Business Chamber Queensland has been recognised in The Australian Financial Review Sustainability Leaders List for 2025; celebrating the Australian companies that are making real progress in tackling sustainability challenges – and delivering business value along the way.

We were recognised as a Leader in the ‘Professional Services, Engineering, Advisory & Health’ category. Judging criteria was focused on three areas: environmental and social impact, use of emerging technology and to what extent entrants were building an ecosystem for sustainable growth.

“We’ve been around for 157 years; we know business,” says Business Chamber Queensland chief executive Heidi Cooper.

“We’ve taken our deep understanding of business to develop a sustainability offering that is designed by business for business and gets real business outcomes.”

We believe adopting sustainability makes good business sense: it’s central to building business competitiveness and productivity. However, our research shows 61% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operate at obligation or lower levels of sustainability maturity, are motivated to do more, but lack the support needed. And as Australia moves towards a net-zero economy, it’s critical we empower SMEs (99+% of Australian businesses) to adopt sustainable practices.

Business Chamber Queensland offers a range of practical programs and consulting services designed to help busy small and medium business owners adopt sustainable practices while also saving costs, driving efficiencies and securing their competitiveness.

A key focus is ensuring our sustainability programs and services deliver real outcomes for businesses. For example, in FY23/24 we helped over 800 SMEs avoid more than $3.1M+ in costs and avoid 12,077tCO2e in carbon emissions – equivalent to 3,000 cars on roads for a year.

Businesses consistently tell us workforce challenges are a significant constraint on business growth. In an environment where 30% of organisations experience recruitment difficulties, getting recruitment and retention strategies right can save business costs. Our Workforce Evolve program has helped more than 450 businesses across Queensland with tools to help improve talent attraction and retention practices and appeal to a broader range of workers.

Read more about how we’re empowering businesses to boost resilience and drive results.