Reflecting on Sustainability Victoria’s legacy

By Matt Genever, Chief Executive Officer

Sustainability Victoria has always punched above its weight. With passion, intelligence and an entrepreneurial spirit, we’ve proven that change is possible and made Victoria a more sustainable place to live and work.

With the support of our partners, we’ve elevated Victoria’s recycling capacity, supported the community to reduce waste, brokered partnerships and developed new markets. 

We’ve faced uphill battles as we built momentum for difficult but necessary change, like moving Victoria off coal. Now more than half a million homes in Victoria rely on solar panels for their energy. 

In 2006, we delivered Australia’s first-ever mass media campaign on household emissions with the groundbreaking ‘Black Balloons’. Since then, we’ve built on its success, honing our approach to behaviour change to deliver more sophisticated campaigns and help Victorians live more sustainably.  

I want to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to all our collaborators in state, local and federal government, as well as academic, community, business and industry stakeholders who have worked with Sustainability Victoria over the past 21 years. Your support has helped us move sustainability beyond an environmental issue, making it investment-ready and a driver of economic success for our great state. 

To all Victorians, we’re grateful to have spent more than 20 years working with you to change what’s possible. We’ve provided advice, education and incentives, reaching new frontiers as you’ve gained confidence in energy efficiency, recycling, tackling food waste, and understanding the circular economy.

Thank you to Sustainability Victoria Board members past and present for your guidance and stewardship over two significant decades. Your support has helped the organisation bring policy to life, anticipating trends and building the foundation for Victoria to move to a circular economy. 

Of course, the organisation would be nothing without its staff. Over 21 years, more than 1,000 of talented, dedicated people from diverse personal and professional backgrounds have passed through our doors to build something unique. It’s become almost a cliché to talk about the incredible culture at Sustainability Victoria, but it deserves one more mention as we wind up. 

I want to thank SV staff, past and present, for the special culture they created: from hyper-competitive baking competitions to memorable Christmas parties and plenty of genial chats around the office.

Thanks in large part to its staff, Sustainability Victoria has always been more than the sum of its parts. Our staff leave a legacy of exceptional collaboration and delivery, improving the lives of all Victorians and helping community, industry and government amplify their impact.

We hope everyone who has worked with Sustainability Victoria over the last 20 years will carry on our legacy: driving change to reduce emissions and support Victoria’s transition to a fully circular economy. 

There’s still work to be done to achieve circularity and meet Victoria’s ambitious climate targets. The next frontiers for government and industry will be tackling overconsumption and emissions from materials.

But Victorians are in safe hands, as our partners and collaborators step up together to address the next generation of sustainability challenges, demonstrating the bravery and foresight required to keep the spirit of Sustainability Victoria alive.