We’re funding the work of Food Frontier – Australia and New Zealand’s think tank on alternative proteins – to help diversify protein supply with nutritious and sustainable alternatives. 

With the world’s population tipped to reach 10 billion by 2050, demand for protein will continue to rise. Global economic, environmental and public health authorities have stressed that a more diverse range of protein sources will be essential to feeding growing populations safely and sustainably into the future. 

To grow and galvanise the market for alternative proteins across our region, Food Frontier helps businesses, policymakers and innovators to understand the emergence of plant-based meat, precision fermentation and cultivated meat, and unlock the economic, environmental, and public health benefits they offer.  

With our core funding, Food Frontier will work to gain government support for protein innovations, increased media coverage and policy focus on alternative proteins in climate change solutions, and more large food providers exploring alternative protein options.  

Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) is a leading public interest legal organisation. Their lawyers act on behalf of people and community organisations to safeguard health; to protect magnificent forests, rivers and wildlife; and to tackle climate change. They partner with communities and other social justice organisations to amplify the impact they can have.  

Australian Ethical Foundation will provide core funding to allow Environmental Justice Australia to be responsive to opportunity and truly strategic in achieving its mission using the law to protect people and the planet from harm. It aims to achieve this by representing communities that are working to prevent emissions from fossil fuels, challenging the industries that damage ecosystems, and helping communities remove systemic barriers to participation and access. 

Original Power is a community focused Aboriginal organisation engaged in realising community-driven solutions, advocating for the rights and interests of First Nations communities in the energy transition. The organisation works with First Nations communities to develop projects that overcome the structural and policy barriers locking them out of the benefits of lower cost, clean energy. 

The Foundation is supporting Original Power to work with Wilya Janta, a not-for-profit Aboriginal remote housing design consultancy to develop the first climate resilient, culturally appropriate housing in the Northern Territory. The project addresses housing inadequacies, such as poor thermal performance, lack of cultural consideration, and overcrowding, contributing to First Nations' energy insecurity.   

The project will create a new standard for housing, benefiting Indigenous housing residents across the Northern Territory by reducing energy costs, improving thermal comfort, and providing a model for future housing developments.  

Image credit: Andrew Quilty

Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) is an independent think tank specialising in bold, ambitious science and engineering-based solutions to Australia’s climate challenges. Their mission is to fast-track Australia’s shift to a zero-emissions economy through place-based research, industry engagement, and policy advocacy. Through collaborations with regional communities and local industry, they focus on high-emission sectors like manufacturing, heavy industry, and exports.

We are funding BZE to develop a National Action Plan (NAP), which sets out a clear path of what projects must happen, where, and when. This plan will guide industry leaders, business groups, and policymakers to coordinate turning on renewables, phasing out fossil fuels, and decarbonising Australia’s exports.

BZE will pinpoint the strengths, opportunities, and barriers to decarbonisation in Australia’s industrial regions. These Critical Success Criteria will be used to support business groups, industry, and key decision makers to develop place-based action plans with clear reporting criteria around emissions reduction outcomes. The work is supported by BZE’s “show, not just tell” strategy through Showcase Tours, designed to promote successful decarbonisation and cleantech efforts in regional hubs.

Climateworks Centre bridges the gap between research and climate action, operating as an independent not-for-profit within Monash University. Climateworks develops specialist knowledge to accelerate emissions reduction, in line with the global 1.5°C temperature goal, across Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Climateworks will undertake independent analysis on Australia's 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and be ready to apply this analysis and influence the forthcoming 2035 NDC, due in November at the United Nations Climate Conference.

NDCs are emission reduction target goals and climate action plans submitted by countries under the Paris Agreement, outlining their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate impacts to help limit global warming.

The Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF) delivers nature positive change to support communities, industry, businesses, and governments, through research, advocacy, and convening. Focused on advocating for the rapid protection and restoration of Australia’s native forests at scale from key threats such as logging and land clearing.   

Our funding will support ACBF in implementing its updated Forest Futures Strategy in 2025 to continue to work in forest protection, ecological restoration and industry transition to secure the long-term conservation of Australia’s native forests.  

ACBF is taking a comprehensive approach to ending native forest logging on public lands and reducing deforestation, focusing on creating profitable, sustainable business models that incentivise forest restoration, enhance biodiversity and strengthen regional economies.  

Accounting for Nature^® is a transparent, affordable, verifiable, and certifiable environmental accounting framework with a vision to be the global leader for measuring changes in the health of the environment, enabling better informed management of natural landscapes and unlocking new streams of finance to support environmental conservation and restoration and provide integrity and trust to environmental markets. 

