Sustainability Report

2022



Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of 
Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection 
to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them 
and their cultures and to their elders both past and present.

Contents
Message from our Chief Executive ..................................................................................................3

Overview.......................................................................................................................................................4About us........................................................................................................................................................4FY22 highlights by theme......................................................................................................................5Sustainability is in our DNA..................................................................................................................6How CSIRO creates value....................................................................................................................................................6United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.............................................................................................................7Our approach .............................................................................................................................................8Materiality...........................................................................................................................................................................8Strategic focus areas ........................................................................................................................................................10Priority actions.................................................................................................................................................................12Foundations for a sustainable CSIRO............................................................................................15Financial sustainability.....................................................................................................................................................15Culture, ethics, integrity and trust..................................................................................................................................15Data security and privacy.................................................................................................................................................19Digital disruption and innovation...................................................................................................................................21Our stakeholders.....................................................................................................................................25

Our people.................................................................................................................................................29An agile, future-focused workforce................................................................................................................................30Connected and collaborative ways of working..............................................................................................................31Health, safety and wellbeing...........................................................................................................................................32Partnerships and engagement.........................................................................................................37Relationship with government .......................................................................................................................................37Collaboration with business and industry......................................................................................................................37National and international research partners................................................................................................................40Community engagement and capacity building............................................................................................................42Excellent science.....................................................................................................................................49Impactful science..............................................................................................................................................................49Ethical science and research dissemination...................................................................................................................51Environmental and social impact....................................................................................................57Environmental reporting ................................................................................................................................................58Reducing our carbon footprint .......................................................................................................................................58Risks and opportunities of the global climate transition..............................................................................................66Responsible value chain...................................................................................................................................................74Appendix.....................................................................................................................................................79Material topic definitions.................................................................................................................................................79Glossary.............................................................................................................................................................................82How we engage with our stakeholders..........................................................................................................................83Data pack...........................................................................................................................................................................84TCFD Reporting Index......................................................................................................................................................94Limited Assurance Statement...........................................................................................................................................95GRI Content Index.............................................................................................................................................................96

Message from our 
Chief Executive 

As Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO is proud to be 
implementing world-class solutions to the global challenge 
of sustainability, through both our science, and in our 
operations around the country. Our inaugural Sustainability 
Report sets a benchmark for our progress so far and 
commits to transparency and accountability as we aspire 
to lead by example for the nation. Powered by our 
own excellent science and purpose-driven people, 
we are optimistic and confident about our strategies 
to continue improving our sustainability performance, 
while acknowledging the scale of the challenges ahead 
for an organisation as diverse and dispersed as CSIRO.

CSIRO’s unique sustainability challenges are also our 
powerful opportunities. While looking for ways to 
run critical national research infrastructure more 
sustainably – ranging from the Australian Centre for Disease 
Preparedness in Geelong to the Pawsey Supercomputing 
Research Centre in Perth to our Research Vessel Investigator 
and more – as well as our more than 50 sites, we can also 
harness our cutting-edge scientific research to develop 
bespoke solutions. This year, we ran a ‘sustainability shark 
tank’ competition, where our people proposed different 
ways to apply their research to help reach our net zero 
targets, as well as a ‘Labs of the Future’ challenge, inviting 
our people to redesign their labs to embrace new and 
emerging technology to improve efficiency, support 
wellbeing, and drive scientific outcomes. This expertise is 
underpinned by our collaborative research to develop 
climate risk assessments for ourselves and for our partners, 
renewable energy technologies, and our ‘towards net zero’ 
mission in development, which is partnering to develop 
transition pathways to embed low-emission technology into 
Australian industry and agriculture, supporting regional 
communities in a low emissions future.

While our science can unlock solutions, our people are the 
creative and motivating force that turns them into a reality 
and drives change through our operations. We engage our 
people and our community to drive inclusive sustainability 
that draws on diverse backgrounds, experiences 
and perspectives to strengthen our organisation. 
For example, this year we published our third Reconciliation 
Action Plan, continuing to strengthen relationships with 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through greater 
collaboration with Australia’s first scientists. In addition 
to harnessing our research wherever we can, our people 
are passionate supporters of improving how we run CSIRO. 
Our people are energetic adopters of sustainable practices, 
which will be key to our continued progress on waste 
management solutions and better managing our impacts 
through more sustainable procurement practices, among 
other initiatives. We have also created more opportunities 
for our people to collaborate in person through progress 
on our site consolidation strategy, which has reduced 
our property footprint by over 50,000 m2 in the past 
year, creating fewer but far more vibrant sites that can 
embrace new technologies while supporting our people 
to have hybrid working arrangements on site and from 
home. These sites have reduced carbon emissions through 
renewable energy, with ambitious goals to use our own 
innovations from artificial intelligence to hydrogen fuel 
into the future. 

Looking ahead, I’m excited by the goals we’ve set ourselves 
in sustainability. We have set ambitious targets for CSIRO 
to be net zero by 2030, which will be achieved in part 
through harnessing the world-class knowledge within 
CSIRO. We will seek out new opportunities to engage our 
people with ways to deliver further sustainability gains, 
particularly in continuing to tackle difficult challenges in 
waste management and procurement. As we continue to 
consolidate our footprint, we will upgrade and build new 
facilities that aim higher, including expanding our already 
considerable renewable energy. We are even exploring 
opportunities for our own hydrogen fuel research to 
power CSIRO infrastructure, like the RV Investigator.

CSIRO’s inaugural Sustainability Report shows we have 
made great progress, but we have significant and exciting 
work ahead to realise our ambitions. Enabled by our 
world-class research, driven by our passionate people, 
and informed by our robust strategy, I look forward 
to CSIRO continuing to become more sustainable and 
inspiring Australia as it achieves its goals.

Larry Marshall 

Chief Executive



Overview

This sustainability report provides a summary of our 
activities and performance for the financial year 2021–22 
(FY22) against our Sustainability Strategy 2020–20301, which 
aims to improve our environmental, social and economic 
performance in ways that are meaningful and important 
to our stakeholders.

This is the first sustainability report published by the 
Commonwealth and Scientific Industrial Research 
Organisation (CSIRO), presenting information on the 
sustainability performance of our Australian operations for 
the financial year ending 30 June 2022. This report has been 
prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative2 
(GRI) Standards 2016: Core Option. A full list of disclosures 
can be found in the GRI Content Index. 

This report outlines our approach to managing the material 
issues affecting our organisation and stakeholders, our 
sustainability performance for FY22 and our aims for 
FY23, and includes our progress towards the actions, 
initiatives and targets outlined in our Sustainability 
Strategy. The report has been structured around the 
5 themes – foundations for a sustainable business; our 
people; partnerships and engagement; excellent science; 
and environmental and social impact. Our approach to 
sustainability reporting will continue to evolve over the 
coming years.

This report should be read in conjunction with our annual 
report3 for the same reporting period. It complements our 
annual report, expanding disclosures on our non-financial 
performance and opportunities. 

About us

CSIRO is an Australian Government statutory authority, 
with a Board and Chief Executive. We are constituted 
by and operate under the provisions of the Science and 
Industry Research Act 1949 (SIR Act), which sets out our 
functions and powers. The governance, performance 
and accountability of our operations, including the use 
and management of public resources, are set out in 
the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability 
Act 2013 (PGPA Act) and related rules. 

The CSIRO Corporate Plan4 is our key strategic planning 
document. The Corporate Plan directs how we will 
deliver on our purpose as an organisation. It shows 
how our key priorities align with the legislation 
that we adhere to, and how we measure success. 
As a Commonwealth entity we are required to produce 
our Corporate Plan under the PGPA Act. The planning 
undertaken at this enterprise level informs the 
development of all other strategies, plans, reviews, 
and resource allocations. 

Each year, we report on our scientific, operational and 
financial performance through our annual report, which 
provides a summary of our activities and performance for 
the previous financial year against the planned objectives 
and outcomes in our Corporate Plan and Portfolio Budget 
Statements. It sets out our organisational and governance 
structure, along with information about our business 
strategy and operations.

1 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/strategy/Sustainability

2 https://www.globalreporting.org/

3 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/annual-reports

4 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Corporate-Plan/21-22-corporate-plan



FY22 highlights by theme

Foundations

Published CSIRO’s

first Sustainability Report

Executive-level

Sustainability Steering Committee

Our people

>5600 
employees

41.1% 
female leadership

62.5% 
Board positions 
held by women

ACHIEVED

Silver accreditation

Australian Workplace Equality Index 
(AWEI) to May 2022

ACTIONS 
COMPLETED

68%

Science and Gender 
Equity (SAGE)

ACHIEVED

Bronze 
accreditation

SAGE to 2026

PARTICIPATION IN

Sydney Gay & 
Lesbian Mardi Gras

(2019, 2020, 2022)

Partnerships and engagement

Published our third

Innovate Reconciliation 
Action Plan (RAP) 2021–23

Small to medium 
enterprises (SME)

collaboration initiative

Established 
child safe office

Excellent science

Delivered

8.4:1 return

on investment for 
benefit of Australia

Released the 
once in a decade

Our Future 
World5 Report

Launched

4 new

science 
missions

Conducted net 
zero emissions 
(NZE) science

‘shark tank’

Environmental and social impact

97%

invoices from small business 
suppliers paid within 20 days

Sustainable 
procurement 
working group 
formed

Independent modern slavery 
risk assessment completed

PARTICIPATED IN

Corporate Energy 
Reduction Transparency 
(CERT) report pilot study

Reduced property footprint by

>50,000m2

>50% reduction

in greenhouse gas emissions 
compared to FY21

First phase climate 
risk assessment 
completed

5 https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/data/Our-Future-World



Sustainability is in our DNA

At CSIRO, we solve the greatest challenges through 
innovative science and technology. We are Australia’s 
national science agency and innovation catalyst, 
collaborating to boost Australia’s innovation performance.

For over a century, CSIRO has been improving the lives 
of people everywhere with our science. We’ve advanced 
Australia with a range of inventions and innovations that 
have had significant positive impacts on the lives of people 
around the world. Some of these include fast WiFi, the 
Hendra Virus vaccine, extended wear contact lenses and 
the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet.

The work of more than 5,600 CSIRO scientists and support 
staff is centred around the sustainable development of our 
nation. Sustainability is at the heart of our purpose and is 
reflected throughout our science agenda. We work with 
industry, government and the research community to 
turn science into solutions to address Australia’s greatest 
challenges6, including:

• Food Security and Quality: Achieve sustainable regional 
food security and grow Australia’s share of premium 
AgriFood markets.
• Health and Wellbeing: Help enhance health for all 
through preventative, personalised, biomedical and 
digital health services.
• Resilient and Valuable Environments: Enhancing 
the resilience, sustainable use and value of our 
environments, including by mitigating and adapting 
to the impacts of climate and global change.
• Sustainable Energy and Resources: Build regional 
energy and resource security and Australia’s 
competitiveness while lowering emissions.
• Future Industries: Help create Australia’s future 
industries and jobs by collaborating to boost 
innovation performance and STEM skills.
• A Secure Australia and Region: Help safeguard 
Australia from risks (war, terrorism, regional instability, 
pandemics, biosecurity, disasters and cyber-attacks).


We identified these challenges through analysis of our own 
trend modelling and forecasting, including the Australian 
National Outlook report,7 engagement with our partners 
in industry, government and academia, and a review 
of Australian and international priorities (including the 
Australian Science and Research Priorities and the United 
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs8)).

How CSIRO creates value9

As Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO plays a 
foundational and multifaceted role in the economy; 
in Australia’s innovation ecosystem; and in the global 
research and innovation landscape. We provide the 
essential platforms and advice needed by a broad range 
of stakeholders, including conducting research pursuant 
to national priorities and directives. We collaborate with 
innovators to convert their discoveries and ideas into 
technologies, services, and best practices that benefit 
the nation.

Every 2 years independent evaluators and analysts assess 
the value we deliver to Australia by analysing our impact. 
The Value of CSIRO Reports10 provide the most up-to-date 
information about our collective impact. The 2022 Value 
of CSIRO Report calculated an 8.4:1 return on investment, 
indicating that for every $1 invested in CSIRO, at least 
$8.40 in value is returned to the Australian people. 
There are also many other contributions that can’t be 
readily expressed in dollar terms, such as contributions 
to Australia’s human capital, conservation and culture.

Our influence extends beyond Australia. We are a regional 
leader in international policy and development for climate, 
biodiversity, sustainability and food security. Many of our 
scientists take active and leading roles in the advancement 
of science knowledge as part of global deliberations11.

6 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions/Challenges

7 https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/services/consultancy-strategic-advice-services/CSIRO-futures/Australian-National-Outlook

8 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

9 See Annual Report 2021–22 Objective 1 Delivering benefits for Australia 

10 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/Auditing-our-impact

11 https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/International



United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

These 17 SDGs provide a framework for global cooperation 
to achieve growth, peace, and prosperity for all nations. 
They address environmental health, human wellbeing, 
economic sustainability, and long-term profitability.

Australia is one of 193 UN Member States to adopt the SDGs, 
and therefore all governments, businesses, and civil society 
have a responsibility to support this commitment.

Research institutions play an important role in achieving 
the SDGs. CSIRO is a central player in Australia’s progress, 
touching on each of the SDGs through our science. 
We were a key contributor to Australia’s first Voluntary 
National Review,12 which outlined Australia’s progress 
against the SDGs, and will continue to develop global 
partnerships that drive positive outcomes.

We have aligned the key elements of our Sustainability 
Strategy with the SDGs, to highlight the impact of our 
operations and the ways in which we work to progress the 
SDGs through our day-to-day activities. The case studies 
in this report highlight alignment of our science with 
the SDGs.

12 https://www.sdgdata.gov.au/sites/default/files/voluntary_national_review.pdf



Figure 1: Material themes, graphic.
FoundationsPartnerships and 
engagementExcellent 
scienceEnvironmental 
and social 
impactOur peopleOur people• Connected and 
collaborative 
ways of working• Health, safety 
and wellbeing• An agile, future-
focused workforce• Diversity, 
inclusion and 
belongingExcellent 
science• National and 
international 
research partners• Research 
dissemination 
and application, 
and impact 
measurement• Impactful science 
and research areas• Ethical science 
and researchFoundations• Culture, ethics, 
integrity and trust• Financial 
sustainability• Digital disruption 
and innovation• Data security 
and privacyPartnerships 
and 
engagement• Relationship with 
government• Collaboration 
with business 
and industry• Community 
engagement and 
capacity building• Action for 
reconciliationEnvironmental 
and social 
impact• Resource 
eciency• Risks and 
opportunities 
of the global 
climate transition• Responsible 
value chain• Reducing our 
carbon footprint
Our approach 

In 2020 we undertook a review of our approach to 
managing our sustainability impacts in line with best 
practice, resulting in a new sustainability strategy to 
take us through to 2030. The Sustainability Strategy 
2020–2030 ties together existing actions and identifies 
opportunities to improve our sustainability performance. 
It includes challenging targets and initiatives and is 
informed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, 
the GRI, and the Paris Climate Agreement13. A key aspect 
of our strategy is a commitment to improving transparency 
around our sustainability performance, making us more 
accountable to our stakeholders.

Materiality

Understanding the issues that are material to CSIRO 
and to our stakeholders is important for developing a 
comprehensive approach to managing our sustainability 
impacts. Defining our material issues helps to ensure that 
our efforts and resources are directed to activities that 
manage the impact of our operations and generate value 
for our stakeholders. 

In 2020 we undertook a materiality assessment to 
develop a list of 20 topics14 considered material to CSIRO. 
The assessment involved consideration of peer approaches 
to sustainability, interviews with internal and external 
stakeholders, a review of internal policies and strategies, 
industry trends and a media analysis. The topics were 
tested through stakeholder workshops and a validation 
workshop with members of CSIRO’s Executive Team. 
The stakeholder engagement approach considered 
leading practice frameworks used by organisations to 
demonstrate leadership and performance in accountability, 
responsibility, and sustainability15.

The 20 topics fall into 5 key themes (Figure 1), with the 
materiality matrix shown in Figure 2, and the definitions of 
each topic included in the Appendix. Some topics represent 
our organisational impact on the most critical issues of our 
time, mirroring the approach of our world class research, 
whilst others represent significant issues that impact only 
our organisation or stakeholders.

These material issues informed the development of 
our Sustainability Strategy, and they will continue 
to help us define our short, medium, and long-term 
sustainability goals, and direct our risk management 
efforts. We will regularly review these topics and refresh 
our materiality assessment every 3 to 5 years to identify 
new or emerging issues. We are also working towards 
expanding our engagement process with external 
stakeholders, including through existing channels such as 
business and community survey opportunities.

Figure 1: Material themes

13 https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement

14 See Appendix – Material topic definitions

15 GRI Reporting Principles and AA1000APS



Figure 2: Material topics, scatter graph.
Time ScaleShort term (feeling the impact now)
Medium term (impact will become 
material in the next ve years)
Long term (impact felt out beyond ve years)
Material topicsEnvironmental and social impactExcellent scienceFoundationsOur peoplePartnerships and engagementResponsible 
value chainAction for 
reconciliationReducing our 
carbon footprintCommunity 
enagement and 
capacity buildingDiversity, inclusion 
and belongingResource 
e­ciencyRisks and 
opportunities 
of the global 
climate transitionNational and international 
research partnersCollaborations 
with business 
and industryEthical 
science and 
researchData 
security 
and privacyCulture, ethics, 
integrity and trustDigital disruption 
and innovationResearch, dissemination 
and application, 
and impact measurementImpactful science 
and research areasAn agile, 
future-focused 
workforceConnected and 
collaborative 
ways of 
workingRelationship 
with governmentFinancial 
sustainabilityHealth, safety 
and wellbeingImpactto CSIROImportanceto stakeholders
Figure 2: Material topics



Strategic focus areas 

The materiality assessment helped us to identify ways 
to improve our performance by understanding what 
is important to our people, wider stakeholders and 
our future. Through this process we identified priority 
actions or initiatives that form the basis of our renewed 
approach to sustainability and provide a platform on 
which to better communicate with our stakeholders on the 
issues that matter.

Our Sustainability Strategy focuses on 6 key areas. 
We believe improvements in these areas will provide 
the most immediate impact on our performance and 
will better place us to respond to sustainability issues. 
Improved transparency through stronger governance 
processes and a commitment to public reporting are key 
elements that will help to keep our progress on track.



1

Governance 
and transparency

Increase transparency around sustainability 
performance through improved governance 
processes and systems, including regular public 
reporting aligned to the SDGs.

2 Excellent and 
impactful science

Apply CSIRO’s technical expertise to solve 
internal challenges and respond to global 
priorities by creating internal and external 
partnerships that contribute to the SDGs.

3

Our people and 
capacity building

Create a culture that supports our highly 
capable and diverse workforce on sustainable 
practices, and promote capacity building and 
understanding of sustainability issues through 
community and industry engagement.

4

Sustainable 
property portfolio

Ensure fit-for-purpose buildings, aspiring to net 
zero carbon impact, that stimulate excellent 
science and improve staff health and well-being.

5

Transition to a clean 
energy future

Improve energy demand management 
and efficiency to support the transition 
to net zero emissions.

6

Responsible value chain 
and resource use

Understand the environmental and social 
impacts of purchase decisions, and embed 
circular economy thinking and the highest 
standards of responsible procurement.



Priority actions

We have identified priority actions and initiatives for each focus area to drive positive improvements and 
sustainable outcomes, with links between the material topic themes, focus areas and the SDGs identified in 
Table 1. We have also developed a performance measurement framework to monitor and track these actions. 
This year’s performance is discussed throughout this report.

Table 1: Priority actions of the CSIRO Sustainability Strategy 2020–2030

MATERIAL 
TOPIC THEME

TARGETS AND MEASURES

WHEN16

STATUS

SDGS

FOUNDATIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

FOCUS AREA 1: GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY

Establish Sustainability Steering Committee

Within 6 months

 

Develop performance measurement framework

Year 1

Publish Sustainability Report

By FY22

Refresh materiality assessment

By 2025

Report to Board

At least annually 
to 2030

EXCELLENT AND IMPACTFUL SCIENCE

FOCUS AREA 2: EXCELLENT AND IMPACTFUL SCIENCE

Establish Sustainability Advisory Panel incorporating 
CSIRO science expertise

Year 1

Identify opportunities to apply CSIRO science 
solutions to operational challenges

Ongoing 
annually to 2030

OUR PEOPLE

FOCUS AREA 3: OUR PEOPLE AND CAPACITY BUILDING

Develop sustainability communications and 
engagement plan 

Year 1

 

Develop training plan and material to build 
workforce capability on sustainability-related issues

Ongoing to 2025





 Completed On track Planned Requires attention

16 Performance is measured from the date of Board approval



MATERIAL 
TOPIC THEME

TARGETS AND MEASURES

WHEN16

STATUS

SDGS

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT

FOCUS AREA 4: SUSTAINABLE PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

Review Property Strategy Implementation Plan 

Year 1

 

 

Develop Sustainable Buildings Policy incorporating 
Ecologically Sustainable Design principles and data 
capture systems

Year 1

Conduct physical climate risk assessment of 
property portfolio

By 2025

Ensure new buildings maximise net zero 
carbon impact

Ongoing to 2030

Achieve a consolidated and sustainable 
property portfolio 

By 2030

FOCUS AREA 5: TRANSITION TO A CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

Define organisational emissions boundary

Year 1

 

Define net zero emissions (NZE) pathway

Year 1

Engage and align with CSIRO’s Towards Net Zero 
mission team

Year 1

Undertake transitional climate risk assessment

By 2025

Achieve NZE at Newcastle demonstration site 

By 2025

Use 100% renewable electricity at all CSIRO sites 

By 2030

Achieve net zero scope 1 and 2 emissions

By 2030

Achieve beyond net zero material scope 3 emissions 

(Noting this Board-approved target extends past the 
Sustainability Strategy’s 2030 end date)

By 2050 

FOCUS AREA 6: RESPONSIBLE VALUE CHAIN AND RESOURCE USE

Review supplier due diligence processes to ensure 
supply chain integrity around environmental and 
social considerations

By 2025

 

Develop water management strategy to 
improve efficiency

By 2025

Develop waste strategy that aligns with National 
Waste Policy Action Plan

By 2025

Target 80% recovery rate (by weight) for all 
waste streams

By 2030





 Completed On track Planned Requires attention



Foundations for a 
sustainable CSIRO

Robust governance, risk management frameworks, data 
security, privacy and ethics are essential foundations 
for our business. They help us maintain our integrity and 
are central to our role as trusted advisor to government 
and the communities in which we operate. They support us 
to deliver on our purpose in accordance with our values. 
CSIRO has positioned itself over the past 5 years to ensure 
that we are ready to face challenges as the world transitions 
to a digital future. We have implemented robust systems 
and processes to lay the foundation for our operational and 
financial sustainability.

