Helping to fight the impacts of climate change
Energy Matters supports and funds initiatives that reduce or address the impacts of climate change, especially for vulnerable Australians.
Our partnership with Mission Australia
With homelessness as AGL’s core social issue we’ve established a significant corporate partnership with Mission Australia, widely regarded as a leader in the field of homelessness services. Through a $750,000 donation from the AGL Foundation to Mission Australia, our Energy Matters initiative is supporting three major projects:
- In South Australia, a 3-year pilot program launched in December 2007 provides financial counselling, energy auditing and budgeting services to people experiencing short or long-term difficulty paying their energy bills. Using referrals from our Staying Connected customer hardship program, as well as from Mission Australia services, a trained case manager conducts an audit of their energy consumption and helps them to make change to reduce their energy costs, including access to no interest loans to purchase energy efficient appliances. They also receive support with household budgeting and access to other support services to help them get back on track.
- In NSW Energy Matters is helping fund the planning, design, installation and purchase of a new site for Mission Australia’s relocated Fairfax House service – a facility for homeless families, or those at risk of homelessness, currently based in Sydney’s inner west. Our funding will allow the new facility to reflect best practice energy efficient design, services and appliances.
- In Victoria we’ve provided seed funding for the research, planning and development of a best practice homeless facility in Melbourne, similar to the groundbreaking Mission Australia Centre in Surry Hills, Sydney.
Our relationship with WWF-Australia
Our relationship with WWF-Australia extends back to 2006 when we jointly produced ‘Options for Moving towards a lower emissions future’ a pragmatic economic evaluation of how to achieve emission reductions in the Australian electricity sector. Click here to find out more.
In 2007 the AGL Foundation contributed $100,000 to WWF-Australia to fund a management strategy for the preservation of marine turtles in far northern Queensland, whose future is threatened by the impacts of climate change. Click here to find out more.
In 2007 AGL also supported an expedition of six talented employees to Mapoon in Northern Queensland for a 7 day eco-expedition to see and participate first hand in the conservation activities of local fauna and flora, including the threatened marine turtles. As well as providing a life-changing experience for six of AGL’s future leaders, learnings gained from the visit have given AGL new and unique insights into the environmental impacts of climate change. Click here to watch a video of this expedition.
Energy matters to our employees
Understanding that energy efficiency starts with employees soon we’ll be reintroducing training for selected employees interested in knowing how to reduce their greenhouse footprint. As well as being able to apply this knowledge in the workplace and families and friends, employees will be invited to share their skills with homeless services, to help them to make ongoing reductions to their energy consumption.