Fiona David on LinkedIn: I've been sewing clothes and playing dress ups since I was a kid.  Clothes… (2024)

Sustainability professionals are meant to be the super heroes of their organisations. Tackling waste, emissions, modern slavery … typically in new roles, with teams of 1-3 people. For multi-billion dollar businesses.So its important that they have safe places to go, where they can ask the questions everyone else seems to expect you to have answers for.For example:* Q. What does effectiveness look like in a company response to modern slavery? A. You can show real people’s lives are changed not just company processes. * Q. How can you get ahead of migrant worker recruitment fees? A. You choose a recruiter who agrees to the Employer Pays principle. You put the burden on them to prove that they’ve actually paid the fees and costs. You set up systems so your worker are giving you their view of what happened on the other side. These were just some of the questions we went through, at inaugural Sustainability Professional Associations events held this week in Sydney and Melbourne. Thanks to Fair Supply Walk Free and Jones Day for bringing everyone together for these refreshingly practical discussions.You can join here: https://lnkd.in/g8xXBFBuMore on employer pays here:* https://lnkd.in/g34g2T5S* For Australian training on implementing employer pays: https://lnkd.in/gshk8SwdMy thoughts on @ACCC and sustainability collaborations: https://lnkd.in/g4Nk6gSwSerena Grant Kimberly Randle Holly Sara Claudia Campbell Marie Apostol Clementine Crowther Grace Forrest Jacqueline Joudo Larsen

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What does it mean to be an ally? Some of the many different ways you can be an ally, explained by Aunty Munya Andrews.I love the open accessibility of this. Whether you resonate with being an ally through research, or using your platforms to amplify the voice of others who are not being heard, there is a role here for everyone. Yvette Proud Alison Rahill Luke Geary Jenny Stanger Sarah S Sherry J. Wanjiru Moe Turaga Serena Grant Jacqueline Joudo Larsen Clementine Crowther James co*ckayne Shannon Hobbs Tahlia McDonald

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Business collaboration to avoid slavery and child labour needs to be enabled by all aspects of Australian law and policy.But if I've understood the draft ACCC guidance on sustainability correctly, that is not currently the case.The ACCC Guidance suggests that if companies want to collaborate with peers on due diligence on labour conditions of workers in their supply chains, this would constitute cartel conduct requiring an authorisation. In other words, where companies want to collaborate on supply chain due diligence on issues like slavery and child labour, they need to mount an application, pay a $7500 fee and wait up to 6 months for a decision on authorisation to be made. The case for change is clear. Leading Australian businesses are working hard to build effective responses to modern slavery risk. And we want all businesses to do the same.But their efforts will be stronger if they can readily collaborate with peers on human rights due diligence.Pooling information on whether workers in shared supply chains are being paid properly, or are having their passports withheld, should be expedited not slowed down by competition law restrictions.We've provided our submission to the ACCC on how to improve it’s draft Sustainability Guidance to better account for #humanrights, as have others including the Office of the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner and Be Slavery Free. Our submission is available here: https://lnkd.in/g4Nk6gSwShannon Hobbs Jenny Stanger Sherry J. Wanjiru UN Global Compact Network Australia James co*ckayne Carolyn Kitto OAM Clementine Crowther Serena Grant Jacqueline Joudo Larsen Grace Forrest Rachel Reilly Lynne Strong Sharan Burrow

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Rare Earth Elements sourced from Myanmar, are just one example of why we need stronger focus on human rights in the energy transition.In our first explainer with Lowy Institute, Shannon Hobbs and I look at the UN Secretary General's Panel on Critical Minerals and Energy Transition, and why it matters.❓What is the focus of this new UN Panel❓➡️ Equity, transparency, investment, sustainability, and human rights in the energy transition.➡️ The Panel will develop global, voluntary principles to safeguard environmental and social standards in the energy transition.❓ What is the problem it needs to solve❓➡️ We need a rapid energy transition but we also need to protect the people and places where critical resources are being sourced. ➡️ Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from Myanmar are just one example, to help illustrate the issues.🔋REEs are essential to make permanent magnets, which are used in wind turbines and electric vehicles. 🚚 With China having cleaned up it's own REE mining, some of its sourcing has shifted next door to Myanmar. ⚒️ Satellite technologyanalysed by Global Witness showed 2700 illegal mining collection pools in Kachin, Myanmar, in 2022. 🌏 Sharing a border with China, REEs from Kachin mines are flowing directly into global supply chains via Chinese processing and manufacturing.❌ Once REEs are extracted, the polluted sites in Myanmar are abandoned, leaving toxic chemicals to leak into the waterways. This destroys ecosystems and agricultural livelihoods.❓What needs to happen next❓➡️ We need increased focus on human rights in the energy transition, and we need it fast. ➡️ Yes, there is progress. The European CSDDD, requiring businesses to undertake due diligence on both environmental and human rights impacts, will drive change powered by its €14.5 trillion market➡️ But in my own country, Australia, efforts are only just ramping up for discussions on a Human Rights Act for individuals, which could form the basis of stronger obligations on businesses.🐢 🚀 While it's a small step, I genuinely hope this Panel, alongside other efforts can help to drive much stronger global focus on human rights in the energy transition.🚀 And we all need to be calling on our own governments to bring human rights to the front of the energy conversation, so problems can be solved. Thank you Daniel Flitton and Ryan Neelam for your interest in these issues. https://lnkd.in/g9hqgTPFDaniel Flitton David Tickler Shannon Hobbs Tahlia McDonald Sherry J. Wanjiru Jacqueline Joudo Larsen Alice Dawkins Sharan Burrow Martijn Boersma Jenny Stanger Alison Rahill#environment #humanrights #myanmar

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What a joy to read a leadership article that draws on case studies from the gender equality and environmental protection movements. Typically, leadership articles are stuffed full of examples of how CEOs of (generally US) big companies had handled their daily challenges.The person behind the "Me Too" movement is one of the first leaders you'll read about, in this Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education short paper on intentional leadership. As that person who stood up in my MIT Sloan School of Management and asked "why all the innovators we were studying were male", I deeply appreciate this willingness to see leadership in situations beyond corporate settings.On leadership and process, it encourages readers to ask early "who is kept in? who is left out". The case study it gives is not General Motors or even Apple but climate change negotiations, led by Mexican expert and negotiator, Josefina Brana-Varela. On perception, and the importance of the stories we tell about ourselves and the world, this section could have been written for the news cycle of the last 24 hours:"Too often, when women and girls of colour are mentioned or considered they've either invisible or seen in the harsh light of scrutiny." The article then explores the importance of projecting our vision of the future, whether that is of affirmative visibility or strength. The authors give various examples, including the experience of Tarana Bourke, and her journey of redefining herself as a survivor with power, not as a victim. Given the number of people I work with who have to forge this path every single day, I deeply respect this inclusion. Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised to read on that one of the co-authors was an adviser to President Obama's White House Council on Women and Girls. But what I am surprised about is how rarely I have this feeling of seeing myself, or seeing people "like me" somehow, in leadership texts. And how good it feels when you do come across something like this. Thank you Kimberlyn Leary and Rob Wilkinson from a fan down under. https://lnkd.in/g6deaYSr#leadership #genderequality #environmentAnna Leibel LLM GCB.D GAICD Jacquie Fegent-McGeachie Lyndsey Douglas Chantale Millard Sarah S Moe Turaga Sherry J. Wanjiru Jenny Stanger Yvette Proud Alison Rahill

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