Our funding will support AfN in recruiting expertise in Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to help lead meaningful First Nations engagement. Our funding will help ensure that the integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous values into Accounting for Nature Certified Environmental Accounts aligns with best-practice principles, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), co-design and inclusiveness, data sovereignty, and cultural integrity. 

Building on work initiated in 2021, this funding will support AfN’s commitment to collaborating with First Nations People through co-design, fostering nature stewardship that integrates scientific and cultural perspectives. This approach aims to enhance the ecological, cultural, and economic values of Australia’s natural landscapes for First Nations communities and landholders. 

KKT is an Indigenous-led organisation established by Traditional Owners of the Djelk and Warddeken Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) in 2010, to support their vision for healthy Country. It now partners with eight community-owned Aboriginal organisations, one of which is Mimal Land Management, in one of the most culturally rich and biodiverse regions of Australia: Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. KKT brings together ranger groups, communities and philanthropists to address some of our nation’s most pressing issues, including environmental conservation, education and employment. The work it supports is 100 per cent community driven, from concept to implementation.   

Our funding will support the Mimal Women's Ranger program run by Mimal Land Management, which manages 20,000 square km of land across Central Arnhem Land. The Mimal Land Management workforce was predominantly male until 2018 when the first Women's Ranger coordinator was funded by KKT. At the end of 2023, Mimal's workforce is 50% women, there were 36 First Nations women employed and 15 different training and education courses were delivered in 2023 alone 

The MFRC is an alliance of Traditional Owner groups from across the river catchment, advocating for the health and protection of the Fitzroy River, in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Entirely Indigenous led, the MFRC is guided by a diverse representation of senior elders with cultural authority.  

Massive irrigation and gas projects are underway in the Martuwarra Catchment and Indigenous communities in the catchment are working to defend against destruction of cultural heritage, ecological damage, poverty and climate change. The indigenous communities are eager to secure environmental markets including carbon storage, eco-tourism and biodiversity conservation.  

The Foundation will provide core funding to allow MFRC to work on climate justice, water justice and building new economies for First Nations people. MFRC’s focus is to stop imminent threats of mining, but to also regenerate the River system after years of moving people off the Country, intensive agriculture, incorrect burning, and water harvesting. 

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is a national advocate supporting people affected by poverty, disadvantage, and inequality, and serves as the peak council for community services nationally. By drawing on the direct experiences of people affected by poverty and inequality and the expertise of its diverse member base, ACOSS develops and promotes socially and economically responsible public policy and action by government, community, and business.  

Over the past 12 months, ACOSS has undertaken research and developed a package of proposals aimed at improving home energy efficiency performance for low-income households, to permanently cut energy bills, improve health and wellbeing, and tackle climate change. The Foundation is contributing to its work aimed at securing a $5 billion Federal Government package of measures to accelerate in home energy upgrades, prioritising low-income households, including public, community, and First Nations housing, private rentals, and low-income owner-occupiers. 

ACOSS will support and advocate for these measures, including through the Renew Australia for All campaign, leveraging its research, policy expertise, collaborations, and networks. ACOSS will conduct a national heat and homes survey, mobilise members, amplify voices of people experiencing disadvantage, engage the media, and engage directly with parliamentarians, to build support and commitments for these policy initiatives. 

Fletcher Street Cottage (FSC) is a vital initiative launched by the Byron Community Centre (BCC) in 2022 to address the escalating homelessness crisis in Byron Shire, which has become one of the most affected areas in New South Wales. The cottage was established in response to a severe shortage of housing and essential services, exacerbated by catastrophic floods that displaced thousands and increased the demand for support. Despite representing just 0.42% of New South Wales’ population, the Byron Shire represents 17% of the state’s rough-sleeping population.  
Over 80% of FSC's beneficiaries have been directly impacted by the catastrophic floods in 2022, which displaced many individuals and exacerbated the local housing crisis. 

Due to funding constraints (FSC receives no government funding) the cottage only operates 4 days per week and our funding will allow it to meet the unmet demand it faces currently.  

Climate Action Pays Off is a targeted public education and policy advocacy campaign by Investor Group on Climate Change to secure a strong 2035 climate target and investable sectoral plans that align with limiting warming to 1.5°C.   

