Stephen Dunne appointed Chair of Greening Australia

Greening Australia has appointed Stephen Dunne as its new Chair. Dunne has significant experience in financial services including a 21-year stint at AMP Capital, where he was CEO for 12 years. He is also a farm owner with an investment in livestock breeding, farmland conservation and restoration, and has seen the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss firsthand.

Dunne holds multiple board positions, including the Chair of the QIC Natural Capital Investment Committee, Chair of the Investors Group on Climate Change (IGCC) and Director & Chair of the Investment Committee for the Cbus Super Fund.

Dunne said he is excited to take on this role and drive strategy and investment in tangible, on-ground climate action and biodiversity loss.

“We are seeing an exponential growth in both the need and demand for environmental restoration, and rapid development in environmental markets to funnel investment into meeting this demand. Greening Australia is playing a pivotal role in helping to build these markets and in delivering the on-ground work that underpins them, so it’s a really exciting time to join the organisation,” Dunne said.

According to Dunne, climate change and biodiversity loss are great threats to the economy and to livelihoods. Greening Australia aims to address these challenges by 2023. In Australia and globally, a large amount of capital is required to shape a sustainable future, but Dunne is optimistic that this can be achieved.

Greening Australia is currently recruiting for a new CEO to work alongside Dunne. Outgoing CEO Brendan Foran is confident that Dunne’s financial services background, vision and alignment with the organisation will drive success for Greening Australia as it continues to scale and speed up its operations in this critical decade for ecosystem restoration.

“We’re currently seeing enormous disruption in the environmental sector, with unprecedented demand from investors and policy discussion from government. I look forward to seeing the continued success and growth of Greening Australia under the leadership of Stephen and the new CEO,” Foran said.

Greening Australia has also appointed Scott Anderson to its board. Anderson is a Birriah and Nywaigi Traditional Owner and business management and community engagement specialist. He is the Chair of Greening Australia’s Thriving on Country Committee, a committee that is integral to the delivery, evaluation and governance of Greening Australia’s reconciliation journey.

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