Environment Business Australia (EBA), like any good leader, dares to be different. We are a proactive voice for business on environment and sustainability matters in Australia, and our work focuses on raising awareness about the scale and relevance of sustainability issues. But we are particularly focused on championing the solutions to key challenges – many of which are provided by the companies listed in this directory.

EBA works in many areas, including climate change, water, forestry, land management, urban development, pollution, waste eradication and materials stewardship. In every one, a core concern is cost. New and emerging technologies and systems have to compete with existing processes which do not carry their true market cost. Many subsidies exist because of a historical ability to outsource ‘collateral damage’ of production and consumption onto
the environment. Indeed, it has been estimated that these externalities can cost countries up to 8% of GDP.

EBA has therefore been working with governments in Australia and overseas to encourage development of an ‘enabling framework’, where governments’ powerful tools and levers (taxation, regulation, procurement and investment, plus market-based instruments such as emissions trading) can help the private sector’s innovation be commercialised and deployed.

Our aim is that this directory will provide opportunities and contacts to help your organisation make progress.

– Robert Purves
Chairman, Environment Business Australia

– Fiona Wain
CEO, Environment Business Australia

Now let's stop and change the scene.
The environment and sustainability sector (to the extent that it exists in a cohesive fashion) says use less water, use less energy, consume less – the old motto of reduce, reuse, recycle.

This may be a meaningful and attractive message for the converted, yet dwelling on the fringe simply will not drive the major change required to create a more sustainable society. So how does the environment and sustainability sector move from the edge to the centre? Maybe we could take a page out of a leading technology company's book and sell the sizzle, not the sausage.

Sacrifice has rarely proven to be a powerful motivator in a society driven by, and quite keen on, choice and individual rights. It's a tough challenge, but worth some thought. State governments have generally been poor marketers of sustainability – fear (a recent favorite) simply will not work
in the long-term.

This directory is the largest gathering of organisations providing environmentally responsible and sustainable solutions. With more than a thousand listings, it is a vast body of knowledge, and potentially a powerful force.
So, where do we want to go today?

– Ross May
Publisher, WME Media