Leite de Almeida, Ana Carla, Hay, Rachel, Dale, Allan, Lockie, Stewart, and Everingham, Yvette (2024) ESG analysis on-farm: a practical framework to support Australian producers. In: Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (45) pp. 147-153. From: ASSCT 2024: 45th Annual Conference of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, 15-19 April 2024, Townsville, QLD, Australia. (In Press)

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Abstract

Increased pressures for a more sustainable agricultural development model has seen interest in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) grow rapidly. ESG frameworks and standards were designed to support industry and organisations to assess and report their ESG impacts, creating economic, environmental, and social benefit for society. However, these frameworks are not necessarily easily applied by farmers or agricultural producers. In principle, the lack of a simpler and specific framework focused on assisting farmers to continuously improve sustainability on-farm could be a limiting factor in them adopting ESG approaches and standards. With the aim of raising awareness and supporting Australian producers to self-assess and report ESG impacts on farm, and thus contributing to enhanced sustainability performance, we developed an ESG on-farm framework. We also developed a preliminary trial to investigate a) how readily the ESG on-farm framework can be applied by sugarcane farmers; and b) whether the framework can support sugarcane producers to measure sustainability-related risks and opportunities (sustainability baseline) and develop an ESG strategy. The ESG on-farm framework comprises five steps based on a blended format informed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework and other current and relevant ESG standards. The ESG on-farm framework is a self-assessment of ESG readiness designed to be practical and to enable farmers to start their ESG analysis. Preliminary results suggest that the ESG on-farm framework could streamline the process for sugarcane farmers to develop materiality assessments, establish sustainability baselines, and inform ESG strategy.

Item ID:	82952
Item Type:	Conference Item (Research - E1)
Keywords:	ESG on-farm, SDGs, multistakeholder approach, ESG metrics, sustainability performance, ESG strategy, sustainability baseline, sugarcane
Related URLs:	https://www.assct.com.au/
Copyright Information:	© Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists. All rights reserved.
Funders:	Australian Governement Future Drought Fund
Date Deposited:	18 Jun 2024 00:11
FoR Codes:	35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3502 Banking, finance and investment > 350201 Environment and climate finance @ 30% 35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3503 Business systems in context > 350303 Business information systems @ 35% 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3002 Agriculture, land and farm management > 300208 Farm management, rural management and agribusiness @ 35%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1806 Terrestrial systems and management > 180603 Evaluation, allocation, and impacts of land use @ 30% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1901 Adaptation to climate change > 190103 Social impacts of climate change and variability @ 35% 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1902 Environmental policy, legislation and standards > 190205 Environmental protection frameworks (incl. economic incentives) @ 35%
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