The Government is expected to set Australia’s 2035 emissions reduction target in 2025 and create six economy-wide sectoral decarbonisation plans to achieve it. The majority of Australians support climate action, however the support for the transition to renewables has softened due to misinformation and anxiety over cost of living. Without intervention by IGCC, the Government may set a low 2035 target and weak sector plans that increases risks to beneficiaries of a disorderly net zero transition and greater physical damages from worsening climate hazards.  

IGCC’s campaign completed in late 2024 delivered digital ad content into strategic locations in order to bolster public support for the renewables transition and secure the social licence necessary for the government to set an ambitious 2035 target.   

Groundswell's Major Giving Circle is a collective of 20+ family foundations, high net worth individuals and corporate partners who collectively grant $1 million+ to high impact organisations working in climate advocacy. It is a new initiative in 2024, and the Foundation is one of the inaugural members.   

The fossil fuel industry's grip on power is delaying critical climate action. Their influence on policy and deliberate misinformation campaigns are undermining trust in renewable energy and harming communities on the frontlines. 

With a narrowing window to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, there is a pressing need for targeted, high-impact investments in organisations and initiatives driving real change across renewable energy, community transition and resilience, fossil fuel opposition, countering energy disinformation and more. In 2024, 12 high-impact organisations were awarded grants ranging from $10,000 to $300,000.  

The vision of Boundless Earth is an Australia we can all be proud of - a prosperous, renewable energy superpower and a global force towards a decarbonised world. Its purpose is to accelerate climate solutions at the scale and speed required for Australia to do its fair share to avert the climate crisis.  

Boundless focuses on a topic at a time, building a strategy to make progress and scouting for partners and projects that make it happen. Australian Ethical Foundation is partnering with Boundless in this work.  

As the peak environmental NGO for the Kimberley region in far north-west Australia, Environs Kimberley is dedicated to looking after the health of the land and waters of the region. They do this through advocacy and on-ground cultural and natural resource management projects.

We’re supporting Environs Kimberley to fight gas developments in the Canning Basin. The Canning Basin in the Kimberley holds one of the largest fossil fuel reserves in the world. Recently updated estimates indicate there’s 438.5 TCF of unconventional shale and tight gas resources in the Basin, this compares to an estimated 13 TCF in the offshore Scarborough field held by Woodside. The carbon footprint of Canning Basin resources is equivalent to double Australia’s carbon budget under the Paris Agreement.

Production of oil and gas through fracking in the Kimberley would lead to mass land clearing for well pads, pipelines, pumping stations, roads and the destruction of biodiversity on a large scale. The pollution from this industry could have a significant impact on wetlands, groundwater and rivers like the Martuwarra Fitzroy.

Environs Kimberley are educating and mobilising local communities to advocate for a healthy climate and to keep fossil fuels in the ground, including working in partnership with Traditional Owner groups that cover nine different Aboriginal Ranger groups from the desert to the sea. Environs Kimberley also work with local and state governments to challenge policies and drilling licenses and developments that put our climate under more pressure.

Blue Carbon Lab conducts innovative research into Australia's coastal vegetated systems.

These ecosystems act as natural sinks of carbon, effectively reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations that contribute to climate change. They can trap carbon 30-50 times faster than typical "green" forests (eg. boreal forest, rainforest), where it is locked away for centuries to millennia. Blue Carbon ecosystems also support additional ecosystem services including enhanced biodiversity (eg. sustain migratory birds), support fisheries, provide ecotourism revenues and protect our coast against erosion and extreme weather events.

This collaborative project will generate new knowledge in preparation for, and in response to, climate change. It will enable us to better understand and predict the degree to which the natural process of biosequestration from coastal vegetated systems will help offset anthropogenic emissions.
Specifically, the fully funded PhD project will:

• Determine rates of blue carbon accumulation from restored blue carbon ecosystems (currently data is only available from mature ecosystems),
• Perform a cost benefit analyses from previously restored coastal wetlands (including valuation of blue carbon offsets, biodiversity gains, coastal protection and other social benefits),
• Trial low-cost sensors and techniques for evaluating blue carbon gains from restoration of coastal wetlands.

 Image credit: Blue Carbon Labs

Greenfleet is a leading Australian not-for-profit environmental organisation protecting our climate by restoring our forests. They plant biodiverse native forests to capture carbon emissions on behalf of individuals and businesses and help fight the impacts of climate change.

The Foundation funding is being used to help revegetate a 340-hectare property that forms part of the Wychitella Bio-link in Central Victoria. Greenfleet is working with the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Dja Dja Wurrung people, to revegetate the property with native trees and grasses, creating a vital vegetation link. This project is restoring resilient ecosystems and creating habitat for local wildlife species, including Lace Monitors, Quolls, Shy Heathwrens, Inland Thornbills, and the vulnerable Mallee Fowl.

