How you’re funding projects designed to create change

Of course, your investment aims to deliver long term returns — but it also helps create positive change in three powerful ways:

• First, it’s invested in businesses meeting real world needs, like clean energy, healthcare, digital infrastructure and essential services.
• Second, on your behalf, we actively engage with the companies we invest in — encouraging better practices and stronger outcomes over time. Find out more about how we’re engaging with QBE.
• Third, we donate 10% of our profits (before tax) every year to the Australian Ethical Foundation, funding projects that protect nature and empower communities — often before other funding is available.

The Australian Ethical Foundation: Our 10% difference

The Australian Ethical Foundation funds early stage projects that protect nature and support communities — especially where traditional investment or government funding isn’t yet available.

Since 2000, the Foundation has donated more than $13 million to impactful climate, nature and community projects, with $2.5 million to be awarded this year alone.

The Foundation exists to back ideas at a critical point: when they show real promise, but aren’t yet commercially viable. By supporting projects early, the Foundation helps build the pipeline of future solutions that can later attract larger scale investment.

That’s why the Foundation focuses on protecting nature and supporting communities most affected by climate change — backing essential work where patient support can help ideas grow, scale and deliver lasting outcomes.

Since 2000, the Foundation has donated more than $13 million to high-impact climate, nature and community projects, with $2.5 million to be awarded this year alone.

Why nature sits at the centre of our work

Nature isn’t just a backdrop to the economy — it underpins it. Food systems, water, health, housing and energy all rely on healthy ecosystems. According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of the global economy (around US$44 trillion) depends on nature to some extent¹.

When ecosystems are degraded, the impacts aren’t abstract. They show up as higher costs, increased risk and reduced resilience over time.

Yet much of the work needed to protect and restore nature doesn’t fit short term business models. The gap between what’s essential and what’s immediately investable is exactly where the Australian Ethical Foundation focuses.

We are funding a Climate Adaptation pilot in the West Kimberley region, which aims to apply the Blueprint for Repairing Australia’s Landscapes to the West Kimberley region.

What your investment helps support

The Foundation’s grants are carefully targeted to back early stage projects that are high impact, underfunded and capable of scaling. Since 2000, more than $13 million has been awarded — with each grant designed to strengthen long term environmental and community resilience.

One 2026 grant recipient is Accounting for Nature. With Foundation support, this project helps landholders, Indigenous groups and environmental managers measure and track ecosystem health using practical, science based standards. The aim isn’t just better data — it’s making nature visible in financial decisions, so restoration and conservation can attract meaningful investment over time.

In the Northern Territory, the Foundation has supported Original Power’s Clean Energy Communities Project across multiple funding rounds. This includes backing the Ngardara Community Microgrid Project in Borroloola, providing grant funding, governance support and capacity building as the Ngardara Cooperative works toward full community ownership. The project aims to deliver affordable, reliable renewable energy, reduce reliance on diesel, and ensure local Aboriginal communities directly benefit from the clean energy transition — embedding long term self determination and local economic and social outcomes.

In the Northern Territory, the Foundation has supported Original Power's Clean Energy Communities Project across multiple funding rounds.

The Foundation also supports the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council in the West Kimberley, funding an Indigenous led collaboration to strengthen Traditional Owner leadership, governance and decision making. This work brings together Indigenous knowledge, science and place based expertise to protect the Martuwarra Fitzroy River while enabling sustainable, community driven economic pathways for the region.

Each of these projects tackles a different part of the system — from measurement and climate resilience to economic empowerment and land and water protection. What they share is a clear purpose: supporting work that is vital, effective, and not yet fully backed by markets at scale.