Financial sustainability

The Australian community expects commonwealth 
entities like CSIRO to manage public funds effectively. 
CSIRO’s freedom to operate relies on us having a sound 
financial management and accountability framework17. 
Our framework is built upon effective financial 
management strategies, procedures and practices, 
delegated financial authority at the appropriate level, 
and robust accountability systems which support delivery 
of the CSIRO’s science and strategy. The CSIRO Board is 
accountable for the delivery of financial management 
and accountability directives from Government. 
CSIRO Finance facilitates the acquittal of those financial 
obligations to the CSIRO Board via the Board Audit and 
Risk Committee.

We know we have a successful financial framework when 
CSIRO can live within its means, plan for a sustainable 
financial future, account to the public for our effective 
investment and expenditure decisions and deliver timely 
and accurate financial transactions to all stakeholders. 
Comprehensive information on our financial performance 
is provided each year in our annual report. 

Culture, ethics, integrity and trust

Australia expects CSIRO to conduct its activities ethically 
and with integrity. Our conduct as an organisation is 
guided by our commitment to always act in the national 
interest. Maintaining our integrity is central to our culture, 
our scientific practice, and developing good business 
relationships. It ensures that we maintain public confidence 
in the science we undertake. Our Code of Conduct,18 Service 
Charter,19 Fraud and Corruption and Control Plan and the 
Public Interest Disclosure Scheme20 provide the foundations 
for our management approach. 

Governance

CSIRO’s overall performance is supported by our system of 
governance, which prioritises accountable decision-making, 
and helps to ensure we conduct our work ethically, with 
integrity, and consistent with legislation. We consider and 
review our governance arrangements in light of public 
sector best practice, and also seek to ensure that lessons 
learned through our assurance, compliance and audit 
programs are used to strengthen our systems, policies 
and processes. Our commitment to sound governance 
processes reflects our organisational values, and our 
understanding that high-quality governance is a driver 
of high performance.

17 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/policies/finance-policy

18 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/Code-of-Conduct

19 https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/Working-with-CSIRO/Service-Charter

20 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Access-to-information/Public-Interest-Disclosure-Scheme



Our Sustainability Strategy includes a commitment to 
improving the governance processes around management 
of sustainability issues within CSIRO. Our Chief Operating 
Officer (COO) is the Executive Sponsor of the Sustainability 
Strategy, and our Director Business and Infrastructure 
Services (CBIS) is responsible for its overall implementation. 
We report to the Board on sustainability-related issues at 
least once per year. 

Under the Sustainability Strategy, 2 new committees 
enhance oversight – a Sustainability Steering Committee, 
which includes members of the CSIRO Executive Team, 
for better oversight of organisational sustainability issues; 
and a Sustainability Advisory Panel (SAP) comprising CSIRO 
scientists, so that we can better understand how we can 
use our own scientific expertise to solve operational 
challenges. These committees are essential to ensure 
better visibility of sustainability issues at the executive 
level, aligning with broader organisational strategies and 
embedding a holistic approach to issues management.

The Sustainability Steering Committee is now operational, 
meeting 3 times over the reporting period. Establishment 
of the SAP was delayed due to other priorities, however 
we engaged significantly with our research scientists 
throughout the year to identify opportunities for CSIRO 
research to support strategy objectives. This included 
engaging with various research business units and our 
Towards Net Zero mission on net zero emissions (NZE) 
challenges, Ending Plastic Waste mission on solutions 
to single use coffee cups and our Land and Water 
business unit on climate risk assessments. The SAP will be 
established in early FY23.

Figure 3: Sustainability governance and reporting structure



Fraud and corruption control

Fraud and corruption negatively impact the delivery of 
innovative science and technology. They undermine our 
reputation, risk public confidence and impact funding 
and resources. A robust fraud management framework 
is essential to protect our integrity and our businesses. 
The CSIRO fraud management framework is a three‑tiered 
system that aligns with the risk management framework 
under the PGPA Act and Commonwealth Fraud 
Control Policy.

CSIRO takes a risk-based approach to the management 
of fraud and corruption, with the implementation of 
controls to prevent, detect, and deter incidents of fraud. 
Effective fraud and corruption management is critical to 
remain a trusted organisation and relies on:

• a strong and positive culture, and
• practical application of robust fraud awareness, 
stakeholder management plans, policies and processes. 


Our first objective is to ensure staff, contractors, and 
affiliates are aware of expectations and can recognise 
unusual practices or issues and report them appropriately. 
This is achieved mainly through mandatory awareness 
training modules that include a specific fraud control 
package. The Fraud Control team supports staff and 
the executive through the development, review, and 
application of fraud control measures in line with 
legislation, policies, directives, and best practice. 
The team also offers specifically tailored fraud awareness 
training to meet the requirements of each business area. 
At every level, our staff complete Fraud Awareness and 
Code of Conduct training. 

Compliant with Section 10 of the PGPA Fraud Rule, CSIRO 
has an effective fraud control framework. We adhere to the 
Commonwealth Fraud Control Framework 2017, and apply 
the Fraud Policy, Fraud Guidance, Resource Management 
Guide 201, and the Australian Standards AS 8001-2021 Fraud 
and Corruption Control in line with best practice. These are 
complemented by our plans, Code of Conduct, policies 
and procedures, systems and internal controls, financial 
management, assurance activities, and an Enterprise 
Risk Framework. 

Figure 4: Elements of effective fraud control within CSIRO

The CSIRO Fraud Corruption and Control Plan (the Plan) 
is consistent with the Commonwealth Fraud Control 
Framework. The Plan describes CSIRO’s framework 
for identifying, deterring, detecting, investigating, 
and reporting fraud incidents that may arise within 
CSIRO and addresses the key elements:

Preparedness – governance including 
Code of Conduct, policies, procedures, 
and guidelines

Prevention – training in identifying 
risks and opportunities for 
improvement of controls

Response – accountable management 
of investigations and establishing 
appropriate channels for 
detection and reporting

Recovery – through 
administrative, civil 
and/or criminal processes, 
and lessons learned 



Current approaches do not make CSIRO immune to fraud. 
They are effective in strengthening our protective posture 
through fraud prevention, detection, and response, 
to minimise the likelihood of actual fraud consequences. 

Our Fraud Control team have enhanced the collation 
and analysis of fraud incidents, trends, and intelligence 
datasets providing a higher level of engagement and 
reporting across the organisation. The team has established 
solid engagement with Commonwealth Agencies and 
Departments including but not limited to the Australian 
Government Attorney-General’s Department and the 
Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre. This includes 
participating in their newly formed Communities of 
Practice forum for Fraud Prevention and Fraud Detection, 
collaborating in fraud control working groups, and 
supporting like agencies and organisations with learnings, 
experience, and opportunities in relation to science and 
research fraud control. 

We apply an organisational fraud control program involving 
a cyclic Fraud Risk Assessment and Fraud and Corruption 
Control Plan update. The next iteration will be delivered 
and applied over the 2022–2024 period. These controls will 
be further complimented by a Fraud Pressure Testing 
program that will provide ongoing support to the 
organisation through a fraud risk management continual 
control program.

Risk management 

The identification and management of risks and 
opportunities are central to delivering our purpose and 
making impactful decisions. At CSIRO, risk management 
is embedded in everything we do, from planning to 
performance and decision making. How we approach risks 
helps to articulate the way we operate as we work towards 
creating a better future for Australia.

To achieve our purpose, we must take measured 
and managed risks to ensure our organisation’s 
enabling elements are optimised to best support 
our objectives. We acknowledge that breakthrough 
science, innovation and collaboration carry risk 
of technical or scientific failure, however we are 
committed to managing these risks and mitigating 
their consequences in a considered and effective way. 
This includes understanding key enterprise risks associated 
with the conduct and translation of research to outcomes 
and impact, people and culture, financial, digital 
transformation, customers and markets, health and safety, 
security, environmental, governance and integrity risks. 
By actively identifying and managing our risks, we aim to 
increase our effectiveness as an organisation and provide 
greater certainty and confidence for the Government, our 
people and other stakeholders in the community. 

Our sustainability commitments are overseen and managed 
by our Board and Executive. The CSIRO Board determines 
the nature and extent of the risk it will accept to achieve the 
organisation’s purpose and strategy, consistent with well 
organised and cost-effective use and management of public 
resources. The Board supports our efforts to identify and 
manage our risks through 3 standing sub‑committees:

• Board Audit and Risk Committee 
• Board People and Safety Committee
• Board Science Excellence Committee


Our risk methodology and approach take into consideration 
both the international standard AS/NZS ISO 31000 
Risk Management Principles and Guidelines, and the 
Commonwealth Risk Management Policy. Our Risk Policy21 
sets out the way in which risk management is applied 
at CSIRO.

21 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/policies/risk-policy



Data security and privacy

Security and resilience

Security is vital to our sustainability. Protecting our people, 
research, national infrastructure and data ensures that 
the value we create fully benefits our stakeholders and 
the Australian people and ensures that we are trusted 
custodians of the resources we manage. The global security 
environment continues to evolve new challenges, 
and foreign interference and cyber insecurity pose an 
ever‑increasing threat to the integrity of our research. 

Maintaining a culture of collaboration and openness is 
important to our sharing of knowledge and expertise with 
partners around the world and to the development of 
science solutions and breakthroughs. Accordingly, security 
at CSIRO takes a risk-managed approach that balances the 
need for collaboration with appropriate protections for our 
people, research, national infrastructure and data. 

This year we focused on remodelling our security approach, 
instigating a comprehensive review into our security 
governance and integration. In FY23, we will implement 
recommendations from the review to meet new challenges 
and new government expectations, to maintain our status 
as a trusted partner and a safe custodian of research vital to 
Australia’s future and wellbeing.

Foreign interference

With increasing challenges in the global security 
environment, foreign interference is a greater threat 
to the research sector than ever. In FY22, we designed 
and rolled out the new industry-leading Research 
Engagement Sensitivities Tool (REST) to help manage the 
risk of foreign interference. The tool estimates the risk 
of foreign interference in a new project and directs it to 
a commensurate decision-maker. It was supported by a 
comprehensive change management campaign, providing 
support and education in identifying and mitigating 
foreign interference risks. Communication about foreign 
interference has the potential to impact negatively on 
the culture of diversity, inclusion, and international 
collaboration that is so fundamental to CSIRO’s success. 
Accordingly, we focused on carefully tailoring our 
communication, and making a clear distinction between 
welcome foreign influence from our friends and allies, 
and the covert, coercive and corrupting effects of 
foreign interference. 

Our ability to remain active and agile in combating security 
issues will be critical to our ongoing relevance in the global 
science community. With that in mind, we invested in our 
relationships with colleagues across the Australian research 
sector and with allies internationally. We did this by sharing 
innovations and lessons learned in managing the risk of 
foreign interference, showing leadership in the sector on 
this critical issue, and improving our approach by learning 
from others. 

Protecting our people

The safety of our people22 is our first priority, and a critical 
element in supporting them to deliver the cutting-edge 
science Australia expects. Our physical security approach 
is focused on our people’s safety, providing advice, and 
delivering solutions that protect our people from security 
threats in their environments. As an example, we provide 
protective briefings for CSIRO people working in potentially 
high-risk situations. These briefings explain the specifics 
of the threat they may face and provide ways to protect 
themselves and CSIRO from these eventualities. 

Cyber security

The integrity and assurance of CSIRO’s ICT operations and 
data is paramount as the organisation continues digital 
transformation in both the science and business spheres. 
Cyber security has remained in focus with significant 
investment by the organisation with the Cyber Security 
Uplift Program which will provide dedicated funding 
over a 3 year period to uplift the Essential 8 Maturity 
Level of enterprise and scientific IT services. In FY23, 
the program will initiate several projects that will continue 
over the life span of the funding and align CSIRO with 
the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential 8. 

22 For more information about the safety of our people, see Health, safety and wellbeing p.32.



The projects range from securing endpoints from malicious 
code and additional administrative access controls to 
providing valuable centralised insights to business and 
service owners on vulnerability management and logging. 
Securing CSIRO’s sensitive data is also a priority project.

The key focus is to maintain CSIRO’s ability to conduct 
global collaborations on secure platforms and facilities 
that provide the necessary confidence and assurance to 
our partners and customers. Cyber security is a shared 
responsibility within CSIRO with all parties playing key 
roles in maintaining overall organisational security hygiene.

Privacy 

Privacy is a central feature of our work at CSIRO, and the 
community trust us to look after the personal information 
that we hold. CSIRO is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)23 
and the Australian Privacy Principles, and it is vital that we 
all are aware of, and comply with, our privacy obligations 
and implement good privacy practices in our day-to-
day work. Our Privacy Policy24 describes the management 
and protection of personal information that CSIRO collects 
and holds. 

CSIRO continues to ensure that staff are aware of, and 
comply with, CSIRO’s privacy obligations. All CSIRO staff 
are required to undertake mandatory privacy training 
at induction and annually. CSIRO projects must undergo 
privacy assessments with high privacy risk projects, that 
is projects that are likely to have a significant impact on 
the privacy of an individual, undergoing a Privacy Impact 
Assessment (PIA).

CSIRO also contributes to data security and 
privacy developments through our research25. 
For example, CSIRO’s data specialist arm, Data61, 
collaborated with a range of partners, including the 
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, 
the NSW Government, and others, to produce a tool26 
that allows data custodians to make informed decision 
when sharing datasets which contain sensitive 
personal or commercial information. The Re-identifier 
Risk Ready Reckoner (R4) tool enables systematic 
quantification of re-identification risks for individuals 
or transactions in a data set. Further technology from 
Data61 allows the mitigation of such privacy risks 
and enables access to secure and privacy-preserving 
personal data, such as public transport usage, which 
has broad and important applications, for example in 
planning resilient infrastructure. 

 

23 The Privacy Act regulates the collection, use, disclosure, storage and security of personal information of government agencies and private 
organisations. The Privacy Act includes 13 binding Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) with which CSIRO must comply in relation to its management 
of personal information.

24 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/Privacy

25 https://data61.csiro.au/en/Our-Research/Focus-Areas/Cybersecurity

26 https://research.csiro.au/isp/research/privacy/r4/



Digital disruption and innovation

The pandemic has tested our ability to operate in an almost 
entirely digital environment and we have proven that we 
can successfully work this way. However, even prior to 
the pandemic, there was a fundamental change occurring 
in how CSIRO operates, with a move towards digital 
capability and operations. Through our digital strategy we 
will continue to invest in tools and ways of working that 
are productive and engaging for our people, customers, 
and stakeholders. 

Innovation in our research and how we work is also a 
major driver in addressing Australia’s greatest challenges. 
Digital enablement and innovation are integrated across all 
areas of CSIRO, including in our research streams, workforce 
capability and facilities.

Enterprise Services of the Future

The Enterprise Services of the Future (ESOF) program 
was launched last year and this year we have been 
transitioning from the planning to delivery phase. ESOF 
will help future‑proof our operations by introducing smart 
technologies and simplified processes to all Enterprise 
Services functions, for the benefit of all staff. There will 
be fewer and simpler processes and procedures, which 
will result in new and improved ways of working. Our aim 
is to create a more connected and efficient CSIRO. Smart 
technologies are set to reduce the volume of manual 
and repetitive tasks. For example, our Robotic Process 
Automation project is implementing assisted and non-
assisted robotic processing to make manual and repetitive 
tasks in Finance and People functions faster and more 
compliant. This will free up our people to concentrate on 
more complex tasks. 

The plan is to make robotic processes automation available 
to other Enterprise Services functions that have manual and 
repetitive processes. The project will be officially rolled 
out with our Finance team early next financial year, with 
manual and repetitive processes within the People function 
(specifically Payroll and HR) to follow.

The ESOF program aims to ensure that our Enterprise Services functions are as cutting edge as our science. That’s why we’re 
leveraging smart technologies, simplifying and improving our processes and evolving our service delivery model. The ESOF 
program will be delivered through projects co-designed with Enterprise Services functions and Business Units. Pictured are 
Dianne Bedell (L) Experimental Scientist from Mineral Resources Business Unit and Jill Gipson (R), Enterprise Support Officer.



Digitalisation of science

The global digital revolution disrupts how we do 
science and how we deliver solutions. We need to 
be at the forefront of these global changes for our 
business sustainability. 

The Science Digital Transformation (SDT) program aims to 
empower CSIRO researchers through leading edge digital 
technologies and ways of working, to create a better future 
for Australia. 

The new science 
we can do

The way science 
is conducted

The way science is shared 
(the players involved)

Big data 
and analytics

The speed 
of innovation

Various program streams within SDT are working with 
our science business units to imagine future research 
technology, and then build it. The Digital Academy stream 
is supporting our scientists to upskill in machine learning 
and AI, data management and digital ways of working; 
while the Managed Data Ecosystem is building the complete 
set of hardware and software required for our digital 
evolution. It is a team effort between the science business 
units, the Information Management and Technology (IMT) 
support service team and the engineering and design 
group in Data61 to move our science into a digital future. 
Our digital advancement will maintain our competitive 
edge and enable us to continue innovating to support 
the sustainability of Australian industry.



Reimagining farming

A project within our Reinvent Science stream of SDT 
is evolving agricultural science, robotics and AI to 
reimagine a more sustainable future for agriculture. 
While current monocultural farming methods27 have helped 
ensure the stability of food supplies in developed countries, 
this dominant way of farming has come at a cost. Emissions 
from land use, largely agriculture, forestry and land 
clearing, make up around 21% of the world’s greenhouse 
gas emissions28. Reimagine Farming is supporting the 
growth and development of new methods that use nature’s 
wisdom to help farmers respond to the environmental 
challenges facing them today. 

A move towards mixed, biodiverse farming systems 
could have wide-reaching benefits including safeguarding 
profits against crop-specific losses, reducing waste, 
combating chemical resistance, and expanding 
opportunities for trade in new economies.

However, the growth of these systems is currently blocked 
by existing technology. Robots and sensors used in 
large-scale farming operations today complete fixed, 
singular tasks and are not equipped to respond to change. 
To achieve the climate-resistant and profitable farm of the 
future, robots and AI need to be multiskilled, adaptive and 
work collaboratively with humans to manage a dynamic, 
changing environment.

Reimagine Farming is co-developing the technology 
and agricultural science needed to establish scaled 
farming systems that harness the power of biodiversity. 
The team are building new robots and teaching them 
to work in a mixed, dynamic ecosystem on a test site 
– the Farm of the Future in Pullenvale, Queensland, 
which features more than 50 species of trees and crops. 
The project aims to train autonomous robots that can adapt 
to environmental changes and learn on the fly. When that is 
achieved, farmers and the environment will be able to reap 
the advantages of new sustainable farm designs.

This robot is learning to adapt to a changing natural environment as it completes farming tasks at one of our Queensland sites.

 

27 Methods in which one crop is grown per field

.

28 https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/



Our stakeholders

Our stakeholders are essential to our success. They can be 
both impacted by, and influence, our decisions and 
their outcomes. They range from Australian government 
and agencies to the remote communities in which we 
operate. Engaging with stakeholders helps us to understand 
our most significant issues, and it is essential that we 
maintain strong engagement channels and methods 
for gathering important feedback. Effective and agile 
engagement with our stakeholders is critical to achieving 
impact and delivering on our purpose. It is also an 
important means for maintaining confidence and trust.

CSIRO has many valued stakeholders and channels 
for engagement.29 We engage with our stakeholders 
through a multitude of mechanisms such as 
face‑to‑face meetings, outreach programs, social 
networks, and collaborative research programs. 
Recognising the importance of our stakeholders 
and customers to our business, we are investing in 
understanding and strengthening our customers’ 
experience of working with CSIRO, to complement the 
research engagements that customers have with us30. 
This customer experience program will advance our 
customer experience journey, with improvements across 
our programs and processes to support key industry 
sectors, including engagement with high‑growth small to 
medium-sized enterprises. One mechanism we use each 
year to gauge customer satisfaction is through the Net 
Promoter Score (NPS)31.

Below, we summarise which stakeholders may be most 
involved or impacted by our material issues and provide 
a summary of our response.