Influence:

The project will restore 340 hectares of native ecosystem, create landscape connectivity and address critical biodiversity loss, capture carbon emissions to protect our climate, reduce soil erosion, improve water quality and restore critical habitat for wildlife. The forest the Foundation is creating will be legally protected for 100 years.

Wildlife Asia’s mission is to protect Asia’s tropical forests and key landscapes which host the highest levels of biodiversity and iconic megafauna habitat.

The Leuser Ecosystem is recognised as the most critical remaining habitat for survival of the Sumatran rhino, and the largest population can be found in western Leuser. Sadly, outside of western Leuser, sub-populations have become isolated and numbers are dangerously low. By deploying intensive monitoring solutions and teams, as well as developing strong relationships with local communities by providing local employment and education, Wildlife Aisa are able to ensure the protection of some of the world's most valuable biodiversity and carbon stores.

The Fistula Foundation is the global leader in fistula treatment, providing more surgeries to more women than any other organisation. Obstetric fistula occurs when a mother has a prolonged, obstructed labour but lacks access to emergency medical care, such as a C-section. If untreated, a woman will uncontrollably leak urine, stool, or both, for the rest of her life, making this one of humanity’s most disabling injuries.

Australian Ethical Foundation project funding will be directed to Fistula Foundation’s obstetric fistula surgeries in Pakistan. More than 60% of Pakistan’s population live in rural areas with limited access to maternal healthcare, putting women at risk of developing obstetric fistula. Fistula Foundation’s treatment partner, Pakistan National Forum on Women’s Health (PNFWH), estimates there are between 3,000 to 5,000 new cases every year. As the only hospital network in Pakistan offering free fistula treatment, PNFWH’s services are vital to ensuring women have access to care. In addition, because PNFWH is based in the capital city of Karachi and operates a network of regional fistula centres, it is uniquely positioned to reach women across the country. 

Impact:

Over the life of the project, over 400 women will be treated for obstetric fistula¹.

1. Australian Ethical Foundation reporting

The Australian Ethical Foundation has been supporting Living Goods to reliably deliver lifesaving, affordable, critical medicines to the doorsteps of millions in Uganda. Living Goods recruits, trains, equips, and manages networks of Community Health Workers (CHW’s) who provide their communities with health education, accurate diagnoses, essential medicines, and health products that save and improve lives. Living Goods programs address the significant shortage of frontline health workers and the inadequate distribution of health products and knowledge.

Living Goods works with governments and partners to ensure community health workers have access to digital technology, medical treatments, supervision and compensation to cost-effectively deliver high quality, impactful health services.

Impact:

In 2021, CHW’s funded by the Australian Ethical Foundation:

• Supported 11,500 people in their communities

• Provided 4,645 treatments and positive diagnoses to children under five-years-old

• Administered over 6,000 assessments to children under five-years-old

• Registered 395 pregnancies

• Continued delivering vital health services and scaled family planning services

Furthermore, the preliminary results from a new external Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of Living Goods supported CHWs in Uganda show a strong 30% reduction in U5 child mortality and a 27% reduction in infant mortality. This highlights that well-equipped and supported CHWs can save lives at scale, but also showcases how and why data and research are such critical enablers for iterating and improving community health programs.

1. Australian Ethical Foundation annual acquittal reporting

Pollinate Group empowers women from neglected communities in India and Nepal as entrepreneurs and leaders for change. They recruit, train and support a network of women entrepreneurs to deliver clean, sustainable energy solutions to the communities they live in.

We support Pollinate Group’s work in Nepal as they upskill and support local women to sell products and services that improve quality of life in their communities and ultimately help to lead their communities out of poverty by sourcing high-performing, durable products that reduce carbon emissions and improve quality of life.

In eight years they have empowered over 650 women and reached more than 650,000 individuals with impactful products like solar lanterns, clean and efficient cooking appliances and sanitary products.

We’re supporting Love Mercy Foundation to scale-up their longstanding agricultural project Cents for Seeds to an additional 2,000 vulnerable women in Northern Uganda, providing them with farming assistance through access to seeds, fertilisers and agricultural education. This will build the resources and capacity of women to generate sustainable incomes and food security for their families and communities both during and beyond the COVID-19 global recovery.

The funding will also facilitate the smooth transition out of the program and into self-reliance for 3,000 existing program participants from Otuke East and West, Lira, and Alebtong Districts. These women have been participants in the Cents for Seeds program and will commence graduation in 2022 as a result of the program’s creation of sustainable livelihoods in several village areas.

