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What is Better Futures Australia? How is Better Futures Australia different from other engagements on climate change? Who makes up the Better Futures Australia community? Who supports Better Futures Australia? What is Alliances for Climate Action? How is Better Futures Australia governed? How is Better Futures Australia funded? What is Better Futures Australia's Theory of Change? Who are the Better Futures Australia Climate Champions? How do I differentiate between a champion, a signatory, and a partner? Who can join Better Futures Australia? Is there a membership fee or any other requirements? What does the Better Futures Australia Declaration ask organisations to do? What is the added value for participating stakeholders to be a part of Better Futures Australia and the incentive to increase their commitments? How does Better Futures Australia avoid Greenwashing? What is the Better Futures Forum? What is the Paris Agreement?

What is the added value for participating stakeholders to be a part of Better Futures Australia and the incentive to increase their commitments?

Answer

There are several benefits to participating in BFA including:

  • Reputation: BFA seeks to recognise the leadership of signatories, both domestically and internationally. To do so, BFA will leverage the combined communication muscle of BFA members and global partners to: (i) develop a joint public narrative domestically and internationally, identify public opportunities to feature signatories; (ii) develop events where signatories can be featured (as spokespeople and climate champions in their own right); (iii) develop talking points; (iv) connect them to media; etc. Key to this will be what they can show individually and what they aim to do as a collective (alliance).
  • Relational: BFA seeks to connect participating organisations to other stakeholders (local and state governments, companies, investors, civil society, academia, etc.) that can help them achieve their goals and unlock new opportunities by bringing signatories together, identifying areas of joint interest and supporting the development of joint climate actions.  Through the global Alliances for Climate Action, participating stakeholders will be able to connect with stakeholders engaging in ACAs and broader climate action (e.g. international initiatives by global partners such as We Mean Business commitments, C40’s Deadline 2020, etc.) in other countries as well. 
  • Influence: BFA seeks to amplify the individual voices and the collective voice of signatories by putting them shoulder to shoulder with other influential signatories when it comes to both public engagement and coordinated engagement with the national government for climate-related processes.
  • Access to national government: BFA seek to support a coordinated engagement with the national government to accelerate NDC implementation (e.g. through improved enabling conditions such as regulatory frameworks) and increase NDC ambition (e.g. by jointly identifying areas of high mitigation potential where signatories can play an important role).   
  • Technical: BFA seeks to provide information about / educate about relevant domestic and international policy processes (NDC and relevant national policies/programs, UNFCCC and key international moments), ongoing signatory contributions and opportunities for accelerating action and increasing ambition. BFA also seeks to connect signatories to initiatives that can provide technical support (including the ones from participating partners, such as the Science Based Targets Initiative, the Cities Power Partnership, Climate Action 100+, and direct support), and provide technical support to develop joint asks to the national government.

There are also benefits to taking climate action. The “business case” for climate action will differ by actor, but include benefits such as:

  • For a company, it could be cost savings and access to new markets, level playing field with other companies, access to tax credits/incentives, predictable energy costs;
  • For a city/state/territory, it could mean access to finance (attracting progressive companies in cities or states with clean energy policies); and
  • For universities, it could include being labelled as “universities of the future,” savings in operational costs, curriculum development and learning labs, preparing students for the future, engagement with society, attracting money to do more research, application of research in the real world, meeting their carbon neutral goals and having supportive policies to do so.