Industry steps forward at forum

On 3 December, stakeholders from the sheep industry supply chain flocked to Melbourne for the SSF Consultative Committee Forum, contributing insights to shape the future of the Sheep Sustainability Framework (SSF).

Held each year, the forum provides a platform to collect feedback on the performance and delivery of the framework. In previous years, it has been instrumental in advancing new areas of focus, such as carbon measurement.

With over 50 attendees, SSF Steering Group Chair Scott Williams said the forum fostered a strong sense of goodwill, driven by the opportunity for genuine stakeholder input.

“We’re collecting information from all of our stakeholders on what they need when they’re making judgements about the sustainability of the sheep industry,” Scott said.

“It also allows us to communicate what’s coming out of the framework and what we’re finding in the data we’re collecting.”

The event featured positive feedback on the progress of the 2024 Annual Report, with recent changes deemed both beneficial and practical.

“The challenge remains in ensuring the information we provide is comparable to that from other frameworks and is useful for businesses and organisations to implement for their own purposes,” Scott said.

“Supply chain participants look to the framework and its reports to help measure their own progress against various sustainability measures and support their own decision-making…it’s an important document for them, so long as we make it useful.”

The day included various sessions, including discussions on updating the framework’s Strategic Plan, and how the framework communicates findings across the supply chain.

Two presentations on the Taskforce for Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) –a framework that helps businesses understand and report on nature-related risks and impacts – offered valuable insights for attendees.

“An area we’re grappling with in the framework is reporting on those nature-positive indicators, so having the TNFD on the agenda was a way to begin consider how we might approach this, particularly around the measurement of biodiversity.”

While the forum on advancing the framework’s development and implementation, it also played a key role in exploring what’s next for the industry from a business perspective.

“It’s a really valuable opportunity for us to exchange ideas and understand what their customers are telling them,” Scott said.

“It does have a real effect on the framework, there’s no doubt.”