Table 2: Stakeholder impacts by material topic

TOPIC

KEY ASPECTS OF OUR RESPONSE IN FY22

STAKEHOLDERS 
MOST INVOLVED/
IMPACTED

Financial 
sustainability

• Continued to report financial performance in our annual report
• Continued to apply our risk management framework and finance policy


G

 E

 R

 

Culture, ethics, 
integrity and trust

• Participated in Communities of Practice fora
• Improved engagement channels with Commonwealth Government and agencies
• Continued to apply CSIRO Values
• Continued to apply our Code of Conduct and Fraud and Corruption Control Plan, 
and maintained the Public Interest Disclosure Scheme
• Continued to conduct mandatory training


G

 E

 R

 C



Data security 
and privacy

• Undertook comprehensive review of security governance and integration
• Designed and rolled out the Research Engagement Sensitivities Tool (REST)
• Cyber Security Awareness Week 25–29 October 2021
• Invested in the Cyber Security Uplift Program
• Continued to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
• Continued to conduct mandatory training


G

 E

 R

 S

 C



Digital disruption 
and innovation

• Transitioning Enterprise Services of the Future (ESOF) from planning to delivery
• Continued to roll out Science Digital Transformation (SDT) program streams, investing 
in our people’s digital capabilities 
• Responded to COVID-19 pandemic through deployment of digital solutions 
• Continued to evolve Labs of the Future initiative


E

 R

 C







G

 Government E

 Employees R

 Research and industry S

 Suppliers C

 Communities

29 See Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders

30 See our Annual Report 2021–22 Ensuring customer satisfaction p.48

31 See Appendix – Data pack Table P14



TOPIC

KEY ASPECTS OF OUR RESPONSE IN FY22

STAKEHOLDERS 
MOST INVOLVED/
IMPACTED

An agile, 
future‑focused 
workforce

• Launched ‘Impossible without you’ campaign
• Continued to develop the Talent Mobility Platform
• Finalised the Business Transition Program to respond to COVID-19 impacts 
• Enhanced our flexible working arrangements to respond to COVID-19
• Continued to provide Work from Home equipment packages
• Continued the SWITCH program


E

 R



Connected and 
collaborative ways 
of working

• Continued to develop the Ways of Working program
• Used well-established technology as an enabler to continue our important work 
during the pandemic


E

 R



Health, safety 
and wellbeing

• Implemented the enterprise digital HSE system
• Began development of comprehensive HSE audit program
• Enhanced CSIRO’s Health, Safety and Environment Management System
• Maintained the HSE Resource Hub
• Continued to conduct mandatory training


E



Diversity, inclusion 
and belonging (DI&B)

• Continued to operate DI&B focused recruitment and employment programs
• Progressed SAGE Action Plan and associated programs


E



Relationship 
with government

• Adhered to the Government’s Statement of Expectations in line with our 
Statement of Intent
• Conducted several research programs in collaboration with government


G

 R



Collaboration with 
business and industry

• Established new partnerships with business and industry 
• Continued to progress mission program with business and industry
• Small to Medium Enterprises (SME) Collaboration Initiative
• Continued to develop commercial applications of CSIRO research through 
industry partnerships


G

 E

 R

 C



Community 
engagement and 
capacity building

• Continued to operate education and outreach programs, including converting 
some to a virtual experience
• Continued to manage the citizen science program
• Developed STEM Together program
• Revised Child Safe Policy and procedures
• Established Child Safe Office


R

 C



Action for 
reconciliation

• Published our third Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 2021–23
• Appointed our first Indigenous Science Program Director in FY21
• Managed the new Indigenous Science program and portal
• Implemented new RAP reporting and planning processes
• Implemented Weavr management program


E

 R

 C







G

 Government E

 Employees R

 Research and industry S

 Suppliers C

 Communities



TOPIC

KEY ASPECTS OF OUR RESPONSE IN FY22

STAKEHOLDERS 
MOST INVOLVED/
IMPACTED

National and 
international 
research partners

• Continued to develop new relationships and nurtured our established relationships to 
deliver impactful science across the CSIRO challenges
• Continued to progress mission program
• Participated in 12 Collaborative Research Centres (CRCs)


G

 E

 R

 C



Research 
dissemination and 
application, and 
impact measurement

• Launched 4 new mission programs
• Developed the Value of CSIRO Report 2022
• Developed impact case studies
• Progressed Open Access arrangements to our research outputs
• Continued to implement our Planning and Performance Framework
• Continued to progress research in areas responding to Australia’s greatest challenges
• Continued to operate national research infrastructure


G

 E

 R

 C



Impactful science 
and research areas

Ethical science 
and research

• Increased levels of mandatory training for research staff to enhance capability levels
• Continued to apply the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research via 
our Code of Conduct and Science and Delivery Policy
• Continued to comply with internal and external monitoring and reporting 
requirements with support from the Ethics and Integrity team
• Continued to operate independent ethics committees for all human and live 
animal research
• Supported adaptation of research activities in response to COVID-19 whilst 
maintaining best practice


G

 E

 R

 C



Reducing our 
carbon footprint

• Achieved over 50% emissions reduction compared to FY21 
• Continued to implement Net Zero emissions (NZE) roadmap 
• Continued to manage Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for provision 
of renewable energy 
• Conducted feasibility studies for further solar PV installations


G

 E

 S



Risk and 
opportunities 
of the global 
climate transition

• Completed first phase climate risk scan using Climate Compass tool, 
reporting to Executive Team 
• Committed to second phase of climate risk identification


G

 E

 R

 C



Resource efficiency

• Refined ESD Policy, commenced testing with phase 1 pilot sites
• Reviewed and socialised waste audit results to inform waste roadmap
• Commenced water audit program
• Continued to apply Property Strategy Implementation Plan to reduce our 
property footprint


G

 E

 S



Responsible 
value chain

• Developed Sustainable Procurement Implementation Plan (SPIP)
• Established Sustainable Procurement Working Group
• Independent modern slavery risk assessment completed
• Continued to apply Commonwealth Procurement Rules and processes


G

 E

 S







G

 Government E

 Employees R

 Research and industry S

 Suppliers C

 Communities



Our people

At CSIRO, people are our greatest asset and at the core of 
our success. We work hard to attract and retain diverse, 
world class talent and provide an environment that 
prioritises the wellbeing, safety and security of our people, 
together with compelling and fulfilling career experiences. 
CSIRO is an inclusive and equitable organisation that 
values diversity and invests in the future capability of 
our workforce.

We attract and retain great people through our compelling 
employee value proposition including benefits such 
as paid parental leave, flexible work arrangements, 
promotions and reward options, scholarships, and awards. 
Our Enterprise Agreement 2020–202332 supports the 
success of our people through working conditions that 
attract and reward highly skilled and team‑oriented people, 
support a safe and respectful workplace and enable a 
positive work‑life balance. 

Our Values are the foundation not only for the work we 
do, but also for the way we do it, and the way we work 
with our colleagues and a variety of partners every day. 
Our Values were developed together with our people and 
represent what makes CSIRO unique and special.

CSIRO values

People first

People first behaviours are respectful, caring 
and inclusive.

Our first priority is the safety and wellbeing of our 
people. We believe in, and respect, the power of 
diverse perspectives. We seek out and learn from our 
differences. We do our very best to get all this right.

Trusted

Trusted behaviours are accountable, authentic 
and courageous.

We’re driven by purpose but remain objective. We fight 
misinformation with facts. We earn trust everywhere 
through everything we do. We trust each other and we 
hold each other accountable. Together our actions drive 
Australia’s trust in CSIRO.

Further together

Further together behaviours are partnering, 
cooperative and humble.

We achieve more together than we ever could alone. 
We listen and collaborate, in teams, across disciplines, 
across boundaries. We embrace ambiguity and use 
discussion and persistence to generate unique solutions 
to complex problems.

Making it real

Making it real behaviours are curious, adaptive 
and entrepreneurial.

We do science with real impact. We thrive when 
taking on the big challenges facing the world. 
We take educated risks and defy convention. 
We celebrate successes and failures and leverage them 
to learn as we strive to be the force for positive change.

 The Agreement covers the CSIRO Chief Executive, all CSIRO officers (other than the Executive Team and officers covered by the CSIRO Canberra Deep 
Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) Enterprise Agreement 2018-2021) or any successor agreement, and those unions approved to be covered 
by the Agreement.

32 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/CSIRO-Enterprise-Agreement



An agile, future-focused workforce

CSIRO’s people are critical to achieving our purpose of 
solving Australia’s greatest challenges through innovative 
science and technology. To achieve this, we must adapt 
and respond to the changes our environment, society and 
economy undergo. Building the capability of our people 
and collaborating well with our partners enables us to be 
agile in ways we deliver impact to the system.

CSIRO’s learning approach is designed to help our 
people build capability, confidence, and connections. 
They nurture mindsets that increase CSIRO’s innovation 
performance and create value for customers. Learning 
happens every day at CSIRO, not just through formal 
training events. One of the key actions in our Sustainability 
Strategy is to build the capability of our workforce on the 
sustainability issues that are important to the organisation.

CSIRO offers career development opportunities in all 
areas of our organisation, from entry level to leadership 
positions. For example, our researchers can initiate, 
develop and promote our research capabilities by forming 
strategic partnerships with industry, or establishing 
multi‑organisational, collaborative research programs. 

Talent mobility

A key talent initiative for CSIRO is the Interchange 
platform, which enables us to mobilise our people 
through targeted career assignments across 
the organisation.

In FY21, our Interchange program delivered an internal 
talent marketplace for our people which provided 
new career opportunities, aligning our people to our 
most important strategic work, creating organisational 
flexibility, and enabling the retention of our capability 
and talent. In FY22, we are building this capability to 
a new level with a dynamic talent mobility platform 
facilitating, meaningful and fulfilling career experiences 
for all CSIRO people.

Switch program

Switch is a reciprocal program that places our people in 
partner organisations for a specified period, and vice 
versa. It provides a secondment structure for our people 
to gain direct experience with partner organisations. 
In this way, they learn about different business models, 
markets, and business processes and improve their 
knowledge of customer and industry needs. At the same 
time, team members from partner organisations can gain 
exposure to CSIRO’s exceptional capabilities and skill.

Switch provides a critical pathway to supporting and 
enhancing our engagement and collaboration with local 
and international industry, government and research 
partners. It helps us build strategic collaborative 
relationships, establish new business and project 
leads, develop a deeper understanding of customer 
and industry needs, improve collaboration readiness, 
and expose our staff to other business models and/ or 
markets to enhance their thinking and perspective.

Switch is open to everyone at CSIRO and the intention is 
to have Switch visible on the talent mobility platform as 
part of Phase 2.



Connected and collaborative ways of working

CSIRO has a geographically diverse workforce with over 
5,600 employees working at 50 sites across Australia. 
The accelerated adoption and pace of new and flexible 
ways of working, due in part to the pandemic, has 
reinforced that the ‘way we work’ is a key enabler of the 
CSIRO strategy. The Ways of Working (WoW) Program, 
linked to other key enterprise enabling strategic 
initiatives, is ‘how’ CSIRO will achieve its strategic vision. 
We know we can rise to the challenge of overcoming our 
internal barriers to deliver interdisciplinary science at speed 
and with a focus on important shared goals – our response 
to the 2020 bushfires and COVID-19 demonstrates this.

Over the next 2 to 4 years, CSIRO aims to develop new 
ways of working that enable greater alignment of focus on 
impact, streamlined processes, the creation of a culture of 
empowerment, and better collaboration. 

Anne Stevenson wins national award for contributions to library technology33

In June 2022, CSIRO’s Anne Stevenson won the coveted 
VALA Williamson Award for leadership and innovation 
in library information technology. Anne has been a 
librarian at CSIRO for 43 years and leads the Research 
Data Services Team. Throughout her career, she has 
made unique contributions to information management, 
both to our organisation and to the profession.

At CSIRO, being a librarian is about helping people find 
the information they need to do their work, in whatever 
format that might take. It’s about helping people 
manage the inputs to their research such as references to 
literature and data, and to manage their research outputs 
such as publications and software, so that they can be 
found and used by other people inside and outside 
the organisation.

Anne is a Research Data Management practitioner, 
a relatively new specialisation within librarianship. 
Her work has been key to the increasing proliferation 
and reuse of CSIRO’s data assets amongst a cohort of 
international researchers, to achieve maximum impact 
for Australian science. She has been instrumental in 
the development of bespoke software that supports 
world‑class information management at CSIRO, such 
as the Data Access Portal and the Research Data 
Planner. Anne is also recognised by her staff as an 
outstanding leader.

VALA’s Melissa Parent (left) presenting the Williamson Award 
to Anne Stevenson (right).

 

33 https://my.csiro.au/News/IMT/2022/June/Library-innovation-award



Health, safety and wellbeing

At CSIRO, our people are key to our success and ensuring 
they are healthy and safe is our top priority. CSIRO’s 
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Policy demonstrates 
our public commitment to health, safety and the 
environment, and these commitments are delivered 
through the implementation of the CSIRO HSE Management 
System (HSEMS). 

The CSIRO HSEMS supports the HSE Policy and HSE risk 
framework and includes regulatory and other requirements. 
It applies to all CSIRO people and contractors when 
performing work. During the reporting period, the 
HSEMS was enhanced to align with industry standards 
ISO45001 and ISO14001, which are underpinned by the 
plan‑do‑check‑act cycle. Over the next year, CSIRO will 
continue to improve the HSEMS with input from various 
levels of management and CSIRO people, to achieve 
best practices and desired positive HSE outcomes. 
A comprehensive internal HSE audit program will be 
developed for FY23 that will assess implementation 
and facilitate improvements.

At CSIRO, HSE is everyone’s responsibility. There is also 
a dedicated HSE team to support our organisation to 
identify and manage HSE risks, and to provide HSE advice 
and support as well as health, wellbeing, injury claims and 
rehabilitation services to all CSIRO people. 

Improvement opportunities are embedded in the 4-year 
strategic HSE Plan launched in 2020. The HSE Plan promotes 
improved systems, capabilities, and proactive care for 
our people. Enabling projects are currently underway, 
supporting delivery and strengthening HSE performance 
and culture in CSIRO.

One of the recent improvements was the implementation 
of an enterprise digital HSE system that provides an 
easy-to-use platform for reporting hazards, near misses 
and incidents; recording information from proactive 
HSE conversations (HSE contacts); assigning and tracking 
corrective actions; performing risk management 
activities and enabling the proactive management of risk. 
The information that results from the integrated incident 
and risk management tools provides business leaders with 
transparent data to monitor and improve performance. 

HSE training at CSIRO begins with induction and 
onboarding and is mandatory for all people. Supervisors 
and managers participate in additional mandatory HSE 
training. CSIRO offers a range of health and wellbeing 
support services to its people, such as free flu vaccination, 
audiometric testing, health monitoring, counselling via an 
employee assistance program (EAP), injury management 
and rehabilitation as well as a range of initiatives to 
improve health. Some key initiatives are listed below.



HS-Me Day

In 2018 we introduced HS-Me Day, a day to stop work and 
focus on health, safety and environmental outcomes. 
The 2021 HS-Me Day (19th October) theme to ‘reconnect 
with Me’ took a different approach, giving staff permission 
to spend the day however they needed to recharge 
and reconnect. In the weeks leading up to the day, a 
series of activities and ideas focused on health, safety 
and environmental topics, were shared with a webcast 
on each topic. The day was an overwhelming success 
with most of our people taking time out to focus on 
their personal health, safety and local environment. 
Over 1,300 participants took part in the activities leading 
up to HS-Me Day and 1,355 staff attended the Re-Connect 
session on October 20 to share their HS-Me Day stories. 
The in-house social networking tool – Yammer – recorded 
the highest activity ever for a specific event, and 
950 positive posts were reported on HS-Me Day.

Reducing over-use injuries – ergonomic 
assessment program 

As our people began to return to working on site, a 
key HSE initiative was to engage external rehabilitation 
consultants to provide ergonomic training, advice and 
short workstation assessments. Over-use injuries are not 
uncommon at CSIRO, and the purpose of this initiative 
was to support our people as they returned to working 
on a CSIRO site. We wanted to ensure that our people had 
appropriately adjusted ergonomic workstation setups and 
received ergonomic training promoting self‑management 
of hazards. Overall, the initiative was received positively 
with the majority of people requiring minimal 
workstation adjustments. 

Fitness Passport 

In FY22 we launched a new health and fitness program 
for our people called Fitness Passport. Fitness Passport 
is available at CSIRO in Queensland, New South Wales, 
Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and 
the Australian Capital Territory. The program is designed 
to support our people and their families on their own 
individual health and wellbeing journey by providing access 
to many gyms, pools and fitness centres across the country 
for a reduced price compared to other gym and fitness type 
memberships. Members who sign up can attend facilities 
included on the program as many times as they like and 
there are many options both close to work sites and 
home, making it convenient to exercise. To date, we have 
318 memberships across the country with many of these 
family memberships extending the wellbeing benefits to 
our people’s families. 

Virgin Pulse Destination Go Challenge

In FY22 we offered all CSIRO people the chance to be a part 
of the Virgin Pulse – Destination GO Challenge referred 
to as VP GO. The challenge was a great way to prioritise 
activity and social connection with colleagues, even when 
working from home. VP GO is a wellbeing program that 
meets individuals where they are at by assisting them in 
making small health changes. A mobile app was available 
as part of the program and individuals competed in teams, 
trekking their way around the world virtually over 9 weeks. 
We had over 1000 CSIRO people sign up to the challenge 
and upon conclusion of the challenge final reporting 
demonstrated that exercise and activity levels had increased 
for those taking part. 



Diversity, inclusion and belonging

We believe, we can create a better future for Australia by 
fostering dynamic world-class teams, where our people 
can work seamlessly in an inclusive one-CSIRO culture. 
Our success is built on our ability to bring out the best from 
a thriving culture. In doing so, we believe in, and respect, 
the power of diverse perspectives and we learn from the 
uniqueness of our people.

As a Corporate Commonwealth entity, CSIRO is required to 
comply with all laws of the Commonwealth with respect 
to equal opportunity. Beyond compliance with the law, 
we actively work to create an environment where equity 
considerations are embedded in every facet of the career 
pipeline and the workplace experience. 

By integrating diversity, inclusion and belonging principles 
into everything we do we maximise our own potential, but 
also recognise our responsibility to create an environment 
where all people can grow, contribute and succeed. 
As we refresh the Diversity Inclusion and Belonging Strategy 
2023–26, we will focus on empowering our people to be 
active bystanders and allies, understanding the role of 
intersectionality34 in everyday practice, and strengthening 
the capabilities of our workforce, particularly around 
inclusive leadership.

While focusing on intersectionality, we will continue to 
address inequities for specific communities/diverse groups 
at CSIRO. Our intent is to create inclusive workplaces that 
benefit all people by focusing on specific disadvantaged or 
under-represented communities. 

Gender equity

CSIRO has an organisational KPI to increase the 
number of leadership roles held by women. We also 
have a range of aspirational targets aimed at fostering 
diversity in our recruitment pools and outcomes, as 
well as promotions. 

Positions held by women in CSIRO in 2022:

62.5%

Board 
positions

50%

Executive Team 
positions

41.1%

Leadership 
positions

Science in Australia Gender Equity 
(SAGE)

Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE)35 is a 
program that focuses broadly on gender equity, 
but increasingly emphasises gender equity and 
the intersection of other characteristics, through 
introducing action plans and measuring impact 
through Cygnet Awards. We began implementing our 
90-point SAGE Action Plan in mid-2018. In November 
2018, we were awarded Athena SWAN Bronze 
accreditation among 14 other research institutions for 
achieving our action plan targets. We are now focused 
on measuring the impact of our 4-year action plan 
through the SAGE Cygnet Award process. We continue 
to focus on: recruiting women into leadership 
positions, equitable career development and 
promotions process, a safe workplace for everyone 
to speak up, embedding inclusive practices into our 
workplace, inclusive practices for LGBTIQ+ people. 

68%

SAGE actions 
completed

SAGE Bronze accreditation 
(to 2026)

 

34 Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of identity and lived experiences a person or group of people encounter and how they overlap with other 
systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

35 https://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/



STEM Champions of Change Coalition 

Our Chief Executive is a founding member of the 
Champions of Change Coalition (CCC) STEM group 
(formerly called Male Champions of Change). 
CCC aims to achieve gender equality, advance more 
and diverse women into leadership, and build 
respectful and inclusive workplaces for the future 
by taking practical action to accelerate the pace of 
change. We are also Champions of the Australian 
Academy of Science’s Women in STEM Decadal Plan 
and contribute data to the Department of Industry, 
Science, Energy and Resources STEM Equity Monitor.

Disability Inclusion and Access Action 
Plan (DIAAP)

CSIRO respects the diversity, individual strengths and 
natural talent that people living with disability and 
carers bring to our organisation. We are currently 
developing our Disability Inclusion and Access Action 
Plan (DIAAP) to promote greater understanding of 
the needs of our people with a disability and carers. 
The DIAAP working group has a designated Executive 
Sponsor and is taking a holistic approach to reviewing 
all workplace policies, procedures, practices and 
training to align with best practice, for people 
experiencing permanent, temporary or situational 
disabilities and those with carer responsibilities. 
The DIAAP working group ran a series of focus groups 
and implemented a consultation process to inform 
the development of the action plan. We anticipate the 
launch of our action plan at the end of 2022.

Australian Workplace Equality Index 
(AWEI)

CSIRO promotes and drives the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ 
employees by raising awareness, supporting peers 
and challenging discrimination. Aligned with our 
SAGE Action Plan, in 2021 we achieved our second 
consecutive Gold Employer Status in the AWEI by 
implementing initiatives such as:

• Visibly championing our LGBTIQ+ community and 
allies by marching in the 2019, 2020 and 2022 
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 
• Developing more LGBTIQ+ inclusive language in 
our systems, policies, procedures
• Raising awareness of LGBTIQ+ issues and how to 
be an effective ally through workplace discussions, 
training, and guides.


