In partnership with The Ecoefficiency Group (TEG), the Inland Rail Skills Academy is offering a free Sustainability Business Mentoring Program to eligible local businesses along the Inland Rail alignment.

This program will assist participating businesses kickstart or enhance their sustainability approach and performance.

To be eligible to apply, businesses must:

  1. have completed the business sustainability webinar series and associated tasks
  2. be interested in learning about the mentoring topics offered in the program
  3. be located in an eligible Local Government Area
  4. fill out the ROI form.

Upon registering your interest, eligible businesses will be contacted by the Inland Rail Skills Academy to discuss the mentoring program in more depth.

What is Inland Rail’s Sustainability Business Mentoring Program?

 

Personalised

Up to five hours of support from experienced sustainability consultants.

Flexible delivery

Sessions are arranged to suit your business’s schedule.

Business led

Identify material issues that are important to you.

Free of charge

The program is fully funded by the Inland Rail Skills Academy.

What will you gain from the program?

By completing the mentoring program and implementing recommendations, your business may be able to:

  • Minimise resource use (energy, water and materials) and subsequently reduce operational costs
  • Build your sustainability reputation among the community and clients
  • Generate future work by improving your competitiveness in tenders that assess environmental and social performance (eg, having a sustainability strategy for reference in tenders).

 

Your commitment

Participating businesses are asked to:

  • commit to the full mentoring process
  • participate in feedback surveys
  • support the Inland Rail Skills Academy promotion of the program (eg, media case studies).

 

We are committed to playing our part in upskilling the nation and ensuring that different groups of people are given the opportunity to help build Inland Rail.

Our ambition is to:

  • increase the number of skilled local people eligible for work on Inland Rail
  • increase school student awareness and capability
  •  create opportunities for local businesses to participate in new supply chains
  • equip Inland Rail employees with world-class skills.

We do this through our Inland Rail Skills Academy.

Our Academy works with industry partners to deliver programs that build skills and prosperity in our local communities, regions and around Australia.

Learn more

The Ecoefficiency Group has been supporting individual businesses, industry, and government to implement practices that reduce their costs and embed sustainability within their operations for more than 20 years.

Their clients receive tailored environmental solutions, and they thrive on seeing their incremental changes build to integrated strategies.

Mentoring topics

Program participants will join one of three tailored mentoring streams. When registering interest in the program, businesses are invited to nominate their preferred topic.

Topic 1:

Emissions Inventory & Reduction Planning

Learn how to identify the components of your carbon footprint, where to find relevant data, and how to develop a practical emissions reduction plan. You’ll receive tools, templates, and support to build your own emissions profile and action plan.

Your commitment:

  • An initial call with The Ecoefficiency Group to understand carbon fundamentals, boundary and emission sources (approximately 1 hour)
  • Complete a workbook setting out your business’s boundary and emission sources (Approximately 20-30 minutes)
  • Engage in an online call with The Ecoefficiency Group to discuss components of your emission reduction plan (Approximately 1 hour)
  • Select the actions you want to implement and complete the workbook (Approximately 1 hour)
  • The Ecoefficiency Group will develop an emissions reduction plan based on your influence.

The output:

  • An emissions reduction plan you can implement for your business.

Topic 2:

Sustainability Strategy Development

Undertake a comprehensive business sustainability assessment using an online Business Sustainability Assessment tool. You’ll receive a clear performance snapshot of your business’s Environmental, Social and Governance performance, as well as a tailored short-, medium-, and long-term sustainability strategy.

Your commitment:

  • An initial call with The Ecoefficiency Group to discuss your business and learn how to complete an online assessment using the Business Sustainability Assessment Tool (approximately 1 hour)
  • Complete the Business Sustainability Assessment Tool (approximately 20-30 minutes)
  • Engage in an online call with The Ecoefficiency Group to discuss the results and your businesses next steps (approximately 1 – 1.5 hours)
  • The Ecoefficiency Group will create a report with the relevant findings.

The output:

  • The report can be converted into a Sustainability Strategy.

Topic 3:

Resource Efficiency Review

Analyse your day-to-day business activities and identify practical opportunities to reduce energy, water, and waste. You’ll be supported to develop an achievable action plan to improve environmental efficiency within your workplace.

Your commitment:

  • An online call with The Ecoefficiency group to discuss your business and identify resource efficiency opportunities (approximately 1.5 hours)
  • The Ecoefficiency Group will collate findings into a report and associated action.

The output:

  • Your business will receive an action plan with practical actions and opportunities to reduce energy, water, waste and emissions.

Eligible Local Government Areas

To be eligible to be part of the Sustainability Business Mentoring Program, businesses need to be located within the following Local Government Areas, along the Inland Rail alignment from Beveridge, Victoria, to Parkes, in NSW.

New South Wales

  • Bland Shire Council
  • Albury City Council
  • City of Wagga Wagga
  • Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council
  • Forbes Shire Council
  • Greater Hume Shire Council
  • Hilltops Council
  • Junee Shire Council
  • Temora Shire Council
  • Weddin Shire Council
  • Lockhart Shire Council
  • Parkes Shire Council.

Victoria

  • Benalla Rural City Council
  • Indigo Shire Council
  • Mitchell Shire Council
  • Strathbogie Shire Council
  • Rural City of Wangaratta
  • Regional City of Wodonga
  • City of Greater Shepparton.

Register your interest

Fill out the form to register your interest in the Sustainability Business Mentoring Program. Eligible businesses will be contacted by the Inland Rail Skills Academy to discuss the mentoring program in more depth.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
Address*

Conditions and eligibility for mentoring sessions

  • Eligible businesses are those located in the Local Government Areas through which Inland Rail runs between Beveridge, Victorian and Parkes, NSW..
  • Businesses are invited to lodge an application form, however no guarantee of receiving a mentoring session is made.
  • Businesses may be asked to provide information from their completed webinar tasks prior to any mentoring session.
  • The program includes a limited number of mentoring sessions. Applications will be assessed and approved by Inland Rail.
  • Inland Rail takes no responsibility for the advice and information provided by TEG.
  • Inland Rail will share all information included in this registration form with TEG, in accordance with Inland Rail Pty Ltd's Privacy Policy.
  • Businesses which undertake a mentoring session may be contacted to participate in promotional activities by Inland Rail, including photos, videos, interviews and feedback surveys.
  • If your application is successful, you must be committed to completing the mentoring process.
Conditions*
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More information:

If you have any questions regarding the Sustainability Mentoring program, please contact us via:

Phone: 1800 732 761

Email: IRSkillsAcademy@inlandrail.com.au

Learn about Inland Rail:

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Inland Rail is a 1,600km freight rail line, now under construction. It will connect Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Learn more about the project.
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Inland Rail is a 1,600km freight rail line now under construction in Australia. This map provides an overview of the Inland Rail project alignment between Melbourne and Brisbane, via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
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About Inland Rail Pty Ltd

Inland Rail Pty Ltd is constructing Inland Rail, a 1,600km fast rail freight line connecting Melbourne to Brisbane via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.