ESG

Environmental, Social and Governance Framework

Acknowledgement of Country

Act for Kids would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land where our Australian offices are based.

We would also like to acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging.

We seek to foster a culture of friendship and partnership between Act for Kids and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, organisations and communities

Background

This Environmental, Social and Governance Framework is the first of its kind for the Act for Kids Group. It articulates the operationalisation of Act for Kids’ sixth strategic impact commitment We care about theworld around usanddowhat’sright .

To achieve our purpose of helpingkeepkids safe,healfromtraumaandleadhappylives we must ensure we are acting in ethical, sustainable ways that foster a better future for children and young people.

The future for children and young people is becoming increasingly concerning for a number of reasons including the growing divide between affluent and disadvantaged people, increasing costs of housing, negative impacts of climate change and growing social discord and the rise of extreme xenophobic and violent factions. All of this has been exacerbated by the two year (at time of writing) pandemic that shows no indication of abating.

Climate change in particular has the potential to increase the severity of all the above mentioned issues. The World Health Organisation estimates that more than 80% of the impacts of climate change will be borne by children, who had no part in creating the crisis. Increased severity and frequency of fires, floods, heatwaves and storms threaten food supply, water, sanitation, infrastructure, destroy livelihoods and drive migration and conflict worldwide. The impacts are greater on children, Indigenous peoples and the disadvantaged (UNICEF, 2021).

When faced with the growing evidence of the likely future, it is understandable that many people feel hopeless and that there is nothing they can do to influence change. We believe incremental change, by committed citizens is how things will improve long before governments take action.

Children certainly believe we should be taking action now, listening to them and ensuring they participate.

Strategic Impact Commitment

Act for Kids 2021-2024 Strategic Plan contains an impact commitment to environmental, social and ethical sustainability practices

Our commitment activities include:

Develop an ESG Framework

Incorporating goals and activities for existing and new elements in the environment, social and governance areas.

Establish baseline measures

Create goals and measurement framework and conduct baseline measures

Establish a steering group

Design goals and plans, engage the team to drive change, share success and knowledge.

Implement ESG Program

Three year plans for each identified goal area, including monitoring and reporting processes.

Report on website, in Annual Review and regularly to the Board and stakeholders.

Continuous improvement

Monitoring and reporting informs annual reviews of progress, measures and goals.

We care about the world around us and do what’s right

What is ESG?

ESG stands for environmental, social and governance areas of operations within an organisation’s value chain. It is a method of defining and demonstrating that an organisation is operating sustainably, for the good of society and the environment. ESG is also concerned with how an organisation creates value.

For Act for Kids and Youthrive, this ESG Framework has actingin thebestinterestsofchildrenandyoungpeopleas its overarching objective.

The decisions about what to report within an ESG Framework are quite complex and dependent on type of organisation and purpose, regulatory and legislative requirements and identification of key priorities within a wide range of possible indicators. Rather than developing ad hoc or idiosyncratic standards of our own, we have chosen to use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) using the SDG Compass and Global Compact (United Nations, https:sdgs.un.org/).

Prioritising Goals

The SDG Compass recommends two principles for prioritising the SDGs to focus on with an organisation’s value chain.

Risks to people and the environment

The contribution to achieving SDGs by addressing potential and actual negative impacts to people and the environment that are linked to the value chain and operations.

Benefits arising from services and investments

Additional contribution to achieving the SDGs from applying knowledge, skills and capabilities to benefit people and the environment.

Identifying Goal Areas

Reducing Negative Impacts Increasing Benefits

Our work with children and families directly contributes to 9 of the 17 SDGs and is focused on SDG Target 16.2 end abuse, exploitation, traffickingand all forms ofviolence against and torture of children.

We can contribute more to reduce impacts on the environment.

As a purpose driven human services organisation, we already prioritise benefits arising from our services.

We record these actions and strive for positive outcomes but have lacked the capacity to appropriately measure and report on impact.

Priority areas for action

We identified contributions we can make to SDGs 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14. Summarised , these encompass reductions in waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

We can increase benefits by measuring and reporting outcomes and impact and increasing opportunities for stakeholders to participate in decision - making at Act for Kids and Youthrive.

Targets and Measures

Environmental Targets

Increase recycling across all 31 Act for Kids and Youthrive centres .

SDG 6 Target 6.3 Improve water quality by increasing recycling and safe reuse.

SDG 12 Target 12.5 Reduce waste through recycling and reuse.

SDG 14 Target 14.1 Prevent marine pollution through recycling.

Waste Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Reduce total greenhouse gas emissions per annum . Carbon neutral by 2030 .

SDG 7 Target 7.2 Increase share of renewable energy in global mix.

SDG 13 Target 13.2 Implement climate change measures and monitor greenhouse gas emissions.

SDG 13 Target 13.3 Improve education, awareness and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, impact reduction.

Social Targets

Clients

Improve safety, health, opportunities, material basics and wellbeing for children, young people and families.

SDG 1 Target 1.2 By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion living in poverty.

SDG 2 Target 2.1 Ensure access by poor and vulnerable people including infants to safe food all year round.

SDG 4 Targets 4.1 to 4.7 Promoting equal access to education for people of all ages.

SDG 5 Targets 5.1 to 5.5 Promoting gender equality, freedom from violence and opportunities for women and girls.

SDG 11 Target 11.1 Ensure access to safe, affordable housing and basic services for all.

SDG 16 Target 16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related deaths.

SDG 16 Target 16.2 End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.

Social Targets

Team Members

Improve safety, health, opportunities, material basics and wellbeing for Act for Kids and Youthrive team members.

SDG 1 Target 1.2 By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion living in poverty.

SDG 3 Target 3.6 Halve the number of global deaths from road traffic accidents.

SDG 4 Targets 4.1 to 4.7 Promoting equal access to education for people of all ages.

SDG 5 Targets 5.1 to 5.5 Promoting gender equality, freedom from violence and opportunities for women and girls.

SDG 8 Targets 8.5, 8.6 & 8.8 Promoting productive work, equal pay, labour rights and safe and secure working environments for all including vulnerable women and people and youth.

SDG 10 Target 10.2 Empower and promote the inclusion of all irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.

SDG 16 Target 16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related deaths.

Governance Targets

All domains

SDG 12 Target 12.6 Integrate sustainability information into reporting cycle.

SDG 16 Target 16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive and participatory and representative decision making at all levels.

Development of Goals and Measures

ESG Strategy and Program

We have developed comprehensive three year plans for environmental, social and governance targets across the relevant SDGs. We will report on achievement of the goals on our website, in our Annual Review and regularly to our Board and stakeholders to ensure we hold ourselves publicly to account.

We work constantly to ensure that children, young people and their families are safe, developing well, have secure housing, are able to access food and other material basics and live in homes free from abuse and violence.

We also work hard to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our team members and that they are supported at work, paid equitably have equal access to opportunities.

New activities we will undertake through the ESG program are those related to reducing waste, increasing recycling and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The first stage is to develop baseline measures, then set goals and work to achieve them.

One of the key changes we will make is to how we measure and report on the outcomes we achieve against goals in each domain.