As one of the world’s leading human rights organisations, Human Rights Watch is in a unique position to expose the human cost of climate change and advance urgently needed policies and protections. Researchers at Human Rights Watch cover more than 100 countries, and many of them are documenting the impacts of climate change around the world. Human Rights Watch (HRW) is undertaking a three-year research and advocacy project aimed at showing how advancing the rights and elevating the voices of women, including women within Indigenous and forest-dependent communities, can strengthen and make more impactful efforts to mitigate climate change.

Research shows that protecting forest-dependent communities, including Indigenous peoples’ tenure rights, and ensuring women’s participation, agency and economic empowerment in local forest governance delivers major benefits for climate action. Human Rights Watch has already identified some of the most valuable carbon sinks, including in places like the Greater Mekong region, Indonesia, the Amazon, and the Congo basin. In these regions, their work conducting a critical mapping of safeguards related to land, environmental management and women’s rights to use and manage land and natural resources, can significantly contribute to systemic changes in ownership structures, long term conservation, food security, and promote gender justice objectives within the context of climate change mitigation efforts.

This project aims to make significant inroads toward eliminating discriminatory laws and practices concerning women’s land and property rights and help women around the world to understand, claim and realise their equal rights to land and property.

With the support of Australian Ethical, the Girls Emerge Program has successfully graduated 200 young women in Wakiso & Kyankwanzi Districts, Uganda. The program trains young women in male dominated vocations, including bee-keeping and honey production, briquette and cookstove production, mobile phone repair, and baking. In addition to this training, the young women are provided business mentoring to assist them to build their business skills, marketing and growth plans.

The young women are further supported to establish co-operatives where they work together, are provided capital to invest in their businesses, and share their income in revolving loans, known as Village Savings and Loans (VSLA). The program targets young women who have not been able to complete secondary schooling, providing an alternative education pathway towards their financial independence.

Through PSI's Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) work over the last several decades in Kenya, it has learned that the journey women face from puberty to menopause remains confusing, unclear, "trial and error" based and often riddled with shame and guilt. In 2020, driven by insights gathered from target demographics, PSI (with funding from the Australian Ethical Foundation) developed and tested SRH content in six countries to gauge the viability of addressing these issues through social enterprise and technology.

PSI knows that sexual pleasure is a driver of sexual behavior. Sex-negative programming often produces effects opposite from those intended, and health programs that incorporate sexual pleasure consistently have positive results. However, evidence is generally limited to high-income settings, and less is known about the relationship between pleasure and sexual activity and potential entry points for pleasure-inclusive programming in different environments.

To address these challenges, PSI, with support from the Australian Ethical Foundatoin, developed Nena, a seamless digital solution to reframe the narrative to make SRHR more meaningful and relevant. Over the last year, PSI refined, optimised and tested this on-demand chatbot as a pleasure forward guide for young people exploring sexual and reproductive health. Through Nena, PSI also improves sexual literacy, self-efficacy and agency.

Nena launched at the end of 2021 and is already proving effective, with online comparison testing showing that content with a pleasure component is 126% more effective at engaging users versus campaigns that only focus on contraception.

Impact

Since launch, Nena has:

• Reached 4,065,896 users through social and behaviour change communications

• Provided 10,000+ users, specifically more than 5,900 women, with access to digital tools

• Achieved an 86% (4.3/5) satisfaction rating for digital health solutions

The Medical Advances Without Animals Trust’s aim was to advance medical science without using animals or animal products for biomedical research.

The MAWA Trust worked in partnership with The Australian National University and provides support and funding to universities and medical research institutions throughout Australia. As the only organisation in Australia providing funding to researchers and students in the rapidly developing field of animal replacement in scientific research, MAWA has successfully stimulated broad interest in animal-free alternative approaches within the medical research community.

We funded organ-on-chip research work with MAWA at The University of Sydney, specifically the development of lung disease-on-chip. These models will be vital for testing the efficacy of new generation therapeutics to regenerate lungs damaged by disease, including COVID-19. To validate the models, the researchers will investigate the effects of stem cells and stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles on lung structure and functionality. It is expected that this lung disease model will provide accurate representations of physiological responses and allow for testing of lung regeneration thereby replacing the traditional use of animals in this research.

Giving Green & the Australian Ethical Foundation focused on making it easier for you to give back to the planet.

We funded Australia’s first extensive research into the most impactful climate change charities, so you can donate with complete confidence.