpose? Do we have an opportunity at this crossroad, to redefine what business is and what we want the world to be like after this time of introspection and reassessment?

Purpose and profitability

In January this year Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest “shadow bank” with $7.4 trillion under assets management, announced that it would no longer be investing in companies that were not making “sufficient progress” on sustainability.

When the bulls and bears of Wall Street start talking about the social outcomes of money, then we should all sit up and listen.

“A company cannot achieve long-term profits without embracing purpose and considering the needs of a broad range of stakeholders. Ultimately, purpose is the engine of long-term profitability,” he said in a letter to CEOs.

“Over the 40 years of my career in finance, I have witnessed a number of financial crises and challenges – the inflation spikes of the 1970s and early 1980s, the Asian currency crisis in 1997, the dot-com bubble, and the global financial crisis. Climate change is different. Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.”

In May, a group of unusual bedfellows – leaders from the Business Council, the Property Council, the Australian Energy Council, the Australian Industry Group, the ACTU, the Australian Council of Social Service, the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Australian Conservation Foundation – wrote a letter to the PM.

“Australia faces a public health emergency with immediate economic impacts as well as longer-lasting global economic pain. Beyond the pandemic, Australian prosperity also depends on dealing with other long-term challenges, including the transition to net-zero emissions,” the letter says.

“The letter called for cuts to emissions, an accelerated transition to clean energy across all regions and economic sectors and a focus on fixing inefficient homes and buildings.”
Refreshingly this agenda is not being driven by political parties but the actual people making the economy – and society – happen every day.

People Profit Planet

Now it would be easy for the climate cynics and deniers to dismiss this as timely populist social greenwashing claptrap.

But that undermines a long groundswell of social responsibility in business that goes back to the mid-1990s Triple Bottom Line (People, Profit, Planet). It’s now a well-established accounting framework that has added value to countless businesses.

It also devalues the honest efforts of thousands of organisations who give back through local sponsorships, charitable donations, internships and staff-giving plans.
Doing good is alive and well and is no longer some radical construct from the Left. Just ask consumers.

Last September researcher Roy Morgan revealed that over three-quarters of Australians were concerned about global warming – up 12% since February 2014 and the highest level of concern for well over a decade since April 2006 (82%) before the Global Financial Crisis.

Over three-quarters of Australians say of global warming that ‘If we don’t act now it will be too late’ (50%) or ‘It is already too late’ (28%) to deal with the issue. The concern came particularly from women (55%) and under 34-year-olds.

Tellingly, there have been huge improvements in our environment since March – reduced air travel and car use has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 5 per cent, air and water quality has improved and wildlife has reasserted itself – notice all the birds?

The big question is, will the real and present threat of an overheated world in 2030, slip down the urgency ladder as economic priorities take over post-COVID-19?

Given that our concerns about climate stalled after the GFC, will we allow short-term thinking to see not just our environment but our children’s futures destroyed in another decade. If our current emission rate continues, by 2030 – when drought is unavoidable, water security at risk and agriculture marginalised – a pandemic could be the least of our worries.

What can we do?

So if “doing good” is a positive for our shareholders and customers, as well as the planet, what can we as businesses do that is both purposeful and profitable.

Eminent economist Ross Garnaut said in his recent book Superpower that “the fog of Australian politics on climate change has obscured a fateful reality: Australia has the potential to be an economic superpower of the future post-carbon world. We have unparalleled renewable energy resources. We also have the necessary scientific skills. Australia could be the natural home for an increasing proportion of global industry.”

He says embracing low-carbon opportunities could lead to a clean electricity system more than three times the existing capacity that powers a transformed economy, including electric transport and new and expanded industries in minerals smelting.

“I have no doubt that intermittent renewables could meet 100% of Australia’s electricity requirements by the 2030s, with high degrees of security and reliability, and at wholesale prices much lower than experienced in Australia over the past half dozen years,” Garnaut writes.

I suspect many of us are encouraged by this vision, but feel the big picture is beyond our influence.

Everyone-everywhere

I was fortunate to hear Christiana Figueres, the former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change and architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement, speak at WOMAdelaide several days before the COVID-19 shut down in March.

Her most telling statement is that we “can no longer afford the indulgence of feeling powerless” or assume that climate change is the responsibility of governments.

This is an “everyone-everywhere” mission, she said.

Our business has had an ethical purpose since its beginning, deliberately choosing clients that made a contribution to the prosperity of regional Australia and supporting the marginalised in society such as people with disabilities, family carers and the homeless. But our commitment to sustainability has grown over the last five years, driven by a groundswell of concern from our staff.

In 2018 we initiated a comprehensive recycling program as well as banning disposable coffee cups, which has cut waste by 50%. We’re now planning to install solar power and start the changeover to electric cars. We are also undertaking a 12-month plan to achieve Carbon Neutral Accreditation by measuring, reducing and offsetting emissions and we have applied to become a BCorp, one of nearly 3000 ethical organisations worldwide. We will be initiating a new service to help clients report on their ethical purpose this year. And we will be focussing on how we can use the creativity that is the DNA of our business, to inspire and drive change.

We’re of course not alone. Most of our clients are already on this ethical and sustainable journey too. They are substituting green power for coal power, investing in social housing, finding employment for people with a disability, creating indigenous opportunities, building six-star houses and property developments, reducing the use of bottled water in society, inventing recyclable coffee cups and packaging.

South Australia leads the nation in terms of renewable energy commercialisation. With 7.14% of the nation’s population, we capture 56% of the grid-connected wind power, 30% of solar power and 90% of its geothermal developments.

We are not like other states. We came here seeking political and social freedoms in the nineteenth century. We developed an extraordinary reputation for innovation and invention in the twentieth century.

As businesses and organisations we have a responsibility to think locally, lead our state out of COVID-19 and create a more purposeful economy in this century.

Let’s lift our gaze and talk about creative change for good…together.

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