In 2022, we achieved a Silver Employer Status. 
We are proud of our achievements in maintaining 
high rankings in the AWEI and continue to build 
best‑practice LGBTIQ+ inclusion into all aspects of 
our workplace and culture.

AWEI Silver Accreditation 
(to May 2022) 

Workplace Gender Equality Act (WGEA)

From next year, all government entities will be 
required to participate in WGEA reporting. This year, 
we are participating in a voluntary trial, which 
includes gender pay analysis, in readiness for future 
reporting obligations. 

 



Partnerships 
and engagement

At CSIRO we know that a collaborative approach is the 
key to responding to global challenges and ensuring our 
nation’s bright future. Partnerships and collaboration are 
essential to stimulating innovation and unlocking value 
from CSIRO’s research, and the national labs and research 
facilities we operate on behalf of the nation. 

Effective and agile engagement with our external 
stakeholders36 is critical to achieving impact and delivering 
on our purpose. Our materiality assessment underscored 
the importance of our stakeholders to organisational 
sustainability, with CSIRO’s relationship with government, 
collaborations with business and industry and our national 
and international research partners specifically identified. 

We review our performance each year, in our annual 
report37, and explore our collaborations with small and 
large businesses, government bodies, international 
organisations, universities and others in greater detail.

Relationship with government 

Our role within the Australian Government is multi-faceted 
and managed through various channels, from high level 
engagement between Board, Executive, Minister, and 
Departmental leadership, to agency line areas collaborating 
on research projects.

We provide independent, scientific information to help 
inform policy that will help create a better Australia, 
working with government. We also collaborate with state 
and territory governments on research partnerships and 
projects, and other initiatives such as innovation precincts.

As well as providing advice to government and 
their departments, we actively partner with state, 
territory and local governments to assist them in 
their roles as policy makers and service deliverers. 
We are a trusted advisor to provide evidence for policy 
formation, and a partner to deliver research programs 
that are solving the greatest national challenges. 
We assist governments to leverage Commonwealth 
programs for the benefit of Australian industry and 
the Australian community.

Collaboration with 
business and industry

Collaboration plays an important role in creating 
opportunities for businesses of all sizes to shape Australia’s 
future global advantages. CSIRO’s Strategic Partnerships 
Program is focused on building greater resilience, 
connectivity, and impact through cross‑organisational 
strategic customer relationships.

We have established new partnerships, including:

• Global partnerships to drive local innovation: CSIRO 
and Google announced a strategic relationship focused 
on artificial intelligence (AI) and pursuing collaborative 
projects in areas of national opportunity. A key outcome 
of the partnership has been Google’s foundational 
membership in the National AI Centre as well as 
partnering with us to protect the Great Barrier Reef 
with AI.
• A public-private sector initiative with the 
Commonwealth Bank of Australia to develop solutions 
for the financial sector to manage the physical and 
transitional risks posed by climate change. 
• Bi-lateral relationship with the US National Science 
Foundation: CSIRO has joined with the United States’ 
National Science Foundation (NSF) to accelerate joint 
research, and initiatives in areas of mutual priority 
between Australia and the United States.
• Tackling plastic waste and creating a circular economy 
through the establishment of the Indo-Pacific Plastics 
Innovation Network. The Indonesian and Vietnamese 
nodes have been launched, with Mekong to launch 
in FY23. 


36 See Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders

37 Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Annual performance statements



Relationships like these provide a platform for CSIRO 
to work directly with industry partners to support 
local innovation, foster new technology development 
and create new market opportunities for Australian 
businesses. We are evolving the way we partner to 
bolster the trajectory of change needed to respond to 
global challenges and to create bold new opportunities, 
such as our Missions program38.

We also collaborate with business through industry 
partnerships on important topics. For example, last year, 
our then Chair Mr David Thodey and Chief Executive 
Dr Larry Marshall joined the Australian Climate Leaders 
Coalition39 (CLC) which is a group of cross-sectoral 
Australian corporate CEOs supporting the Paris Agreement 
commitments and setting public decarbonisation targets.

Lifting business resilience to climate change

CSIRO’s Climate Resilient Enterprise team are working together with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) 
to lift the climate resilience of Australian industry.

In October 2021, we launched this new partnership to 
solve some of the challenging science questions and 
barriers facing our economy, industries, and business 
in the face of climate change-related risks. 

The financial services sector has a special role to 
play in catalysing climate action across the economy 
given their wide-reaching influence. Partnering with 
CBA provides a unique opportunity to lead a national 
climate change response across multiple sectors 
through bringing climate science and big data analytics 
together. This research will help decision makers like 
CBA make more meaningful, climate-aware decisions 
and investments.

The first phase of the partnership brings together teams 
from across 4 of CSIRO’s business units (Agriculture 
and Food, Oceans and Atmosphere, Land and Water, 
and Energy) to address a critical business challenge: 
understanding Australia’s transition. 

At the national level, we are building global 
and transition pathway models relevant to the 
Australian economy. The project will produce 
transition scenarios that map the decarbonisation 
pathways or ‘glidepaths’ required for major sectors 
of the national economy to achieve net zero. 
These glidepaths pave the way for CBA and Australian 
corporates (or companies) more broadly, to benchmark 
their exposure to climate risks using an approach that is 
consistent with international frameworks and targets but 
tailored to allow locally relevant insights.

The insights from the project will be made available to 
the broader finance industry such as banks, insurers, 
and other financial institutions to help fill sector-wide 
gaps in climate insights and inform organisations’ 
climate change strategies. Climate intelligence and 
science‑informed climate actions are a competitive 
advantage for Australia and will build a stronger 
economy, more jobs, and more resilient communities. 

Products developed through this project will become 
available on a digital platform being developed by 
the Climate Resilient Enterprise initiative, established 
through CSIRO’s mission program.

The partnership with CBA is likely to grow into the future 
as more complex questions emerge requiring solutions 
that draw upon the best available climate science and its 
intersection with business decision-making.

 

38 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions

39 https://www.climateleaders.org.au/



Facilitating business connections for 
sustainable research collaboration

Sustained relationships are key to ensuring mutually 
beneficial high value collaboration occurs between 
businesses and researchers, especially when it comes 
to higher risk/cost activities associated with developing 
new and novel products or services. Many studies show40 
that there is a high return for businesses who choose to 
undertake research projects with publicly funded research 
institutions like CSIRO.

Australia’s largest survey of small to medium business 
(SMEs) conducted in 2021 showed that the cost of creating 
new collaborations compared to sustaining existing ones 
is perceived as a risk by SMEs41. 

Our SME Connect facilitation and program team help 
Australian start-ups, and small and medium businesses 
by creating entry-level opportunities to begin their 
collaboration journeys. Our programs are designed 
to build a pipeline of support as relationships grow.

We offer 5 programs for SMEs:

Innovation Connections (IC) is a free one-on-one 
facilitated service to assist small and medium-sized-
businesses in establishing research priorities, locating 
researchers and providing access to dollar-matched 
funding to fast-track R&D projects. CSIRO is the National 
Delivery Partner for IC, funded by the Australian 
Government through the Department of Industry, 
Science and Resources.

In FY22, we facilitated 302 Innovation Connections 
projects for 270 Australian SMEs worth over $29 million. 
These projects included 239 R&D projects delivered by 
35 Australian universities, CSIRO and 5 other research 
organisations, and 63 graduate placements in which 
recent graduates are employed by SMEs to work on 
in‑house R&D projects.

CSIRO Kick-Start provides facilitation and funding 
support for start-ups to access CSIRO’s research expertise 
and capabilities.

Since 2017, the program has helped over 190 companies 
across 220 projects, worth over $20 million. Kick-Start 
alumni companies have gone on to do 90 further 
projects and agreements with CSIRO worth over 
$11 million. 54 new Kick-Start projects commenced 
in FY22 with a total research value over $4 million.

Innovate to Grow is self-paced and virtually delivered 
program designed to help SMEs understand the value of 
R&D and assess the viability of a new idea or innovation. 
Since piloting in 2020, it will have been delivered to 
10 cohorts with 235 SMEs trained.

The SIEF Ross Metcalf STEM+ Business program enables 
SMEs to build on successful collaborative projects 
by funding early career researcher placements into 
their business for the development of new ideas with 
commercial potential. 

Generation STEM Links (in partnership with the NSW 
Government) Generation STEM provides high-quality 
internships and work experience for tertiary students 
in NSW businesses. It is designed to help students 
transition into STEM jobs after graduation with 
325 placements available.

40 See https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/services/consultancy-strategic-advice-services/CSIRO-futures/Innovation-Business-Growth/Quantifying-Australias-
returns-to-innovation; https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/Auditing-our-impact

41 https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/funding-programs/SME/Enablers-and-barriers. Enablers and barriers to Industry-Research collaboration report p.37



National and international research partners

Collaboration with national and international research 
partners expands the reach, robustness and impact of 
CSIRO’s work. Collaboration is embedded within CSIRO’s 
Corporate Plan. We focus on delivering connectivity to 
global science, technology, and innovation frontier, as 
well as accessing new markets for Australian innovation. 
We have teams based in 6 countries who act as hubs 
for their regions, promoting Australian innovation and 
strengthening the bridges between Australia and the 
world. Our website42 details the organisations we partner 
with and types of research projects we are working on in 
different regions.

FishPath is supporting the development of harvest strategies for a range of species, including the long-legged spiny lobster. 
Image: Laura Blamey

42 https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/international

43 https://ecos.csiro.au/fishpath/?utm_source=Snapshot-2021-12&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=Snapshot

44 https://www.fishpath.org/home

45 https://www.awe.gov.au/abares/research-topics/fisheries/fisheries-economics

46 https://www.nature.org/en-us/

47 https://www.noaa.gov/



A digital pathway for sustainable fisheries43

An online tool called FishPath44 is paving the way for the sustainable management of fisheries worldwide.

Fisheries management is a challenge, but managing 
fisheries effectively is critical. The industry provides 
livelihoods for hundreds of millions of people, and seafood 
is a critical protein source for nearly 3 billion people. 
Australia’s total wild-catch fisheries have a gross value of 
production of $1.6 billion45 alone.

Australia has some of the best managed fisheries in the 
world. But many domestic and international fisheries are 
data or capacity-limited, making formal management 
challenging. This is where an online tool called FishPath 
is helping.

“FishPath is an online decision support tool providing 
harvest strategy options that are tailored to a fishery’s 
unique circumstances,” said Natalie Dowling, Senior 
Research Scientist from CSIRO’s Oceans and Atmosphere. 
“It was developed as a partnership between CSIRO, The 
Nature Conservancy46 (TNC), and the US National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration47 (NOAA). It elicits the 
relevant information about a fishery and provides a vehicle 
for expert and local knowledge to formulate viable harvest 
strategies. These can be used to implement sustainable 
fishing practices.”

Harvest strategies comprise the data collection, assessment 
and decision rules to inform fisheries management. 
FishPath provides a comprehensive, transparent and 
defensible platform to help fisheries identify viable harvest 
strategy options via an interactive questionnaire. It is also 
a vehicle for bottom-up stakeholder engagement as it 
operationalises expert and local knowledge to formulate 
harvest strategies. FishPath considers each fishery’s unique 
circumstances. It provides an efficient, transparent means 
to navigate the universe of available options, providing 
customised advice that explicitly acknowledges issues 
confronting data-limited fisheries.

Fisheries tool for global impact

In 2018, FishPath was identified as being of high priority 
interest to the Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA). 
The Republic of Seychelles has one of the highest per capita 
rates of fish consumption in the world. The fishing sector 
employs approximately 17% of total formal employment 
in the country. Around 95% of fish and fish products 
are exported, providing significant economic benefits. 
However, the Seychelles marine ecosystem is under 
increasing human pressures, including overfishing. Several 
fisheries have collapsed. This prompted the government 
to take stronger actions to ensure the country’s fisheries 
remain sustainable.

The international FishPath team is now working with 
SFA under an International Climate Initiative‑funded 
project48 that includes the application of the FishPath 
tool to the Lobster and Spanner Crab fisheries. 
The SFA will be working with CSIRO, TNC and NOAA to 
implement FishPath to develop harvest strategies for both 
fisheries. This includes capacity building and training of 
fisheries staff in the region.

Fisheries data at home

FishPath is making a difference for Australian fisheries 
management too. The NSW Department of Primary 
Industries (DPI) has recently implemented a formal 
Harvest Strategy Policy. However, many of its fisheries 
are small‑scale, multi-sector fisheries with a range 
of data issues. This collectively poses management 
challenges. NSW DPI is using FishPath as a standardised 
and scientifically robust platform to identify currently 
viable, as well as longer-term aspirational, harvest 
strategy options.

 

48 https://www.international-climate-initiative.com/en/search-project/



Community engagement and capacity building

CSIRO Education and Outreach 

CSIRO Education and Outreach (CEdO)49 delivers a suite of 
programs that align with CSIRO’s strategic goals50, and aim 
to strengthen Australia’s STEM talent pipeline and equip 
the workforce with the skills needed for the 21st century. 
Working collaboratively with a range of funding partners51, 
CEdO programs provide engaging and immersive STEM 
education and outreach activities, deliver high quality 
teacher professional learning, support student STEM 
education and career pathways, and provide access to 
curriculum-aligned activities and resources.

CEdO’s programs aim to enhance the capability of STEM 
educators by connecting them with CSIRO research and 
STEM professionals and build connections between schools 
and STEM industry52. CEdO programs also target students 
directly53, including improving STEM education outcomes 
for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and 
other under-represented groups54. Community connections 
and engagement underpin CEdO programs, making them 
inclusive and impactful55. 

Assessing social impact

Many of CEdO’s programs are evaluated to assess whether 
short, medium, and long-term goals have been achieved, 
focusing primarily on social and economic impacts. 
These impacts are challenging to measure because of their 
complexity and long-term nature, with many contributing 
factors. However, outcome evaluations for CEdO programs 
do assess contributions to social impacts such as 
wellbeing, access to opportunities, and social inclusion. 
For example, the evaluation of the Indigenous STEM 
Awards56 found that they contributed to increased 
confidence among recipients, which had flow-on impacts to 
their families and communities, and greater acceptance and 
valuing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge 
that went beyond education. Evaluation of other programs 
showed positive educational and career outcomes, while 
others highlighted challenges, including engaging and 
retaining young women in STEM.

Sourcing longer-term funding that provides certainty and 
stability and transitioning programs to online delivery is 
an ongoing goal for CEdO programs. For example, the 
new 5 year STEM Together program57, delivered by CSIRO 
and funded by the BHP Foundation, was announced in 
mid-2022. The program seeks to support and increase the 
diversity of young people participating in STEM across 
Australia, particularly from under-represented groups. 
The program has a major focus on inclusion and partnering 
with industry and community sponsors to increase the 
sustainability of the program beyond the initial funding 
period. It has a robust evaluation framework that seeks to 
assess the social impact of the program.

49 http://www.csiro.au/en/education

50 See CSIRO Corporate Plan 2021–22 (www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Corporate-Plan/21-22-corporate-plan) – specifically CSIRO’s response 
to the skill transition trend, and the vital role STEM and digital skills will play in realising Australia’s innovation and productivity potential (pp. 18–19)

51 CEdO’s funding partners are from the government and private sectors, including the BHP Foundation; CSL Limited; the Department of Education, Skills, 
and Employment; the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources; GFG Foundation; National Indigenous Australians Agency; New South Wales 
Government through the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (https://sief.org.au/); and Northrup Grumman Australia

52 For example, STEM Professionals in Schools (www.csiro.au/en/education/programs/stem-professionals-in-schools) funded by the Department of Education, 
Skills and Employment; Generation STEM’s STEM Community Partnerships Program (www.csiro.au/en/education/Programs/Generation-STEM) funded 
by the New South Wales Government through the Science and Industry Endowment Fund, and the GFG Foundation Student Programme
(www.gfgfoundation.org.au/student-programme) funded by the GFG Foundation

53 For example, the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra (www.csiro.au/en/education/get-involved/class-excursions/discovery-centre)

54 For example, the Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy (www.csiro.au/en/education/programs/young-indigenous-womens-stem-academy) delivered 
by CSIRO in partnership with CareerTrackers (www.careertrackers.org.au) and funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (www.niaa.gov.au).

55 For example, the place-based Deadly in Generation STEM program was developed in close consultation with communities in two regions.

56 https://www.csiro.au/-/media/Education-media/Files/Indigenous-STEM/Evaluation/21-00292_SER-EDU_REPORT_IndigenousSTEMAwardsEvaluation_
WEB_210820.pdf

57 https://www.csiro.au/about-STEM-Together



STEM professional Phil Field working with students at Playford International College in Adelaide, SA.

The transition to online delivery continued in FY22, 
allowing CEdO to reach additional cohorts of participants, 
often those that are under-represented in STEM. For 
example, the STEM Professionals in Schools program58, 
Australia’s largest national skilled volunteering program 
for STEM professionals and classroom educators, extended 
a successful regional and remote pilot program to 
additional cohorts. This led to partnerships between STEM 
professionals and teachers aligned to their areas of interest 
from regional and remote areas in all states and territories 
(except the ACT).

In FY22, CEdO commenced work to collect a set of 
common indicators across multiple programs, to 
better assess the success and impact of CEdO overall. 
These indicators cover both outputs (e.g., reach, diversity, 
access) and outcomes (e.g., attitudes, knowledge, skills, 
and behaviours) and will inform an assessment of CEdO’s 
achievement against a range of outcomes. In addition, 
work commenced on 2 data-related research projects 
under the Generation STEM initiative relevant to designing 
and assessing programs with more social impact. 
The first aims to better understand what success factors 
and barriers contribute to STEM education outcomes 
among students, and the second involves the development 
of a STEM education outcomes framework to provide 
CEdO and other STEM education providers, funders, and 
evaluators with access to a synthesis of relevant research 
literature, data sources, and evaluation guidance. In 2023, 
CEdO plans to further embed monitoring and evaluation 
across more programs, and to implement the measurement 
of sustainability in individual programs, particularly 
STEM Together.

160,000+
students

3300+
teachers

1500+
schools

1300+
STEM professionals

58 www.csiro.au/en/education/programs/stem-professionals-in-schools



Supporting young Indigenous women into STEM careers59

Hannah McCleary is a proud Palawa woman 
living in Nipaluna/Hobart. She completed a 
CSIRO Aboriginal Summer School for Science 
in Year 10 and is now studying a combined 
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Law 
degree at the University of Tasmania.

She was inspired by others who understood 
her experience as a young Aboriginal person 
interested in STEM, and now as part of her 
cadetship with CSIRO, wants to inspire other 
young Indigenous women to study science.

Hannah is part of the committee that 
manages the CSIRO Indigenous Time at Sea 
Scholarship, which gives Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander university students the 
opportunity to join a research voyage on 
CSIRO’s RV Investigator. The impact of that 
is incredibly powerful for those students 
and for the elevation of Indigenous‑led 
science, which is something we’re 
committed to at CSIRO.

 

Protecting children 
and young people 

Thousands of students and young 
children visit our research centres 
each year, engage with our work 
experience and education programs 
and connect with us on social media. 
As an organisation, we place the 
protection, safety and well‑being of 
all children first and are committed 
to establishing CSIRO as a leading 
child‑safe workplace. 

In 2019, the Australian Government 
developed and implemented the 
National Principles for Child Safe 
Organisations and the Commonwealth 
Child Safe Framework to strengthen 
organisational standards for 
child-safe cultures and practices. 
Several states and territories have 
further enacted legislation that makes 
it mandatory for organisations like 
ours to implement these principles, 
and our funding partners have made 
compliance part of contractual 
obligations. As a result, we have 
revised our Child Safe Policy60 
and Procedure to align with these 
requirements and recently established 
our Child Safe Office to ensure that 
we are doing everything possible to 
prevent harm to children. 

Over the next 12 months, we will 
expand our child safeguarding 
framework and increase compliance 
through awareness and education, 
screening of staff and volunteers, 
and improving how we respond to 
safeguarding concerns. 

59 https://blog.csiro.au/hannah-mccleary-leading-by-example/

60 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/policies/child-safe-policy



Citizen science

CSIRO has a long history of delivering impact through 
citizen science. Citizen science adds value to traditional 
scientific research and engages the public meaningfully 
in science. We are embedding citizen science within 
our research activities, and most importantly we are 
building genuine partnerships with communities. 
We also maintain the CSIRO Research Publications 
Repository61 for all available citizen science publications. 
Key principles62 which underlie good practice in citizen 
science have also been developed63 to form a consistent, 
transparent and shared approach, and help guide 
program delivery. 

Citizen science – BioBlitz64

It’s been 2 years since the Black Summer 2019–20 
bushfires devastated Australia. Those megafires were 
longer and hotter than the normal cycle of bushfires in 
Australia. Researchers now need data to find out how the 
bush is recovering.

The Atlas of Living Australia, in collaboration with 
the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Centre for 
Ecosystem Science, Minderoo Foundation’s Fire and 
Flood Resilience Initiative, the former Department 
of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and 
the Australian Citizen Science Association, ran three 
BioBlitz events in early 2022 in 3 different locations 
affected by the megafires.

The 3 BioBlitzes gathered important information on how 
species are recovering and will inform how to manage 
and protect the ecosystem in the future.

Experts were there on the day to help point out plants, 
animals, and fungi. They explained how species fit into 
the ecosystem and the impact of the bushfires. Plus, they 
provided tips on how to become a better naturalist.

