Sustainability
Our sugar manufacturing sector must continue to adapt and evolve so it can operate efficiently, sustainably and responsibly in a rapidly changing world.
The Australian sugar industry continues to be impacted by a shifting global landscape, from greater awareness of social, health and environmental issues leading to increased stakeholder expectations about how the industry manages these challenges.
Our sugar milling sector is undertaking analysis to better understand our emissions profile and least cost abatement pathways. Thanks to the electricity our mills generate from sugarcane by-products (bagasse) we have a solid foundation for future work.
We understand increased stakeholder expectations about water quality, responsible land use, emissions, labour practices and emissions. We are working to understand our impacts and continually improve our approach. Most recently this included releasing a report on the economic and social contribution of the industry to regional communities and Queensland.
The ASMC continues to adopt a proactive approach to these challenges, working with the wider sugar industry, communities and governments, to get the balance right on addressing our social responsibilities, operate with certainty in regional Queensland, and fully harness sugar milling’s potential to produce even more renewable energy.
The ASMC’s initiatives include:
- a materiality assessment to understand stakeholder expectations of the industry;
- developing a sustainability framework for the industry;
- developing a least-cost carbon abatement plan for the industry
- supporting continual improvement and programs such as SmartCane BMP and Six Easy Steps
- continuing to underpin our regional communities through jobs and local spend — currently 90 percent of our sector’s goods and services are sourced locally