SV20: From awareness to action
In 2025, Sustainability Victoria (SV) is celebrating 20 years of changing what’s possible. We’re looking back at some of our most memorable, exciting and transformative projects delivered on behalf of the Victorian Government.
‘Black Balloons’ behaviour change campaign
What we did
In 2006, Sustainability Victoria launched its defining campaign, ‘Black Balloons’. This landmark behaviour change campaign and turning point in environmental communication had significant reach and global influence.
Why it matters
Almost two decades later, Sustainability Victoria has evolved a best practice approach for behaviour change campaigns to guide household behaviours and normalise sustainability. We’ve made sustainability easier at home through advice, education, and incentives, so that more Victorians can recycle correctly, save energy and reduce waste.
20 years changing household behaviours
How much greenhouse gas fits in a single black balloon?
It’s 2006, and that question has Sustainability Victoria’s technical experts in a spin: ’obsessed, and arguing about how much carbon dioxide a black balloon could actually hold,’ recalls senior energy efficiency advisor Ian MacNicol.
‘Of course, the clever thing about the campaign was that it enabled people to visualise greenhouse emissions.’
The simple but striking image of a black balloon formed the basis of our iconic energy efficiency campaign with each balloon representing 50 grams of greenhouse gas released from everyday appliances (according to the experts).
The mass media campaign changed the way Victorians thought about their energy use. It was a bold, creative way to show that we all have a part to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change.
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Each one of these balloons represents 50g of greenhouse gas.
You can't see it, but you produce greenhouse gas every time you use energy.
The average home produces over 200,000 balloons every year.
Save energy and you'll also save money and reduce your impact on climate change.
You have the power to make a difference.
Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne.
Two decades later, ‘Black Balloons’ is just one of dozens of behaviour change and education campaigns delivered by Sustainability Victoria, helping Victorians to recycle correctly, avoid waste and reduce emissions.
As our energy and recycling systems mature, we need to support these changes with the right behaviours in households across the state.
Awareness is no longer enough. Since ‘Black Balloons’, we’ve evolved from awareness to action, developing a best-practice approach to household behaviour change and proving the power of consumer education at scale.
‘Since 2021 alone, our campaigns have been viewed over 13 million times – the equivalent of reaching every Victorian at least twice’
Sustainability Victoria behaviour change campaign advertising in Clifton Hill, 2023. The transformation:
Making sustainability tangible
‘Black Balloons’ was one of the first mainstream efforts to connect personal behaviour with environmental impact – and it worked. The statewide television and press advertising campaign was launched in the winter of 2006.
Suddenly, emissions weren’t just numbers on a bill or distant industrial concerns. They were floating out of our kettles, TVs, and heaters.
‘It made things tangible ... people had their VCR sitting in front of them with a light bleeping as they watched the ad. It became very real to them’
Evaluation of the campaign indicated that 61% of Victorian households had been exposed to the ‘Black Ballons’ campaign, and that 57% of those who had seen the campaign were motivated to implement energy saving behaviours.
Newspaper The Age reported ‘black balloons inflate green awareness’ in March 2007, noting a surge in consumer interest in the government’s GreenPower clean energy scheme. At the time, renewable energy supplied only about 4% of Victoria's energy needs, compared to 42% today.
The campaign was nominated for awards, sparked global conversation, and became a reference point for effective public engagement. Following its success in Victoria, it was rolled out in South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia.
During a visit to Melbourne in 2006, Al Gore met with Premier Steve Bracks and Deputy John Thwaites. He praised Victoria as ‘forward thinking on climate change’ and was particularly impressed by the campaign, promising to take the concept back to the United States.
‘From the first time I saw the films I have been very impressed by their potential to have a significant impact on the way people think about their role in the climate crisis.’
The ‘Black Balloons’ campaign helped Victorians visualise greenhouse gas emissions. The impact:
From ‘shock and awe’ to structural change
‘Black Balloons’ started the conversation, but real behaviour change – change that continues in the absence of reinforcement by an ongoing campaign – needs more than a compelling message.