The open-source data65 collected during the BioBlitzes is 
available to everyone. It will be used to help researchers 
understand more about the biodiversity in each 
location, and how it is recovering from fire. For people 
participating, the BioBlitzes provided an opportunity 
to engage with nature and learn more about the 
local environment. 

This work was supported by the Australian Government’s 
$200 million Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and 
their Habitat and was run in partnership with the Centre 
for Ecosystem Science at UNSW, the Australian Citizen 
Science Association and Minderoo’s Fire and Flood 
Resilience initiative.

More than 100 citizen scientists attended the Murramarang 
National Park (Yuin Country) Big Bushfire BioBlitz in March 
2022. Image credit: Atlas of Living Australia

 

61 https://publications.csiro.au/publications/search/SQCitizen%2Bscience/

62 https://www.csiro.au/en/education/Get-involved/Citizen-science

63 Developed in conjunction with Australian Citizen Science Association, Atlas of Living Australia and National Research Infrastructure for Australia.

64 https://blog.csiro.au/big-bushfire-bioblitz/

65 https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/big-bushfire-bioblitz-umbrella



Action for reconciliation

As Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO is 
uniquely positioned to engage with Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander peoples through science, 
education and employment opportunities, and 
through pursuing innovation outcomes that create 
a positive impact. 

We acknowledge the importance of having 
Australia’s first scientists walking along side 
CSIRO – we have much to learn from Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander peoples and much to 
achieve by working together. At CSIRO we are 
committed to investing in Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander knowledge in relation to science, and 
the participation and leadership of Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia’s research 
and innovation landscape.

Reconciliation Action Plan

Our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan66 (RAP) is our key strategic 
document, reflecting our commitment to invest in Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander cultural knowledge in relation to science, 
and the greater participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander peoples in Australia’s research and innovation landscape. 

The RAP outlines activities to increase partnerships, education, 
engagement, employment and procurement opportunities for 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our RAP is championed 
by CSIRO’s Indigenous Engagement Implementation Committee, 
the Office of Indigenous Engagement (OIE), the Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander staff forum and the external Indigenous 
Advisory Group (IAG). It has also been endorsed by Reconciliation 
Australia, CSIRO’s Executive Team and the CSIRO Board.

In March 2022 we launched our third Innovate RAP. Our renewed 
RAP 2021–2023 contains 90 deliverables and aims to embed 
consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 
in everything we do at CSIRO. It builds on the significant body 
of work delivered in our previous RAPs and is aligned with 
our organisational strategy.

Our priority areas include: 

1

Partnering with 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander communities to 
support Indigenous‑led 
science solutions.

2

Developing a new Indigenous 
Engagement Strategy to ensure 
appropriate engagement and 
collaboration aligns to the rights 
and interests of Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander peoples 
across all lines of our business.

3

Developing key foundational Indigenous 
strategies across all of CSIRO that can 
support us to achieve our vision towards 
reconciliation. This includes protecting 
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual 
Property and respectfully managing 
the collection, interpretation and 
use of Indigenous data.

4

Building our capability 
to develop, cultivate 
and sustain respectful 
relationships with 
Indigenous peoples.

5

Positioning CSIRO as an 
employer of choice to attract 
and retain highly skilled 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander peoples across 
our scientific, research, 
technical, fieldwork and 
support services.

6

Strengthening our 
governance arrangements, 
including tracking and 
reporting mechanisms.

66 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/indigenous-engagement/reconciliation-action-plan



This year we have achieved the following outcomes aligned to Priority 6:

Appointed 
8 new members 
to join the CSIRO 
Indigenous
Advisory Group

The IAG met on 11 May to provide independent, 
external advice to CSIRO on the effectiveness 
of CSIRO’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
strategies and the appropriateness of its 
pathways to impact. At this meeting, CSIRO 
tabled the draft Indigenous Cultural and 
Intellectual Property Principles.

Implemented 
new RAP 
reporting 
and planning 
processes

All esearch business units (BUs) and enterprise 
services (ES) across CSIRO submitted individual 
RAP implementation plans to the OIE in April 2022. 
The implementation plans were introduced as a new 
deliverable to support BU/ES functions to identify a 
tailored approached to deliver on their RAP commitments. 

Implemented 
Weavr into 
CSIRO

Weavr is the first Indigenous designed management 
program developed to support organisations to track 
and monitor their Indigenous strategies. Weavr was 
developed by LOGiT, an Indigenous owned business and in 
collaboration with CSIRO, Melbourne Eastern Group Training 
organisations and the Queensland Government through 
the Advance Queensland Open Innovation initiative.

The remaining priority areas are on track for delivery within the RAP period and will be progressed in FY23. 

Engagement

The OIE provides support and advice to CSIRO staff in developing 
and maintaining engagement with Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander people and/or communities and companies. 
Our Cultural Capability Framework supports engagement 
activities aligned to significant events such as NAIDOC Week, 
as well as determining cultural protocol initiatives, such as flying 
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag at our sites.

Indigenous science

CSIRO acknowledges the extraordinary contributions Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander people have made, and continue 
to make, to our culture, the economy, and science. We are 
working with Indigenous communities and organisations 
to create Indigenous-driven science solutions that support 
sustainable futures for Indigenous peoples, cultures and Country. 
We have many research projects underway with Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander collaborators that include strengthening 
Indigenous knowledge, managing Country through the 
development of tools and other methods, and supporting 
Indigenous‑led entrepreneurships.



Excellent science

As Australia’s national science agency, excellent science 
is central to our objective to deliver impact to industry, 
society and the environment. The Board Science Excellence 
Committee (BSEC)67 supports the Board to fulfil its 
governance responsibilities under the Science and Industry 
Research Act 1949 (SIR Act), while our Science and Delivery 
Policy68 sets out our high standards of service and delivery. 
Each year, we conduct a ‘science health check’ to review 
and evaluate our science excellence, through our Science 
Excellence and Health Report. 

Impactful science

The Corporate Plan clearly outlines our objective to deliver 
impact69 to the nation through innovation and with 
purpose-driven science and technology that is aligned with 
our 6 challenges70. 

To optimise the impact of our research, it is important 
that it is effectively planned, conducted, disseminated, 
adopted, and evaluated. Since 2010, CSIRO has developed 
and implemented an organisation-wide impact 
framework71 to plan, monitor, and evaluate the impact 
of our research in a consistent and comprehensive 
manner. Impact and evidence-based planning, 
monitoring and evaluation is an intrinsic element 
of CSIRO’s Planning and Performance Framework. 
This framework relies on engagement with all actors along 
the impact pathway to ensure our research is relevant 
and realistic, and that risks are identified and mitigated. 
Close engagement with our stakeholders supports effective 
planning for the dissemination and application of our work. 

Demonstrating impact is a challenge that faces all publicly 
funded research in Australia (and internationally), and 
CSIRO has therefore publicly released its Impact Evaluation 
Guide72 to foster dialogue with peers around a common 
approach to impact assessment and allow consistency 
and comparison between evaluations. We also regularly 
undertake independent third-party reviews of individual 
research applications, projects, and services through 
Impact Case Studies which articulate the impact and 
value we deliver to the nation. These Impact Case Studies 
are published externally73. Furthermore, every 2 years 
we commission an external assessment of the overall 
value we deliver to the nation, through aggregating the 
Impact Case Studies completed to date up to a meta‑level. 
This assessment is published in The Value of CSIRO74 
report. For more information on our performance, 
see our Annual Report 2021–22.

67 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/corporate-governance/minister-and-board/science-excellence-committee-charter

68 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/Science-and-Delivery-Policy

69 We define impact as an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society and/or environment, beyond those contributions to academic knowledge.

70 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions/challenges

71 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/A-CSIRO-wide-approach-to-impact

72 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/Evaluating-our-impact

73 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/Impact-case-studies

74 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/Auditing-our-impact



CSIRO leading the way in Open Access research

The global shift towards Open Access aims to 
democratise science by ensuring research is available 
to everyone, not just those with journal subscriptions. 
Making research Open Access has important implications 
for sustainability and the enrichment of lives globally. 

As a producer, consumer and publisher of research, 
CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, is committed 
to moving to Open Access. 

In 2021, we began this journey by signing transformative 
Read and Publish (R&P) agreements with publishers, 
including American Institute of Physics, Company 
of Biologists, Elsevier, Microbiology Society, Royal 
Society, and Royal Society of Chemistry. Many of these 
agreements were the first of their kind in Australia and 
meant, for the first time, readers were able to access 
CSIRO science for free. 

The R&P agreements negotiated by CSIRO Library 
Services provide access for CSIRO scientists to the 
publishers’ content. Likewise, all CSIRO articles published 
by those publishers are Open Access, making them 
available to anyone with an internet connection. 
As of June 2022, 323 articles have been published 
as Open Access under the R&P agreements. 

CSIRO is also progressing Open Access through its 
editorially independent publishing business – CSIRO 
Publishing – which has established R&P deals with 
45 Australian institutions, including universities, 
research organisations and government departments. 
CSIRO Publishing has now begun negotiations with 
overseas institutions. 

Andrew Stammer, Director of CSIRO Publishing explains, 
“The act of publishing research creates a record that 
allows others to see what has been discovered. This is the 
foundation of scientific research which in turn, enables 
further research to be undertaken, discoveries are built 
upon, and so the body of human knowledge increases.” 

“For this learning process to work effectively, it is 
essential for researchers to have Open Access to the 
scientific record. 

During 2021, 181 CSIRO Publishing research articles 
were published as Open Access under R&P deals with 
25 institutions. In the 6 months to June 2022, that has 
grown to 183 research articles from 39 institutions 
transacted under R&P. 

“By expanding the reach of scientific research, we can 
help to solve our greatest challenges through knowledge 
sharing across borders, industries and communities 
to encourage innovation, drive prosperity and deliver 
social benefits.”

 



Ethical science and research dissemination

CSIRO’s commitment to ensuring the integrity of our 
research is enshrined in the Science and Delivery Policy and 
supported by our Code of Conduct75 along with a vast array 
of supporting principles and procedures. These policies 
reflect the requirements specified in the Australian Code for 
the Responsible Conduct of Research76 (Code) for ensuring 
high-quality research, credibility and community trust in the 
research. The Code is a national framework developed by 
the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), 
Australian Research Council (ARC) and Universities 
Australia. The Ethics and Integrity Team engage with 
relevant stakeholders across the organisation to improve 
and maintain compliance with this Code, the guides and 
guidelines that support it and other relevant legislation, 
regulations and best-practice standards. Our commitment 
to the Code is a self-imposed obligation and requires 
continuous monitoring, review, and improvement across a 
wide range of areas related to research ethics and integrity. 

Our adherence to strong ethical standards is an important 
part of maintaining our social licence to operate. 
The Ethics and Integrity Team aims to support this through 
the provision of advisory services to support informed 
and considered research planning and design, proactively 
identifying areas where practices can be improved and 
by providing targeted training and support to assist in 
developing skills and knowledge where it is needed. 
This promotes a strong and supportive ethical culture in the 
organisation and helps to ensure that we meet not only our 
own expectations, but also those of our stakeholders and 
the Australian people. 

There are many potential risks inherent in research. 
CSIRO’s research is often at the frontier of science where 
there may be no pre-existing blueprint or log of cases to 
draw upon when considering ethical issues. Best practice 
is also constantly evolving and cutting‑edge research 
unearths new and varied ethical issues to be considered 
and managed. It therefore requires an emphasis on the 
identification and management of ethical considerations 
and risks in both the process of research and in the 
translation of research outcomes. These risks and 
associated mitigation measures are specific to each 
research activity and are considered and managed as part 
of the organisation’s planning and approval processes and 
independent ethics review processes.

Ensuring that our researchers and the collaborators we 
undertake research with act ethically and with integrity is 
a whole of CSIRO responsibility, and an important part of 
maintaining our trusted advisor status.

In 2021 the CSIRO Board and Executive Team endorsed the 
development of a framework to enhance ethical decision 
making across CSIRO and support its connection to other 
organisational strategic initiatives. This framework will 
focus on 4 key areas:

• strengthening culture and capability, and the skills 
base of staff and leadership
• enhancing consideration of ethical issues within 
research planning and approval processes 
• providing further policy and governance support 
for challenging areas 
• clarifying risk and escalation points related 
to ethical issues.


75 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/Code-of-Conduct

76 https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-code-responsible-conduct-research-2018



Enabling excellent science

The Ethics and Integrity Team provide a range of 
services to support CSIRO’s science excellence 
and innovation:

• Advisory services to support informed and 
considered research planning and design to 
ensure the ethical dimensions of research are 
appropriately considered.
• Assistance with strategic and project risk 
identification and management.
• Managing independent research ethics review 
processes for research projects and portfolios 
of work.
• Building staff and organisational capacity to 
manage the ethics dimensions of research through 
the provision of training and outreach activities.
• Promoting respectful engagement with human 
participants and the highest standards of 
animal welfare.
• Ensuring research is conducted in compliance with 
national ethics guidelines and Commonwealth and 
state legislation.
• Management of complaints, issues, adverse events 
and investigations regarding ethical research conduct 
and research integrity.
• Supporting internal stakeholders who operate 
other relevant internal processes such as ePublish, 
Conflict of Interest Declarations, and management 
of breaches.


CSIRO also has a supporting network of on-site Research 
Integrity Advisors (RIAs) to support business units, 
reporting to the Ethics and Integrity Team. RIAs are 
experienced researchers with a strong knowledge of the 
responsible conduct of research and CSIRO processes. 
They provide advice to help ensure our research achieves 
the highest standards of research excellence and 
integrity. This work plays a critical role in maintaining 
community trust in CSIRO research.



Animal and human research

All research which requires the involvement or study of 
humans (and their tissue or data) or the use of live animals 
requires ethical review and approval through processes 
prescribed by the National Statement on Ethical Conduct 
in Human Research (2007)77 and the Australian Code for 
the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes78 and 
associated animal care and welfare legislation. CSIRO has 
2 independent human research ethics committees and 
4 independent animal ethics committees managed and 
supported by the Ethics and Integrity Team that review 
all human and live animal research that occurs across 
the organisation. These committees provide review and 
ongoing support for several hundred research projects 
each year. In addition, for human and animal research we 
have compliance obligations to national and state-based 
regulators (e.g., NHMRC and the various animal welfare 
regulators) and legislative obligations under 29 separate 
legislative Acts.

The impacts of COVID-19 and associated travel restrictions 
created challenges during this period for the delivery of 
research, particularly field-based research. In response, 
many project teams were required to seek approval for 
amendments to their project design to accommodate 
adapted methodologies or extensions to completion dates. 
New guidelines and processes were developed to support 
research teams throughout this period, and best practice 
approaches regarding research integrity, participant and 
animal welfare were successfully maintained as a priority by 
all research teams and ethics committees. Ethics committee 
meeting processes were also adapted to occur via 
videoconference or a hybrid (face to face/ videoconference) 
format to meet government health guidelines.

CSIRO is a founding member and sponsor of the Australian 
and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in 
Research and Teaching (ANZCCART). Through this body 
we support a number of national initiatives such as sector 
wide training and projects such as the development of 
an Openness Agreement on Animal Research in Australia 
for institutions that use animals in research and teaching. 
The purpose of the Openness Agreement is to support 
transparency regarding the use of animals in research 
and help build and maintain community trust in scientific 
research and institutions. 

Collaboration

CSIRO collaborates extensively to support and develop 
best practice across the research sector. This includes 
the development and review of national standards and 
guidelines, contributions to discussion papers on ethical 
issues in research practice, academic publications, 
the development of sector wide training resources to 
support best practice and accreditation, active support 
of organisations such as the Australasian Research 
Management Society (ARMS) and ANZCCART and regular 
participation in consultations across a broad array of issues. 
Recently this has included providing extensive feedback on 
proposed revisions to the National Statement on Ethical 
Conduct in Human Research (2007), developing training 
materials for Research Integrity Advisors with ARMS, and 
contributing to the development of a nationally recognised 
online course on ethics and welfare issues relating to 
animal use in research and teaching with ANZCCART.

77 https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/national-statement-ethical-conduct-human-research-2007-updated-2018

78 https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-code-care-and-use-animals-scientific-purposes



Monitoring and reporting

The Ethics and Integrity Team in conjunction with the 
ethics committees monitor and review research that 
has been granted ethical approval. This is undertaken 
through annual project reporting, project completion 
reports, project audits and ongoing interactions with 
research teams throughout project implementation. 
In the event of unexpected or adverse events during 
the conduct of research, the relevant ethics committees 
are notified. They then provide advice on any required 
action. This process allows us to proactively address any 
emerging issues and share any lessons learned through the 
implementation of research. These findings are reported 
within the organisation through our annual Science Health 
and Excellence Report and through regular reports to the 
CSIRO Executive and Board committees. There are also 
annual meetings with all ethics committee chairs to discuss 
issues, areas of best practice and emerging trends observed 
by these committees throughout the year.

External monitoring and reporting are carried out through 
annual reports submitted to state and national regulators. 
External audits of ethics committee processes and the 
conduct of approved animal research are also carried 
out at least once every 4 years as a condition of CSIRO’s 
licences with state regulators. Excellence in ethical conduct 
is recognised through CSIRO’s annual awards and through 
awards provided by the ethics committees. Key findings 
are reported in CSIRO’s annual report. An audit of the 
governance framework surrounding research ethics and 
integrity processes within the organisation was also 
undertaken in 2021 as part of the ongoing internal audit 
program. Recommendations from this review to further 
enhance best practice across the organisation are currently 
being implemented by the Ethics and Integrity Team.

Training and support

A commitment to continued improvement of 
staff capability means we provide workforce 
development opportunities related to research 
ethics and integrity through numerous avenues. 
These include mandatory eLearning courses on research 
integrity and animal research ethics, in-depth face‑to‑face 
workshops on animal and human research ethics, webinars 
and guidance on specific ethical issues (available as 
ongoing resources), on-demand training for research 
groups as requested or where a need is identified, and 
ongoing support to researchers throughout the research 
process, as needed. Training and professional development 
is also provided to all human and animal ethics committee 
members to support them in their roles.

Training programs are regularly reviewed and updated in 
response to changes to national guidelines or emergent 
issues. Revisions to the National Statement on Ethical 
Conduct in Human Research are expected to be released in 
late 2022 which will initiate a further review of our human 
research ethics processes. 

Raising concerns 

Since 15 January 2014, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 
2013 (Cth) (PID Act) gives a right to Public Officials to 
disclose information about suspected wrongdoing in 
Commonwealth departments and agencies, including 
CSIRO. The PID Act aims to promote integrity and 
accountability in the Australian public sector by 
encouraging the disclosure of information about suspected 
wrongdoing, protecting people who make disclosures and 
requiring agencies to take action. The PID Act provides a 
legislative basis for the CSIRO Public Interest Disclosure 
(PID) Scheme 79and associated protections. CSIRO’s Public 
Interest Disclosure Scheme (Whistleblowing Procedure) is 
managed by CSIRO Governance.

The Ethics and Integrity Team and Research Integrity 
Advisors (RIAs) also provide information and advice 
to employees who have questions or concerns about 
research ethics and integrity. Where appropriate we also 
refer employees to other relevant policies and sources 
of support. The team also provide a conduit for external 
concerns to be raised and reported to the relevant 
decision makers. 

79 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Access-to-information/Public-Interest-Disclosure-Scheme



Excellence in Research Ethics Award

In November 2021, the CSIRO Excellence in Research 
Ethics Award was presented to Drs Rod McCrea, Andrea 
Walton, and Petina Pert from the Trends in Community 
Wellbeing project team. The annual award is presented 
by CSIRO’s Social and Interdisciplinary Science Human 
Research Ethics Committee (CSSHREC) to research teams 
that demonstrate best practice in the ethical conduct 
of research.

The team was recognised for its exemplary community 
engagement through a series of community wellbeing 
projects funded through CSIRO’s Gas Industry Social 
and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA).

When asked how applying ethics principles contributed 
positively to their work, the team said:

“Ingrained in ethics principles is the value of 
appreciating and respecting others. This has helped us 
become more trusted in local communities, as well as 
more widely. Having a commitment to the wellbeing 
of local communities has also helped us stay on track, 
keeping relevant and on-task, and maintaining progress.”

“Because we conducted our research ethically, 
inclusively, and robustly we have confidence that the 
data speaks for itself. This allows us to be impartial when 
answering questions about our research. We simply say 
what the results show.”

“Lastly, our basic aims have been to enhance 
understanding, survey the region representatively, and 
present a variety of community perspectives, with a view 
to maintaining and enhancing community wellbeing 
for local communities experiencing onshore gas 
development. This gives our research integrity.”

From L to R, Dr Andrea Walton, Dr Petina Pert (on-screen), Dr Rod McCrea, and Associate Professor Eric Vanman 
(CSSHREC Chairperson), at the award ceremony for the Excellence in Research Ethics Award.



Environmental 
and social impact

Since the establishment of our first sustainability team in 
2008, CSIRO has been working to improve its operational 
impact. The nature, scope and geographic spread of our 
science, facilities and workforce is diverse; from equipment 
and infrastructure that supports supercomputers and 
deep space radio telescopes, through to biosecurity 
level 4 laboratories and general office space, we have a 
presence in all states and territories in Australia and several 
international outposts. We also manage National Facilities 
and Collections on behalf of the nation to enable research 
by Australian and international collaborators from industry 
and research organisations. As a leader in sustainability 
research, we recognise our responsibility to ensure we 
have sustainable operations, sites, and infrastructure that 
support our science. 

The Sustainability Strategy provides the framework to 
responsibly manage our social and environmental impacts; 
while a robust data management system underpins 
our ability to accurately monitor our performance. 
Since 2008, we have employed a centralised environmental 
data management system that continues to serve 
as the repository for organisational environmental 
performance data.

This year we continued to work towards the targets 
and goals set out under the Sustainability Strategy. Key 
programs of work centred on material issues including 
reducing our carbon footprint, ensuring a responsible 
value chain, understanding and responding to the risks and 
opportunities of the global climate transition, and ensuring 
the efficient management of our resources.

2008–21

2022

2023–30

2022

Over 50% reduction in emissions 
since FY21; Developed Sustainable 
Procurement Implementation 
Plan; Climate Risk scan

2030

Target 
CSIRO NET ZERO 
(Scope 1 and 2)

2008

Sustainability function 
established at CSIRO

National roll out of waste 
diversion systems

2011

Energy, 
waste and 
water audit 
program 
established

2009

Carbon Strategy 
Endorsed 

First PV installed 
Kensington (WA)

2013

5 MW Solar 
program 
launched

2015

Building Sub-metering 
Program initiated

2016

LED lighting 
upgrade 
completed

2018

10 year Renewable 
Power Purchase 
Agreement commenced

Published first Modern 
Slavery Statement

Procurement process 
review against ISO20400

2021

Target 
Newcastle 
Net Zero 
Scope 1 
and 2

2025

2008

Environmental 
Data Management 
System 
Implemented

2011

Trialling of CSIRO Opticool/
Comfortsense across our facilities

2013

Energy 
Efficiency 
Program 
Launched

2016

36 hybrid 
and 10 electric 
vehicles added 
to fleet

2017

Initial 50% waste 
diversion target achieved

2020

5 MW solar 
PV target 
achieved

2021

Over 60% 
reduction in 
Greenhouse 
gas emissions 
achieved 
(Scope 1 and 2)

2022

ESD Policy 
developed

Reduced our 
property footprint 
by over 50,000 m2



Environmental reporting 

Section 516A of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity 
Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) requires that we report 
annually on how we accord with and contribute to 
ecologically sustainable development (ESD), including our 
environmental performance covering the impact that our 
activities have on the natural environment, how these are 
mitigated and will be managed into the future. These are 
covered in detail throughout this report.

Four of our sites are required to report under the 
National Pollutant Inventory (National Environment 
Protection Measure), which is administered by state 
and territory‑based environmental protection agencies. 

As part of our annual compliance reporting obligations, 
we also submit energy and emissions data to the Clean 
Energy Regulator under the National Greenhouse and Energy 
Reporting Act 2007 (NGER) and to our Federal Government 
portfolio Minister in line with the Energy Efficiency in 
Government Operations (EEGO) Policy. However, for 
the purposes of this report, we have adopted the EEGO 
boundary80 for our energy and emissions footprint and 
net zero targets. All calculations are in line with the NGERs 
methodology, except for the boundary determination which 
is as per EEGO. A full breakdown of our data can be found 
in the environmental data pack in the Appendix.

To achieve our science goals and objectives, CSIRO has 
an extensive and diverse portfolio of facilities, amongst 
the largest within the Commonwealth Government. 
In addition to many offices, laboratories and process bays, 
the portfolio includes national research facilities such as 
the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, Australian 
Telescope National Facility comprising multiple telescope 
sites, and the research vessel Investigator. CSIRO owns 
many of its sites across Australia, while leasing others, 
often co‑located on university campuses or with State 
Government agencies for example. Table 3 outlines the 
types of facility arrangements in place and their treatment 
for the purposes of this report.

Reducing our carbon footprint 

As one of the larger emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG) 
amongst Commonwealth government agencies, and as a 
leader in climate science, we recognise our responsibility 
to manage our carbon footprint in alignment with global 
targets. This includes transitioning our organisation to a 
clean energy future through a mixture of technologies, 
energy procurement decisions, and financial instruments. 

Our focus on managing electricity consumption is directly 
related to the significant impact it has on our overall 
emissions profile. Electricity is our primary energy source 
across the organisation and accounts for approximately 
half of our overall energy consumption. However, the 
associated greenhouse gas emissions are disproportionately 
larger at approximately 80% of our total scope 1 and 2 
emissions81. Therefore, our approach centres on improving 
energy efficiency, increasing on-site renewable electricity 
generation, and sourcing renewable electricity.

Table 3: CSIRO facility arrangements (EEGO boundary) for reporting purposes

FACILITY ARRANGEMENT 

REPORTING BOUNDARY (EEGO BASIS)

EXAMPLE FACILITY

CSIRO-owned and operated (CSIRO staff, with or without 
tenants on-site)

Included, minus tenant energy use

Newcastle

CSIRO leased and CSIRO-managed (CSIRO staff, with or without 
tenants on-site)

Included, minus tenant energy use

Waite campus, Adelaide

CSIRO-managed (on behalf of other entities) (CSIRO staff)

Included

Tidbinbilla

CSIRO leased, site managed by landlord

CSIRO-only energy use included

St Lucia, Dutton Park

CSIRO owned, managed by third party

Included

RV Investigator





80 This boundary is based on the Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) Policy boundary. It excludes tenants on CSIRO operated sites but 
includes sites where we are a subtenant. The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (2007) boundary is based on operational control, and includes 
all tenants on CSIRO operated sites, but excludes sites where we are a subtenant and do not have operational control of the facility.

81 Prior to accounting for surrender of Large Generation Certificates (LGCs).



Net zero roadmap

CSIRO is well positioned to articulate the potential pathways 
to achieving net zero emissions for our operations, as well 
as supporting research into hard-to‑abate sectors of the 
economy. As part of this commitment, we have established 
challenging targets to reduce our carbon emissions to 
net zero (NZE), consistent with our Towards Net Zero 
science mission:82

• NZE by 2030 (scopes 1 and 283)
• beyond net zero by 2050 (scopes 1, 2 and material 
scope 3).


Our targets, and the pathway to achieve them, were 
approved by our Board in December 2020. A key component 
of our approach to net zero is to maximise the proportion 
of electricity from renewable sources.

Initial phases of our NZE roadmap include laying a strong 
foundation through planning future projects. Focus areas 
for this reporting period have included the completion of:

• feasibility study to electrify the natural gas boiler at 
Newcastle (NSW)
• design of additional solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at 
Black Mountain (ACT), Newcastle (NSW), and potential 
for new systems at our Hobart (TAS) and Woodstock 
(QLD) sites
• reviewing our refrigerant use and reporting methods
• developing a strategy to guide our future use of 
carbon offsets
• continually reviewing and updating our NZE model 
and reporting tool.


Through our NZE roadmap we are exploring opportunities 
to trial emerging technologies and emissions reduction 
strategies on exemplar sites, which will inform the 
feasibility for broader deployment across our facility 
portfolio. The first facility identified to transition to net 
zero emissions (scopes 1 and 2) is our Energy Centre located 
at Newcastle (NSW), targeting NZE by 2025. Aside from the 
strong energy research focus, Newcastle was chosen as 
our first NZE exemplar site as it is a moderate-sized energy 
consumer in CSIRO’s portfolio; has significant on‑site 
renewable electricity generation capacity; CSIRO can 
combine our mini grid research to optimise the site’s energy 
consumption and, there are good opportunities to displace 
the site’s gas consumption through electrification.

Figure 5: CSIRO pathway to net zero emissions

Figure 5: CSIRO pathway to net zero emissions, timeline graphic.

Baseline year( kilotonnes C2-e 
Carbon Emissions)

Newcastle netzero emissions(scopes +
)
CSIRO net zeroemissions(scopes +
)
Net zerovalue chain(scopes +
+)
Prior to 
, a major 
strategy refresh will lay 
out the provisional 
roadmap to 
ˆ
Purchase carbon 
o‰sets if requiredResidual emissions 
(before carbon o‰sets)
Business as usual• CSIRO technologies• Advanced solutions• Equipment upgrades• O‰site renewable 
- Power purchase agreement 
- Large generation certi‘cates• O‰sets 
- O‰set strategy• Digitalisation• Energy e“ciency• Onsite renewable• Site consolidations• Electri‘cation• Refrigerant gases• Electric vehicles

82 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/challenges-missions/Towards-net-zero

83 Scope 1 emissions – direct emissions that occur on-site resulting from consumption of gas, standby generation fuels and vehicle fuels; Scope 2 emissions – 
indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity; Scope 3 – indirect emissions, excluding scope 2, which occur upstream and downstream in 
the value chain of an entity.



Collaborating with our scientists 
to solve operational challenges

CSIRO’s big challenges in achieving NZE include 
the transition away from natural gas, managing 
our buildings more efficiently, increasing onsite 
renewable energy generation and storage, and 
transitioning away from fossil fuels for transport and 
stationary energy generation. We’re also investigating 
CSIRO-generated offsets for any emissions we 
can’t mitigate.

In line with our strategy objective to work more 
closely with our scientists to apply our own expertise 
to operational challenges, this year the sustainability 
team hosted a series of NZE science workshops with 
the aim of identifying CSIRO science projects that can 
help CSIRO lower its emissions. 

In June 2022 researchers from across CSIRO were 
invited to take part in an ideation process or ‘shark 
tank’ to identify opportunities to apply their research 
to CSIRO’s own NZE challenges. A total of 24 teams of 
researchers were supported in articulating their plan 
to take their research through a commercialisation 
pathway, with 18 progressing to the second 
round, presenting their pitches to a judging panel. 
These were then short-listed, and 5 teams were given 
the chance to compete for funding to advance their 
research and to demonstrate how their research 
projects can assist CSIRO in reducing its own 
emissions. The 5 teams pitched their ideas to CSIRO’s 
Chief Executive, Larry Marshall and several members 
of CSIRO’s Executive and Leadership teams. 

Picking a winning team was difficult, considering the 
impressive diversity of ideas. However, the winning 
pitch came from Dr. Anthony Chesman and his team 
of collaborators from Manufacturing and Agriculture 
& Food. Their idea proposed the installation of 
lightweight printable solar films on our glasshouses 
to generate power and potentially enhance growth 
conditions within the glasshouses through the 
manipulation of light waves. We look forward to 
seeing this inspiring idea being demonstrated at 
a CSIRO site in the very near future.

 

Corporate power purchase agreement 

CSIRO’s 10-year renewable electricity power purchase 
agreement (PPA) with Zen Energy continues to provide 
the strong foundation for the reduction of CSIRO’s 
carbon emissions. The PPA accounts for approximately 
70% of CSIRO’s grid-fed electricity requirements. Under 
the agreement, CSIRO purchases renewable electricity 
generated from Numurkah and Nevertire solar farms 
equivalent to CSIRO’s electricity requirements. We also 
purchase the associated Large Generation Certificates 
(LGCs) that are subsequently surrendered voluntarily to the 
Clean Energy Regulator (CER) to abate our electricity‑related 
emissions. In FY22, CSIRO surrendered 56,314 LGCs, 
equivalent to 50.5 kilotonnes (kt) greenhouse gas emissions.

The PPA has and will continue to significantly reduce our 
electricity-related emissions and complements our on-site 
solar PV infrastructure. 

Solar photovoltaics and onsite 
renewable energy 

In 2015, we established an ambitious target to install 5 
Megawatts (MW) of renewable energy generation across 
multiple facilities. We commenced the roll out of large-
scale solar PV systems in 2017, with the first installation of 
solar PV at our Werribee site in Victoria. The installation 
program has progressed each year, with roof top solar 
being installed at key CSIRO sites in almost every state and 
territory. Last year we achieved our target, with over 13,000 
solar panels installed across 12 sites.

This year, we continued to implement our on-site renewable 
energy program, with the installation of an additional 40 
kilowatt hour (kWh) battery system at our Boorowa site in 
NSW, which brings the total battery capacity at Boorowa 
to 80 kWh. The extra battery capacity allows more of the 
onsite solar PV electricity generation to be stored for use 
when the sun isn’t shining and moves the site one step 
closer to net zero emissions.

We continue to explore opportunities to expand our 
on‑site renewable energy generation capacity, with 
several feasibility studies completed. Studies for future 
solar PV projects were conducted at Black Mountain (ACT), 
Newcastle (NSW), Hobart (TAS) and several other sites. 
A 1.2 MW ground mounted solar system is also planned for 
the Tidbinbilla site in the ACT, with construction approvals 
expected to be finalised early in the next reporting year. 



Much of the installed solar PV capacity at our Black 
Mountain site was damaged in severe hailstorms in 
Canberra in early 2020. Repairs are underway, with the 
solar PV expected to be operational again by the end 
of FY23.

Low emissions fleet vehicles 

CSIRO operates more than 740 fleet assets; of 
these 268 are vehicles. These vehicles include 
passenger, light and heavy commercial, and trucks 
used in a variety of research programs such as 
farming and marine research. Our Environmental 
Fleet Strategy aims to transition passenger 
vehicles to low emissions or no emissions vehicles. 
We also monitor trends in the transition of heavy vehicles 
to low or no emissions. Safety and fitness for purpose are 
our top priorities.

There continue to be challenges in the transition to low 
emissions vehicles. Limited choices mean that it can 
be difficult to source vehicles that are fit for purpose 
e.g., adequate utilities; sufficient range; access to 
supporting infrastructure and sufficient charging points, 
particularly in rural areas; and additional costs to the 
business in setting up charging infrastructure on site.

We will continue to transition our fleet to low or no 
emissions wherever feasible to support our NZE targets.

CSIRO low/no emissions vehicles include:

12

electric 
cars

52

hybrid 
cars

1 
hydrogen 
car

7 
e-bikes

8 
electric 
forklifts

11

electric 
golf carts

CSIRO’s first hydrogen vehicle

In 2018 we test drove the first-generation Toyota 
Mirai, which was refuelled using ultra-high purity 
hydrogen produced in Queensland using CSIRO’s 
membrane technology, which separates ultra-high 
purity hydrogen from ammonia while blocking all 
other gases. 

In 2021, we leased Australia’s first second-generation 
Toyota Mirai FCEV hydrogen vehicle for our Clayton 
(VIC) facility. The vehicle is being used for testing the 
hydrogen refuelling facility currently being developed 
as part of the Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2), with 
this partnership with Toyota helping to demonstrate 
the viability of zero-emissions fuel cell vehicles 
in Australia.

Left, Dr Patrick Hartley (Leader, CSIRO Hydrogen Industry 
Mission), right, Dr Alan Finkel (Special Adviser to the 
Australian Government on low emissions technology) shown 
with CSIRO’s first hydrogen vehicle, parked in front of the 
Suiso Frontier, the world’s first liquid hydrogen carrier.

 



Our performance84

In this reporting period our PPA delivered the equivalent of 
69,173 Megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable electricity for 
CSIRO and abated 50.5 ktCO2e of emissions, through the 
acquisition and voluntary surrender of LGCs. In addition, 
our onsite solar systems generated 5.9 MWh of renewable 
electricity for onsite consumption.

From FY21 we have adopted a dual reporting approach, 
which has enabled us to claim a reduction of our overall 
GHG emissions inventory from our energy procurement 
decisions85. This approach is consistent with the World 
Resources Institute (WRI) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol 
Scope 2 Guidance, which requires scope 2 emissions to 
be calculated and reported by both location-based and 
market‑based methods.86 The market-based approach 
allows us to recognise GHG emissions reductions from the 
purchase and surrender of renewable energy certificates 
(e.g., LGCs), including LGCs surrendered under jurisdictional 
emission reduction policies (such as the ACT Government).

Figures 6 and 7 provide a breakdown of our FY22 energy 
consumption and GHG emissions87 by fuel source; while Table 4 
and Figure 8 show our scope 1 and 2 emissions over the past 
6 years, with the inclusion of the scope 2 market‑based figures 
for FY21 and FY22. A full breakdown of our environmental 
metrics can be found in the Data Pack in the Appendix.

Figure 6: Energy consumption by fuel source

Figure 7: GHG emissions by fuel source (location-based reporting 
i.e., prior to surrender of LGCs)

Location-based reporting

Using the Location-based carbon accounting methodology, 
in FY22, our total greenhouse gas emissions for scope 1 and 
scope 2 emissions, decreased by 10% from the previous 
year, and 23% from the average of the previous 5 years, 
on a like for like basis. 

Our total energy usage (including on-site-generated 
renewable electricity) was 648,066 GJ, down by 10% from 
the previous year, and down by 15% from the average of the 
previous 5 years.

This is partly due to COVID-19 impacts, the ongoing 
benefit from our PV installations and reduction in our 
property footprint. 

Impact of jurisdictional renewable energy and 
emission reduction targets

At the time of reporting, there are jurisdictions that have 
established renewable energy and/or emissions-reduction 
targets. One of those is the ACT Government, which 
achieved 100% renewable electricity for the territory. As a 
result, the ACT Government purchases and surrenders LGCs 
on behalf of ACT-based businesses and residents, with the 
cost of the LGCs passed through to consumers. Hence, the 
ACT Government is effectively surrendering LGCs attributed 
to electricity consumption at CSIRO’s ACT-based sites.

Figure 6: Energy consumption by fuel source, pie chart. Figure 7: GHG emissions by fuel source (location-based reporting i.e., prior to surrender of LGCs), pie chart.
%
%
ElectricityOn-site solarNatural gasLiquid fuels(diesel, 
petrol,LPG)
Other sourcesOther sources%
%
%
%%
 %
ElectricityNatural gasLiquid fuels(diesel,
petrol, LPG)
84 As a result of earlier Annual Report printing deadlines, the environmental performance figures may differ slightly between the CSIRO Annual Report and 
this Sustainability Report.

85 Total greenhouse gas emissions for FY21 and FY22 have been calculated with both location-based and market-based methods, in accordance with the WRI 
GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (An Amendment to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard)

.

86 The location-based method reflects the average emissions intensity of the electricity grids on which energy consumption occurs (which in our case is 
the relevant State/Territory emission factor) and does not consider our procurement decisions for renewable energy. Whereas the market-based method 
reflects the renewable electricity in our supply from procurement decisions; for example, contractual arrangements such as our PPA with purchase and 
voluntary surrender of LGCs.

 Under the market-based emissions, the residual mix factor was used to estimate emissions from the residual grid electricity, 
which is in accordance with section 6.11.4 of the GHG Protocol Scope 2 guidance.

87 Our emissions portfolio is based on the methodology adopted for our Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) boundary. This boundary 
considers all of CSIRO’s footprint. This differs from the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) boundary which is based on operational control.



In accordance with the Australian Government’s Climate 
Active protocol88, CSIRO’s market-based emissions 
calculations take into account the number of LGCs 
attributed to the electricity consumption at our ACT-based 
sites and surrendered by the ACT Government.

Market-based reporting

Using the Market-based methodology, in FY22 our 
market‑based scope 2 emissions fell to approximately 
4 ktCO2e through the voluntary surrender of our LGCs. 
For the FY22, CSIRO has also included the impact of the 
ACT Government’s renewable energy policy, whereby the 
ACT Government surrenders LGCs on behalf of business 
and residential electricity consumers as described above. 
As CSIRO has several sites located in the ACT, the equivalent 
number of LGCs surrendered by the ACT Government based 
on electricity consumption at CSIRO’s ACT-based sites have 
been included in CSIRO’s emission reduction calculations.

CSIRO’s total residual scope 1 and scope 2 (market‑based) 
greenhouse gas emissions for FY22 were 20 ktCO2e. 
This equates to a 52% reduction from the previous year and 
was largely due to reductions in electricity‑based emissions.

In the first 2 years of the Sustainability Strategy, CSIRO has 
reduced its electricity-based emissions by approximately 
95%89 due to purchase of grid-fed renewable electricity and 
surrender of associated LGCs, ACT jurisdictional impacts and 
on-site renewable electricity generation. However, future 
step-change emission reductions will be very difficult to 
achieve given CSIRO will be addressing the hard‑to‑abate 
emissions attributed to natural gas, transport and 
non‑transport fuels. CSIRO does not intend to purchase carbon 
offsets to abate these emissions in the short term, preferring 
to focus implementation of long‑term emission reduction 
solutions first. As a result, our target for next year is a 1 to 2% 
reduction in our scope 1 and 2 (market‑based) emissions.

Table 4: CSIRO scope 1 and 2 emissions over the last 6 years

TOTAL ENERGY (TJ) AND GHG EMISSIONS (ktCO2e) 
(EEGO)

2016–17

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20*

2020–21

2021–22

Δ% FROM 
FY21**

Total Energy (TJ)

779

775

756

759

724

648

 10%

Total Scope 1 GHG emissions (ktCO2e)

19

18

20

21

20

16

 22%

Total Scope 2 GHG emissions (ktCO2e) Location-based

104

103

96

86

80

75

 7%

Total Scope 2 GHG emissions (ktCO2e) Market-based

21

4

 80%

Total Location-Based Emissions (ktCO2e) 

124

121

116

107

100

90

 10%

Total Market-Based Emissions (ktCO2e) 

41

20

 52%



*FY19 is the baseline year for our net zero emissions pathway. **Percentage calculations are based on raw data. 
Figures have been rounded to whole numbers for presentation purposes. 

Figure 8: FY22 location-based vs market-based emissions

Figure 8: FY22 location-based vs market-based emissions, column graph.
––––
market-based
–
location-based
–
location-based
–
market-basedTOTAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS KILOTONNES (kt) COe 
Total Scope  GHG emissions (ktCOe)Total Scope 	 GHG emissions (ktCOe)
„„
88 https://www.climateactive.org.au/

89 FY22 market-based emissions compared with FY19 stated emissions.



Corporate Emissions Reduction 
Transparency (CERT) report

In 2021, Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER) 
commenced a new pilot energy and emissions reporting 
program, called the Corporate Emissions Reduction 
Transparency (CERT) report90. It aims to improve the 
accountability and transparency of organisations with 
voluntary emissions reduction commitments.