BehaviourWorks’ Liam Smith notes that while there’s a place for evocative, memorable ‘shock and awe’ campaigns like ‘Black Balloons’ those from Worksafe and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), ‘it's always got to be a mix of things to get any kind of significant, lasting change.’
The Transport Accident Commission’s memorable 2008 campaign ‘Pictures of You’ humanised victims of road accidents, drawing on our emotions to promote safer driving. Sustainability Victoria recognised early on that changing household habits to cut waste and emissions required working with government, industry, and communities to create the conditions for change.
Sustainability Victoria’s Rebecca Bliss explains that campaigns for sustainability must go beyond raising awareness and address real-world obstacles and motivations that shape everyday choices.
‘People often assume behaviour change can be achieved through communication, education, and information alone – but that’s not always effective. While lack of information can be a barrier in some cases, many behaviours are influenced by deeper structural or practical issues.’
To achieve the behaviour change needed, Stan Krpan, Sustainability Victoria CEO from 2012 to 2019, advocated for the development of a more sophisticated methodology. We partnered with a consortium of organisations to support the development of a best practice framework by the largest applied behaviour change research unit in Australia: BehaviourWorks Australia at Monash University.
‘Sustainability Victoria can own some of the methodology, a piece of it anyway,’ says Liam Smith. ‘You helped us … you egged us on to write it in the first place!’
The big picture:
Inspiring you to be sustainable at home
Over the last 20 years, there has been a shift from broad awareness campaigns to more targeted interventions using evidence-based methodologies and emphasising the importance of specifying who needs to do what differently.
‘Over time, we've become more applied in our approach,’ Rebecca Bliss says. ‘We want to drive people to actually change their behaviours and maintain that behaviour change. We've become more rigorous. It's challenging because it costs more money and takes more time, but it means we've got a much stronger base of evidence to show what works.’
Since ‘Black Ballons’, SV’s behaviour change initiatives have tackled everything from food waste to recycling correctly and diverting waste from landfill.
‘Change the Globe’ in 2007 offered Victorians a free energy efficient globe when they grabbed their Sunday paper at the newsagent. ‘Better Bag Habits’ in 2019 saw us delight shoppers in Bourke Street Mall with a green Santa giving away free reusable bags. ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ in 2023 included the first national food waste research into people’s behaviours at home and how we could change them. And in 2025, we partnered with Tennis Australia to quench the thirst of fans with reusable cups at the Australian Open.
‘Sustainability Victoria has gotten much better ... rather than just saying everyone needs to change, they've really matured to get much more specific around target audiences and target behaviour.’
Over 20 years, it has remained important to match behavioural interventions with other forms of support to embed sustainability and enable Victorians to make better choices and overcome barriers like cost. This has included everything from incentives and rebates in homes, businesses and communities, to working with industry to offer more sustainable packaging or include information on energy efficiency at the point of sale.
The future:
The right behaviours to match Victoria’s net-zero economy
Today, Sustainability Victoria’s ‘Small Acts, Big Impact’ program brings together behavioural science, audience segmentation, and impact measurement as a targeted, inclusive, and effective campaign to change behaviour. Each campaign is grounded in data and refined through testing. In evaluation, we don’t just ask if people saw the message – we ask if they changed their behaviour.
This commitment to impact has positioned Sustainability Victoria as a national leader in sustainability behaviour change, and the Small Acts, Big Impact campaign has now been licensed to the Queensland Government.
‘Sustainability Victoria is an absolute star. They get it, and they’ve got strong skills and capabilities and they’re able to use those to upskill others around them.’
The ‘Black Balloons’ campaign was never just about balloons – it was about empowering people to understand the impact of their actions. As we move toward a net-zero emissions future, the role of household behaviour change will only grow, making it easier for Victorians to make choices that are better for their homes, communities, businesses and the planet. We’re ready to build on the legacy of ‘Black Balloons’ to make sustainability something we all do, every day.
20 years of changing what’s possible
For two decades, we have led the way to a sustainable future – cutting waste, driving down emissions, and turning policy into real action across homes, communities, and businesses.
But none of it happens without you, Victoria. Your choices. Your drive. Your belief in a better way.