To support the development of this report, CSIRO 
participated in stakeholder consultations, and joined the 
FY21 pilot program, with data to be published by the CER 
in early July 2022. For the purposes of this pilot report, 
we have adjusted our emissions performance to align to 
the NGER Act91.

Table 5 outlines the commitments made by CSIRO under 
the CERT report for FY21, and the estimated progress 
towards those commitments. Over the coming year CSIRO 
will continue to work with the CER and other participants 
to optimise the CERT reporting process.

Table 5: CSIRO commitments under the pilot CERT report

COMMITMENT 1

COMMITMENT 2

Commitment type

Net-only Commitment (progress verified) 
combined net and gross emissions.

Commitment (progress verified) renewable 
electricity consumption percentage.

Statement

Net zero scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 2030, 
applies to all sites where CSIRO staff are located, 
including where we are a tenant92.

100% renewable electricity supply for all CSIRO 
sites by 2030.

Estimated progress

61%

72%





90 https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/Infohub/Markets/cert-report

91 This has resulted in a slight variance of 4% in overall emissions between the CERT report and CSIRO’s sustainability report. We have also elected to apply 
a market-based accounting standard for our scope 2 emissions.

92 For the purposes of the CERT report, our emissions performance has been adjusted to align with our NGER boundary.

 https://www.cleanenergyregulator.
gov.au/NGER/National%20greenhouse%20and%20energy%20reporting%20data/Corporate%20emissions%20and%20energy%20data



Developing low emissions technologies

No single technology will take us to net zero, instead 
it will take a combination of existing and emerging 
technologies, implemented across a range of sectors. 
We’re working with partners to develop low emissions 
technologies and explore their potential for uptake. 
Here are 3 examples.

CSIRO was a major contributor to the National Hydrogen 
Roadmap and is supporting Australia’s National 
Hydrogen Strategy through our Hydrogen Industry 
Mission. Through our research, we’re aiming to drive 
down the cost of hydrogen to under $2 per kilogram to 
help deliver a secure and resilient energy system and 
support our transition to a low emissions future.

Direct air capture (DAC) is a process where CO2 is 
captured from air using filters or adsorbents, reducing 
the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. The captured 
CO2 can be used in a range of applications, from 
making cement to carbonating beverages and helping 
farmers produce better yielding crops in greenhouses. 
We’ve developed some DAC materials that are cheap, 
robust, and easy to make. They are low in toxicity and 
highly efficient at capturing CO2. And, because they’re 
hydrophobic, they work just as well in humidity.

CSIRO scientists, together with Meat & Livestock 
Australia and James Cook University, have developed 
a cost-effective seaweed feed ingredient called 
FutureFeed93. Adding a small amount of the supplement, 
made from Asparagopsis seaweed to a ruminant’s 
existing feed can reduce their methane emissions by 
over 80% and also has potential to increase livestock 
productivity. With around 15% of the world’s total 
greenhouse gas emissions coming from livestock 
production, FutureFeed is a game changer.

 

93 https://www.future-feed.com/



Risks and opportunities of the global climate transition

Like any other business, CSIRO is not immune to the risks 
posed by climate change. The impacts of climate change are 
already being felt globally and within Australia, and future 
risks are increasingly considered material and foreseeable. 
These risks are related to both physical impacts and the 
need to transition to a net zero economy in line with global 
trends. This is already a mandatory requirement for some 
countries, and Australian industry is providing leadership 
in responding to market demand for such reporting. 

One example is the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition 
(CLC)94, a group of chief executive officers (CEOs) from many 
of Australia’s leading publicly listed and private companies, 
as well as government and non-government organisations. 
The CLC recognises that climate change will have a significant 
economic impact, with climate action failure considered 
the greatest risk for companies. The group supports the 
Paris Agreement95 to limit global warming to well below 
2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, to monitor and set 
targets for greenhouse gas emissions, to work with suppliers 
and customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to 
transition to a low‑emissions economy. Our Chief Executive 
Dr Larry Marshall is a member of the CLC, as is CSIRO’s 
previous Chair, Mr David Thodey.

CSIRO has long been an international research leader 
in developing the evidence, data and models that 
show how the climate is changing, and documenting 
government, business and societal responses to increasing 
climate‑related risks96. To better understand our own 
exposure to climate-related risks, this year our Land and 
Water (L&W) research business unit undertook an initial 
Scan process outlined in Climate Compass – A Climate Risk 
Management Framework for Commonwealth Agencies 
(CSIRO, 2018)97. Climate Compass is a framework designed 
to help Australian public servants manage the risks of 
the changing climate on policies, programs and asset 
management. It was developed by CSIRO as part of the 
work plan of the Australian Government Disaster and 
Climate Resilience Reference Group. The Scan provides a 
starting point and focus for the more detailed Strategy and 
Project cycles of Climate Compass.

The Climate Compass Scan cycle involved a first-pass, 
high‑level identification of the climate-related risks that 
CSIRO may be exposed to, describing the nature of those 
risks, and identifying where to prioritise effort. The process 
included stakeholder engagement and workshops with a 
broad cross-section of support staff and climate science 
experts within CSIRO.

Initial recommendations from the Scan included 
establishing good governance processes around 
climate‑related risk management including Board oversight, 
the formation of a working group, and a deeper analysis 
of our exposure, as well as threats to staff health and well-
being in extreme weather conditions, via climate scenario 
analyses. These initiatives will help to inform understanding 
of our transitional risks to 2050.

Next year we will continue to expand the scope of 
our reporting98 on climate-related risk, aligned with 
the disclosure protocols outlined by the Task Force on 
Climate‑related Financial Disclosures99 (TCFD).

Figure 9: Disclosure protocols provided by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Governance

Disclose how the company 
manages climate-related 
risks and opportunities.

Strategy

Disclose the actual and 
potential impacts of 
climate-related risks 
and opportunities 
on the company’s 
businesses, strategy 
and financial planning.

Risk management

Disclose the company’s 
approach to identifying, 
assessing and managing 
climate-related risks.

Metrics and targets

Disclose the metrics and 
targets used to assess and 
manage climate-related 
risks and opportunities.

94 https://www.climateleaders.org.au/

95 The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change action that was adopted by 196 Parties (including Australia) at the 2015 United Nations 
Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. 

96 Climate-related risk refers to the potential negative impacts of climate change on an organisation.

97 https://research.csiro.au/compass/#:~:text=What%20is%20Climate%20Compass%3F%20Climate%20Compass%20is%20a,climate%20risk%20into%20your%20current%20risk%20management%20processes

98 See Appendix – TCFD Reporting Index

99 https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/



Tracking emissions and projecting our 
future climate

To curb human-induced climate change, governments, 
industries, and the community need comprehensive 
information about the climate system. CSIRO 
contributes to the Global Carbon Project100, which 
develops annual global budgets for carbon dioxide 
(CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), the 
three greenhouse gases that contribute most to 
human-induced global warming.

CSIRO also contributes to the development of 
enhanced climate models, such as ACCESS, which 
underpin future climate projections, including the 
assessments produced by the Intergovernmental 
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Resource efficiency

A sustainable property portfolio 

The CSIRO 2019–29 Property Strategy provides the 
framework, process and governance for infrastructure 
decisions that underpin our science, collaboration, and 
solutions for Australia. It’s also a key lever for ensuring our 
property footprint and operations are sustainable.

To complement the 10 year Property Strategy, we have a 
rolling annual Property Implementation Plan which helps 
us to pivot, adapt and create our sustainable future, and 
will be key to how we deliver innovative Labs of the Future, 
vibrant sites and dynamic work and collaboration spaces 
that enable our science. For example, during the pandemic, 
we were able to accelerate aspects of our Property Strategy 
including the consolidation of our property footprint and 
to reduce our overall footprint without compromising on 
our delivery of world class science. The rolling review of the 
Property Strategy also addresses feedback received in the 
Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) audit101 of CSIRO’s 
previous Property Investment Strategy 2012.

Smart infrastructure: We want to have fewer and 
more vibrant sites and infrastructure, with world‑class 
digitised labs and advanced facilities embracing 
new technologies, building our Labs of the Future, 
flexible workspaces, a smaller, more sustainable 
footprint, cutting-edge smart infrastructure shared 
with partners, reviewing our future workplace needs 
and accelerating our Property Strategy.

In line with our 2019–29 Property Strategy, we have 
reduced our property portfolio by over 50,000 m2 over 
the reporting period. Vacating sites can bring a range of 
challenges and impacts, but as we reduce our property 
footprint and the burdens of managing ageing infrastructure, 
we can focus on building and refurbishing our remaining 
facilities for the science of the future.

In addition to reducing our ageing property footprint, we 
are implementing Activity Based Working (ABW) across 
select sites, with the intention that ABW is applied at all 
future refurbishments and any new builds and tenancies. In 
addition to improving utilisation efficiency of existing and 
new sites, ABW offers our people flexibility and choice in how 
they work by providing diverse workspace options designed 
to support collaborative and specialist work activities. 
ABW aligns with the CSIRO Ways of Working which aim to 
improve workplaces, add vibrancy and enable different ways 
of working and it also acknowledges the ongoing trend for 
CSIRO staff to work from home on a flexible, ongoing basis.

An office space with ABW at our Black Mountain (ACT) site.

100 https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/emissions/Global-greenhouse-gas-budgets

101 https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/implementation-the-csiro-property-investment-strategy



Labs of the Future

The Labs of the Future (LOTF) action is driven by our vision of science in 2030 and will ensure that CSIRO facilities 
are able to keep us at the cutting edge of science and technology.

Events since 2020 have reshaped how we work and 
underlined CSIRO’s critical role in tackling the big 
challenges that face our nation. Our ability to push the 
boundaries of science has never been more important 
and it is vital our labs and workspaces equip us to do just 
that. Through LOTF we will ensure that our workspaces 
are designed to keep us at the cutting edge of science 
and technology.

How we undertake research, engineering and scale up is 
changing as we embrace automation, new visualisation 
and digital approaches to research. This will impact how 
we design and scope our projects, what our laboratory 
designs are, how many we need, how we use them, 
who works in labs and our staff mix.

A key principle of LOTF is to integrate digital 
technologies throughout our labs and equipment for 
improved safety, scientific excellence, and optimised 
efficiency. These may include digital assistants, 
augmented reality, automation and robotics, and 
electronic notebooks.

We have developed a set of principles to guide decision 
making on new laboratory projects. The principles 
were developed in consultation with a group of 
senior leaders from research business units across the 
organisation, along with representation from the Business 
and Infrastructure Services team and he Information 
Management and Technology team. The principles have 
been endorsed by the Science Council. 

In early 2021, a steering committee was established to 
provide oversight, guidance and coordination of Labs of 
the Future initiatives. A technical working group has also 
been formed to help build on the LOTF generic vision 
with details for specific lab environments across CSIRO.

An artist’s impressions of a future CSIRO site at 
Sydney’s Aerotropolis.



National Collections Building

Our new collections building will co-locate 4 of our 
Canberra-based collections and is expected to be complete 
in the latter half of 2023. Bringing these individual 
collections together will provide dedicated collections, 
storage and research space in a more functional precinct 
setting and allow users to be more collaborative, drive 
innovation and stimulate partnership for new discoveries. 

The new building design will not only achieve greater 
efficiency than the minimum Energy Efficiency provisions 
of the 2019 National Construction Code, but it is also 
significantly more efficient than the ageing buildings 
that currently house the various collections.

Artist’s rendition of the new National Collections Building. 
Credit: Hassell.

Artist’s rendition of the interior the new National 
Collections Building. Credit: Hassell.

Ecologically Sustainable Design

Last year, CSIRO finalised an Ecologically Sustainable Design 
(ESD) policy that supports the CSIRO Property Strategy, 
to sustainably build and refurbish our buildings, adopting 
industry best practice to consider climate-resilience, apply 
circular economy principles, and future-proof our buildings. 

The policy outlines strong energy, emissions, and water 
efficiency targets and encourages a more sustainable 
supply chain by setting embodied carbon and waste targets. 
In addition to improving our resource efficiency, the ESD 
policy encourages innovation and inclusion, and promotes 
an integrated approach between environment, building 
and people to ensure the best outcomes. The policy 
is also aligned with our Accommodation Principles 
Framework that embeds best practice for managing 
CSIRO’s property portfolio. 

Through CSIRO’s Vacation Student Program, 
a sustainable design report template was developed 
with the help of a vacation student, to improve the 
transparency of the sustainable design initiatives 
and capture design outcomes. 

The ESD policy is currently being trialled for a new building 
project in Black Mountain (ACT) with the support of our 
Capital Works team. Applying the ESD Policy requirements 
to the building design eliminated the use of natural gas for 
heating purposes, instead choosing to electrify our heating 
using heat pumps, as the site’s electricity requirements 
are met through our renewable electricity PPA, and onsite 
solar generation capacity. The application of the ESD policy 
is expected to contribute to further reductions in our 
carbon footprint. 



Integrated Design Studio collaboration 
with University of Melbourne

Laboratories are key facilities that support the 
frontline research undertaken to answer many of 
society’s most pressing problems. The strict indoor 
environment controls required for laboratories, 
along with strong focus on research outcomes, often 
means the potentially negative environmental impacts 
associated with the construction and operation 
of new and refurbished laboratory buildings 
are overlooked.

Acknowledging these challenges, a concept known 
as ‘integrated design’ was developed as a key pillar 
of The Innovation Hub for Affordable Heating and 
Cooling initiative (i-Hub)102. i-Hub is an initiative 
led by the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, 
Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) and funded 
by Australia’s renewable energy agency (ARENA). 
The integrated design concept encourages 
collaboration between architects, HVAC engineers 
and other stakeholders at the early stages of a project 
to create opportunities to deliver major cost and 
energy savings.

As Australia’s national research organisation, we 
collaborated with the University of Melbourne in an 
Integrated Design Studios (IDS) project that enabled 
students to enhance their design skills by integrating 
sustainable design features into a concept building. 

Architectural and engineering students were invited 
to design a fictional sustainable building. Eight 
designs were developed in the studio, achieving 
reductions of approximately 50% in the building’s 
operational energy demands, with 18% of the 
reduction coming from the design approach and the 
remaining 33% from solar energy – demonstrating the 
impact of sustainable design.

Some of the key considerations included passive 
design features, innovative cooling solutions and low 
embodied carbon materials. 

Energy efficiency

To support our excellent science, we have continued to 
improve our facilities through our minor and major works 
programs, ranging from the implementation of zonal HVAC 
in our Sandy Bay (TAS) site to incorporating fault detection 
as business-as-usual at Black Mountain. 

Our Efficiency Program 2030 was developed to deliver 
the estimated annual 1.8 ktCO2e savings associated with 
the energy efficiency component of our NZE roadmap. 
The program adopts a systems-approach to unlock 
emission and financial savings from site-wide and 
cross‑function building initiatives, connecting maintenance, 
capital works and other relevant site-based programs. 
Energy management plans (EMPs) have been developed 
for our top 10 emitting sites to guide efficiency project 
planning and implementation and track results. EMPs will 
be reviewed annually to ensure continuous energy 
efficiency improvements in CSIRO’s buildings.

This year, the Waite (SA) Efficiency Plan began 
implementation, in which we refurbished and reinstated 
the operation of economy cycle operations, as well 
as optimised chilled water cooling for the site’s HVAC 
systems. This alone is estimated to save 72 MWh annually. 
Further, we commenced the audit phase of the Clayton 
(VIC) Efficiency Plan, identifying around 1 Gigawatt hours 
(GWh) in potential annual energy savings in the central 
precinct, which consumes about 25% of the site’s electricity 
consumption. Implementation is expected to commence 
next year, plus additional audits for the rest of the site.

Underpinning our drive to improve our efficiency is a 
commitment to continually assess and leverage digital 
innovation where we can that will improve our operations. 
Building on our collaboration with the i-Hub Data Clearing 
House (DCH) last year, we developed a Smart Buildings 
Roadmap to 2030 to promote the proactive digitalisation 
of our facilities, laying the foundations for the adoption of 
data-driven tools in our operations103, as well as upgrading 
existing systems to accelerate the impact of digital 
technology on energy efficiency.

The roadmap will focus on developing a robust data 
system to enable performance reporting and identify 
new efficiency projects. It will also establish an 
iterative approach to trial, evaluate, and scale emerging 
technologies. The continued partnership with CSIRO’s 
research and sustainability teams in FY22 identified an 
opportunity to collaboratively trial demand and response 
technologies that will be progressed in the coming years.

102 https://www.ihub.org.au/

103 For example, leak detection and cooling optimisation



Harnessing the power of AI

Leveraging our DCH platform, the Sustainability 
team and the Energy Business Unit joined forces 
with Exergenics to trial an AI-based software for 
chiller optimisation at our Synergy Building in Black 
Mountain (ACT), a 16,000 m2 mixed-use laboratory 
and office building.

Despite infrastructure limitations and stringent 
scientific requirements, the initiative is projected 
to reduce our emissions by an estimated 8 tCO2e 
annually. Over the coming year we will continue to 
monitor and validate these projections.

Applying our approach of ‘trial, evaluate, and 
scale’, based on these successful trials the chiller 
optimisation tool will be expanded across other sites, 
including our Clayton (VIC) and Pullenvale (QLD) sites.

 

Managing our waste 

With our growing population, waste generation in 
Australia continues to rise; whilst changing international 
markets have affected our ability to recycle materials 
overseas. Increasing consumer interest in responsible 
waste management, coupled with the loss of valuable 
materials to landfill, prompted the recognition by business 
and government that Australia needs to move towards a 
circular economy.

The diversity of CSIRO’s research, our diversity of waste 
streams and the geographic spread of our sites makes a 
standardised approach to our waste management very 
difficult. Under the Sustainability Strategy, we have set 
a waste target to divert at least 80% of our waste from 
landfill by 2030 in alignment with the National Waste 
Policy Action Plan104.

Our diversion rates have been declining in recent years and 
we recognise the need to reverse this trend. At the end of 
FY21 we instigated audits at 4 key sites to better understand 
our current challenges related to source separation and 
identify specific areas for improvement. 

While the audits took place during a time when staff 
numbers on site were lower due to COVID-19 impacts 
with staff working from home, we were still able to gain 
sufficient insights to inform a list of key actions to improve 
source separation across all sites. 

These included:

• improve consistency of bin inventory to 
eliminate confusion
• promote the use and availability of source-separated bins
• remove liners from recycling bins to prevent recyclables 
being potentially discarded to landfill
• review educational material to ensure accepted 
waste streams are listed for all relevant waste 
management facilities
• demand higher quality data from waste contractor 
to support transparency and continual improvement
• require construction waste to be managed by contractors 
for minor and major works on site.


In FY22 our diversion rate was 39%, a small 
improvement on the previous year, but highlighting 
that our 80% diversion target will be challenging.

Next year, the commencement of a new waste contract 
will bring opportunities to refresh our current waste 
management system and responsibilities, and will 
incorporate lessons from our recent audits. We will also 
commence the development of our road map for achieving 
80% diversion of operational waste by 2030. This will 
involve broad engagement with staff on sites and with 
our Business and Infrastructure Services team to address 
challenges and opportunities on the ground.

104 https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/waste/publications/national-waste-policy-action-plan



Kick starting natural alternatives to plastic105

The plastic industry accounts for about 6% of global oil 
consumption. This is expected to reach 20% by 2050.

A West Australian start-up, called ULUU, is producing an 
alternative to petroleum-based plastic using seaweed, 
thanks to funding and support from Main Sequence.

ULUU is making a class of biomaterials called 
polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). These natural polymers 
mimic petrochemical plastics in that they are strong and 
water insoluble. They are also re-usable, recyclable and 
compostable. Seaweed also has the benefit of absorbing 
carbon dioxide and minimal fossil fuels are required to 
farm it.

Dr Pete Cass from CSIRO Manufacturing specialises 
in biodegradable plastic technologies. He has been 
working with ULUU to analyse its product quality and 
define processing parameters, thanks to support from 
the CSIRO Kick-Start program. 

“For our research, a range of testing is necessary to 
determine the material properties. This information will 
be essential for process modification so the plastic can 
be used for a range of applications, such as packaging.” 
said Dr Cass. 

“ULUU’s quality is being assessed for purity and 
performance using various chemical and mechanical 
methods. This will direct the production of high-quality 
and durable products and ensure that the material can 
endure high temperature production.”

This research will also assist ULUU on scaling up the 
technology and their fermentation capabilities.

Water resources

Water is a limited resource, and Australia is a drought prone 
nation. Water is critical to our operations in both science 
and research, as well as for business-as-usual activities. 
CSIRO is a diverse organisation, and our water use can 
range from generating highly purified reverse osmosis (RO) 
water, to irrigation, steam generation, and general usage 
such as the flushing of toilets where we utilise harvested 
rainwater where possible. 

Many CSIRO regional sites are exposed to drought risk and 
need to take additional steps at times to secure water supply. 
Rainwater, river extraction and/or bore water is used for 
animal welfare and growing crops for scientific research. 
We have installed water-efficient devices at most sites, and 
our new ESD policy includes water efficiency criteria for new 
builds or refurbishments. We record and report on mains 
water usage for our facilities, and continue to improve water 
collection data, particularly on sites where direct metering is 
not readily available. 

This year we commenced the development of a new water 
management strategy. We have commenced audits at 
major water-consuming sites to build a stronger picture of 
how we source and use water. This will allow us to develop 
site-specific water management plans for key sites, while 
identifying high level focus areas, such as high-water 
consuming processes across various sites that collectively 
will help inform the CSIRO-wide strategy. 

In FY22 we consumed approximately 230 ML of mains 
water, a decrease of 17% compared to the previous 
year, which is largely attributable to partial relocation 
of staff from specific sites (e.g., North Ryde), the 
continued impacts of hybrid working arrangements, 
plus general reductions in water consumption across 
multiple sites.

105 https://ecos.csiro.au/could-seaweed-replace-plastic/



Air travel

Like most organisations, CSIRO’s air travel reduced 
significantly over the last 2 years due to the global COVID-19 
pandemic. From standard team and collaborator meetings, 
recruitment interviews, business contract negotiations, 
through to virtual global conferences, videoconferencing 
replaced many face-to-face business interactions. With the 
lifting of COVID restrictions, limited domestic and 
international travel is now taking place. However, now is 
an ideal time to reset old behaviours on air travel before 
they return and be mindful of the environmental impacts 
of air travel as well as the health and wellbeing impacts on 
the traveller. 

In the past, CSIRO staff have undertaken a significant 
amount of air travel, resulting in over 10 ktCO2e106 of 
carbon emissions (excluding radiative forcing index) (see 
Table 6). While the global pandemic has artificially lowered 
our travel-related carbon emissions in FY21 and FY22, CSIRO 
will investigate options for travel reduction targets to better 
manage travel-related emissions. 

Engaging with our workforce 

Apart from the key programs of work outlined in this 
report, we also engaged with our workforce on local 
sustainability initiatives:

• We gathered insights from CSIRO people about 
sustainability challenges and opportunities in their 
workplaces through surveys, interviews and discussions 
groups, including the newly formed CSIRO Climate 
Action Group.
• We launched the first of our Live Energy Dashboards at 
the Newcastle Energy Centre to increase visibility and 
awareness of electricity consumption on site and to 
stimulate ideas for improving energy efficiency.
• We celebrated our champions, recognising the 
contribution they make to building a positive culture of 
sustainable practice at CSIRO, through our Sustainable 
CSIRO t-shirt and Plastic Free July competitions.
• We supported staff in saying no to single-use coffee cups 
through the roll out of the Green Caffeen program at 
onsite cafes at our Black Mountain (ACT), Clayton (VIC), 
Hobart (TAS) and Kensington (WA) sites.


In FY23 we’ll embark on our first Green Impact program, 
with support from Australasian Campuses Towards 
Sustainability (ACTS). The program will promote and 
incentivise sustainable actions aligned to our strategy and 
the UN SDGs, while also informing future training and 
capacity building needs. Other major projects include staff 
consultation on the development of our waste roadmap and 
continuing the roll out of live energy dashboards at 7 sites.

Table 6: Water, waste, and air travel over the last 5 years

RESOURCE AND OPERATIONAL METRICS

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Δ% FROM 
FY21

Mains Water Usage (ML)

303-5(a)

321

320

345

277

230

 17 %

Waste Generation (tonnes)

306-3

2,380

2,370

2,085

1,721

1,384

 20%

Recycling Rate (%)

306-4

46

49

38

36

39

 7%

Air Travel (million passenger kilometres)

 

114

123

84

7

13

 99%

Air Travel (tonnes CO2e, domestic)

305-3

-

5,211

3,303

748

1,084

 45%

Air Travel (tonnes CO2e, international)

305-3

-

4,918

3,206

162

323

 99%





Figures have been rounded to whole numbers for presentation purposes.

CSIRO’s Executive Director Future Industries and Sustainability 
Steering Committee member, Kirsten Rose, participating in the 
Green Caffeen program.

106 Excluding radiative forcing index.



Responsible value chain

It is widely understood that value chains comprise a large 
portion of an organisation’s complete energy and emissions 
footprint. Our procurement decisions and outputs can have 
a material impact on environmental, social, and financial 
performance, not only within our organisation, but in 
those that we partner with. The introduction of the Modern 
Slavery Act 2018 (Cth)107 also highlights the critical role of 
the supply chain in addressing societal issues.

The PGPA Act requires CSIRO, as an Australian Government 
statutory authority, to have regard to the Commonwealth 
Procurement Rules108 (CPRs) when engaged in duties related 
to the procurement of goods, services and construction 
services. The CPRs are the keystone of the Australian 
Government’s procurement policy framework and reflect 
the Government’s commitment to sustainable procurement 
practices as well as emphasising the importance of paying 
suppliers on time, particularly small businesses.

CSIRO has a robust procurement framework. 
Oversight is provided by the Strategic Procurement team 
under Corporate Finance, which supports our staff to plan, 
source and manage the procurement of goods and services 
(valued over $400,000 GST inclusive), ensuring compliance 
with both Government and CSIRO policies and procedures, 
and achieving value for money for the organisation. 
We source a broad array of procurements from construction 
services to scientific equipment to energy, to name a few. 
In line with the Senate Order for Entity Contracts, CSIRO 
is required to publish biannually on its website a list of all 
current contracts with a value of $100,000 or more.109

We publish an Annual Procurement Plan (APP)110 on 
AusTender, which provides information on significant 
procurements that CSIRO plans to undertake over the 
coming 12 months. The APP includes a concise strategic 
procurement outlook statement that broadly sets out any 
key major or strategic initiatives from which CSIRO expects 
procurements to arise.

Sustainable procurement 

A key focus area of our Sustainability Strategy is to better 
understand the environmental and social impacts of 
our purchase decisions. Recognising the need to better 
integrate sustainability considerations into our procurement 
processes, last year we undertook an independent review of 
our processes against best practice, including:

• ISO 20400111 Sustainable procurement – Guidelines. 
These are international best practice guidelines 
which provide guidance for organisations to integrate 
sustainability into procurement processes.
• Modern Slavery Act (MSA) 2018 (Cth) – the MSA aims to 
combat modern slavery in global supply chains. CSIRO 
published its first Modern Slavery Statement in 2021112.
• UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights113 
(UNGPs) – these are a set of guidelines endorsed by 
the United Nations Human Rights Council to help 
organisations and governments to prevent and address 
human rights abuses committed in business operations.


This review helped to set our benchmark position 
and identify opportunities for improvements, such 
as strengthening supplier due diligence processes. 
These identified opportunities formed the basis for our 
Sustainable Procurement Implementation Plan (SPIP) 
which is a three-stage process over a number of years, 
transitioning from risk mitigation through to a shared 
value approach. A new cross-organisational working group 
has been established to drive the actions under the SPIP. 
We recognise that building the capabilities of our workforce 
will be an important factor in this process.

107 https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153

108 https://www.finance.gov.au/government/procurement/commonwealth-procurement-rules

109 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Access-to-information/Contracts

110 https://www.tenders.gov.au/App/Show/4FDC9EA2-9DD7-B623-2CE6-67947907F0F0?ppId=&btnsubmit=View+Annual+Procurement+Plan

111 https://www.iso20400.org/

112 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/policies/modern-slavery-statement

113 https://www.ohchr.org/en/publications/reference-publications/guiding-principles-business-and-human-rights



Battery manufacture a boon for Australian economy114

With 100% of Australia’s lithium-ion battery cells 
currently imported from overseas, an opportunity exists 
for Australia to build the whole battery value chain from 
mining of battery minerals to processing, battery active 
materials and eventually cell manufacture. 

This opportunity could contribute $7.4 billion annually to 
Australia’s economy, according to the 2021 Future Charge: 
Building Australia’s Battery Industries report from the 
Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre 
(FBICRC), and support 34,700 jobs by 2030.

CSIRO has been working with Energy Renaissance to 
establish Australia’s first lithium battery technology 
Gigafactory in Tomago in the Hunter region. 
Called ‘Renaissance One’, the 4,500 square metre 
advanced manufacturing facility is the first to produce 
Australian‑designed batteries and technology and will 
have the capacity to produce up to 1 GWh of batteries 
per year once operational.

The Renaissance superStorage™ batteries, 
made in Tomago, have been designed and 
developed in collaboration with CSIRO for use 
in stationary applications.

The Renaissance superStorage™ batteries have been 
developed in collaboration with CSIRO for use in stationary 
and transport applications.

 

Valuing sustainability

The Valuing Sustainability Future Science Platform115 is developing next generation science that 
provides confidence that actions across supply chains lead to positive outcomes for land, water, 
biodiversity, and people. We will work with diverse groups in regional communities, across 
industries and supply chains, to co-develop and test measures of sustainability which reflect real 
and desirable outcomes and can guide investment and innovation for ongoing improvement. 
Our website contains more about CSIRO Future Science Platforms116.

114 https://ecos.csiro.au/lithium-ion-battery-industry/

115 https://research.csiro.au/vsfsp/

116 https://www.csiro.au/en/about/strategy/Future-Science-Platforms



Addressing modern slavery risk

Risk is inherent in all procurement activities. All CSIRO 
employees are required to apply CSIRO’s Risk Management 
Framework for the identification, assessment, and 
treatment of risks when undertaking procurements. 
Modern slavery risks form a critical part of the assessment 
of risks in relation to procurement activities over $400,000. 
Risks can take the form of human trafficking, forced labour, 
debt bondage and child labour, to name a few.

In 2021 CSIRO published its first Modern Slavery Statement. 
The statement reports on the risks of modern slavery in 
the operations and supply chains of the organisation and 
identifies actions to manage and where possible remove 
those risks. CSIRO is absolutely committed to the prevention 
of slavery and human trafficking in all our activities.

As part of our SPIP, we have undergone an independent 
review to identify opportunities to improve future modern 
slavery statements, as well as undergoing an independent 
risk assessment of our supply chain and operations. 
Our next Modern Slavery Statement is due to be published 
in December 2022.

Encouraging supplier diversity

Indigenous businesses 

CSIRO aims to achieve greater Indigenous participation and 
is actively pursuing further opportunities to incorporate 
supplier diversity within the organisation through 
promoting the Commonwealth Government Indigenous 
Procurement Policy (IPP).117 CSIRO has voluntarily 
supported the IPP since July 2016. The purpose of the IPP 
is to leverage the Commonwealth’s annual, multi‑billion-
dollar procurement spend to drive demand for Indigenous 
goods and services, stimulate Indigenous economic 
development and grow the Indigenous business sector. 
CSIRO is also a member of Supply Nation, which has been 
endorsed by the Australian Government as the leading 
directory of Indigenous businesses. Indigenous businesses 
are defined in the Commonwealth Procurement Rules 
to be small to medium enterprises with at least 50% 
Indigenous ownership.

CSIRO staff are encouraged to consider engaging 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned businesses 
as part of the decision-making process when procuring 
goods and services, whilst also complying with CSIRO’s 
internal procurement procedures and the CPRs, specifically 
the core principle of “Value for Money”. This year, we 
spent over $3.5 million with Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander‑owned enterprises.

Small business

The Payment Times Reporting Scheme118 (Scheme) aims to 
improve payment outcomes for small businesses119. It creates 
transparency on how and when large businesses pay their 
small business suppliers. The Scheme gives small businesses 
(and members of the public) access to information on large 
business’s payment performance. This helps small businesses 
make informed decisions about who they do business with. 
Making payment information available to the public also 
encourages large businesses to improve their payment times. 
The first reporting period for businesses with common 
income years was 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021.

For the FY22 reporting year, CSIRO paid 97% of small 
business suppliers within 20 days, and 98.6% small business 
suppliers within 30 days120. Our six-monthly government 
reporting obligation data for small businesses is publicly 
accessible via our ABN search121.

117 https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/economic-development/indigenous-procurement-policy-ipp

118 The scheme is governed by the Payment Times Reporting Act 2020 and the Payment Times Reporting Rules 2020. https://paymenttimes.gov.au/

119 Small businesses are identified under the Scheme using the Small Business Identification Tool (SBI Tool). A business is identified as a small business if they 
carry on an enterprise in Australia, have an ABN, had annual turnover below $10 million for the most recent income year.

120 Calculated by value ($ spend) of total small business spend in the relevant period

121 https://register.paymenttimes.gov.au/



Think Indigenous first for procurement

A commitment to use Indigenous-owned suppliers for 
our procurement needs wherever possible is just one of 
the ways CSIRO is sustainably delivering as part of our 
Reconciliation Action Plan. Shelly Rowell, CBIS Manager 
Contracts and Compliance, said there were multiple 
reasons to consider Indigenous‑owned businesses when 
procuring goods and services, including:

• it contributes to stimulating Indigenous 
entrepreneurship, business and economic 
development, providing Indigenous Australians with 
more opportunities to participate in the economy 
• it creates supply chain diversity that is more 
sustainable for our operations and our economy, 
resulting in greater innovation and reducing risk
• at a local level, it supports employment opportunities 
and pathways as well as contributing to local 
community social outcomes
• it is a simple and pro-active way to contribute to 
broader goals of reconciliation and closing the gap.


“CSIRO has had multiple construction projects and other 
property services delivered by Indigenous businesses 
over recent years with exceptional value for money and 
innovative results,” Ms Rowell said. “If you procure a 
service or item frequently it may be worth tendering 
for a contract that can create stability and long-term 
certainty for an Indigenous business. This in turn can 
create further benefits such as enabling employment 
pathways or investment by the business in a community 
social enterprise. Through our work we have also made 
connections with various communities and the contracts 
have, in several cases, resulted in new employment 
pathways within the business, along with growth and 
stability for those businesses and the communities they 
are a part of.”

As Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO naturally 
needs a lot of electrical equipment to operate, and 
that equipment must be tested and tagged regularly to 
maintain safe operations. Indigenous-owned Electrical 
Testing and Compliance Services (ETCS) has been 
providing test and tag services to CSIRO for the past 
10 years and was recently re-engaged in a $1 million+ 
contract to continue to provide these services.

Rachel Molloy, owner and director of ETCS, said the 
long-term engagement of her business by CSIRO had a 
lasting impact that was only growing. “Over the next 
12 months our technicians will undertake in the vicinity 
of 100,000 electrical compliance tests across CSIRO 
sites around Australia,” Ms Molloy said. “Through the 
work we do at ETCS, we see a fantastic opportunity to 
increase Indigenous employment within our company. 
We feel this is where we can make a real difference. 
We’re currently working with an Indigenous recruitment 
agency to help recruit more Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander people into new roles at ETCS, helping to grow 
our company and the Indigenous economy too.”

“Indigenous procurement helps businesses take 
meaningful action towards building equality and cultural 
awareness, boosting Indigenous entrepreneurship, 
and strengthening the Indigenous business sector. 
We’re extremely grateful to CSIRO for the opportunity to 
provide our services because it’s through partnerships 
with equally committed organisations that our 
Indigenous employment strategy comes to life.”

Example of ETCS ‘test and tag’ service.



Appendix

Material topic definitions

MATERIAL TOPIC 
THEME

MATERIAL 
TOPIC

DEFINITION

RELEVANT SDGS

Foundations

Managing the risks 
and harnessing the 
opportunities of a 
digital world. Having 
robust systems and 
processes to support 
financial and operational 
sustainability

Culture, ethics, 
integrity 
and trust 

Developing and maintaining a culture of continuous 
improvement, good governance, and ethical and 
moral conduct to remain Australia’s most trusted 
research institution.

Financial 
sustainability 

Developing and implementing strategies, new business 
models and commercialisation approaches that compliment 
CSIRO’s strategic objectives to achieve long-term growth 
and sustainability.

Digital 
disruption 
and innovation 

Continually assessing and leveraging digital innovation, 
to remain at the cutting edge of ways of doing research 
and facilitate a connected and agile workforce able to 
address the challenges and opportunities that arise from 
digital disruption.

 

Data security 
and privacy 

Protecting the privacy of our workforce, and security of 
scientific data, through maintaining trust and competency in 
IT systems and defences against cyber security breaches.

 

Our people

Attracting and 
supporting a skilful, 
agile, and diverse 
workforce, and keeping 
CSIRO people safe 
and healthy

An agile, 
future-focused 
workforce

Ensuring we have highly capable individuals with the 
skillsets we need now and for the future and building and 
sharing our people’s capabilities and knowledge to support 
an agile workforce.

 

Connected and 
collaborative 
ways of working 

Supporting our geographically diverse and skilled workforce 
to connect, collaborate, innovate, and work productively, 
maximising the impact we can create.

 

Health, safety, 
and wellbeing 

Protecting and promoting the health, safety and wellbeing 
of our people, partners, infrastructure, and environments in 
which we operate through effective safety risk management 
and promoting a safety culture.

Diversity, 
inclusion and 
belonging

Creating and embracing an environment where each 
individual is included and supported and can realise their full 
potential and implementing business practices that leverage 
our diversity of talent, thoughts and ideas.

 







MATERIAL TOPIC 
THEME

MATERIAL 
TOPIC

DEFINITION

RELEVANT SDGS

Partnerships 
and engagement

Collaborating with 
partners, businesses, 
industry and the 
community to support 
innovation and 
maximise benefits 
of CSIRO research

Relationship 
with government

Working with, and maintaining our positive standing with 
government, to fulfil our function of undertaking science 
in the national interest, while maintaining our independence.

 

Collaboration 
with business 
and industry

Collaborate closely with industry and business to enable 
more targeted and efficient delivery of technology and 
innovation, build capacity, and support Australia's future 
industries and jobs. This includes making it easier to do 
business with CSIRO.

 

Community 
engagement and 
capacity building 

Engaging the community in an ongoing two-way 
conversation, to inform our research areas, share important 
research and innovation developments, and maintain 
awareness of and trust in the work we do.

 

Action for 
reconciliation

Engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 
through science, education, and employment opportunities, 
and through pursuing innovation outcomes that create a 
positive impact for First Nations people.

 

Excellent science

Maximising the benefit 
of CSIRO research 
through solving the 
greatest challenges, 
and conducting it 
in innovative and 
ethical ways

Ethical science 
and research

Upholding strong processes, systems, safeguards, and people 
that support scientific integrity.

Impactful 
science and 
research areas

Identifying and solving the greatest challenges facing 
Australia through innovative science and technology. 
Ensuring we take a future-focus to our research and 
engagement, including through exploring how megatrends 
may affect the challenges we aim to solve.

Research 
dissemination 
and application, 
and impact 
measurement

Facilitating dissemination and application of our research 
among communities, business, and industries, to maximise 
the social, environmental and economic benefits of our 
work. Measuring and reporting on the impact of our 
research and using this data to continually improve.

National and 
international 
research 
partners

Partnering with universities and publicly funded research 
organisations and maintaining stewardship of science 
infrastructure to boost innovation and capacity and ensure 
optimum research outcomes.







MATERIAL TOPIC 
THEME

MATERIAL 
TOPIC

DEFINITION

RELEVANT SDGS

Environmental 
and social impact 

Minimising the negative 
environmental and 
social impact of CSIRO’s 
operations, buildings, 
and supply chains

Resource 
efficiency

Ensuring efficient waste, water, materials, and energy 
management to minimise the negative impact of our actions 
and operations on our environment. Considering and 
minimising the environmental footprint of our buildings and 
business travel.

Responsible 
value chain

Minimising the upstream environmental and social risk of 
the goods and services we procure through updating our 
procurement processes and working with key suppliers.

 

Reducing our 
carbon footprint

Minimising the carbon footprint of our assets and operations 
to contribute to global efforts to mitigate climate change.

 

Risks and 
opportunities 
of the global 
climate 
transition

Understanding and responding to the risks and 
opportunities of climate change and the transition to a 
lower carbon economy for our business and stakeholders, 
including adapting our research focus areas to 
better respond.

 







Glossary

TERM

DEFINITION

AA1000APS

The purpose of the AA1000APS (2008) is to provide organisations with an internationally accepted, freely 
available set of principles to frame and structure the way in which they understand, govern, administer, 
implement, evaluate and communicate their accountability. The AA1000 AccountAbility Principles provide 
the basis for understanding and achieving sustainability assurance.

Challenges 

The six challenges CSIRO is focused on are:

• Food security and quality
• Health and wellbeing
• Resilient and valuable environments
• Sustainable energy and resources
• Future industries
• A secure Australia and region.


CSIRO’s Corporate Plan contextualises these challenges so the solutions from science focus on these 
priorities into the future.

Circular economy 

A circular economy is an economic system focused on eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. 
In circular economies, resources are recycled, re-used, shared, repaired, refurbished to create a closed-loop 
system, in turn reducing raw input use and the creation of waste. 

EEGO

The Energy Efficiency in Government Operations Policy

Exemplar

One that serves as a model or example: such as an ideal model. A person or thing serving as a typical 
example or appropriate model. 

Global Reporting 
Initiative (GRI)

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards) are the first and most widely adopted global 
standards for sustainability reporting. GRI helps businesses and governments worldwide understand and 
communicate their impact on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, governance 
and social well-being.

Materiality

Materiality is a concept founded in financial accounting procedures, which has been adapted and applied to 
nonfinancial information. In sustainability reporting, material issues are those which are important enough 
to influence a stakeholder’s decisions in relation to the business.

Modern Slavery Act 2018

An Act to require some entities to report on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply 
chains and actions to address those risks, and for related purposes.

Net zero emissions

‘Net zero’ refers to achieving an overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of 
the atmosphere. 

Responsible 
procurement

A procurement process that considers social, environmental and economic impacts to support sustainable 
development

Scope 1, Scope 2 and 
Scope 3 emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions are categorised into three groups or 'scopes' by the most widely used 
international accounting tool, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. Scope 1 covers direct emissions 
from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased 
electricity, steam, heating and cooling consumed by the reporting company. Scope 3 includes all other 
indirect emissions that occur in an organisation’s value chain.







How we engage with our stakeholders

STAKEHOLDER 
GROUPS

CHANNELS FOR ENGAGEMENT

KEY TOPICS OF ENGAGEMENT

 Our customers

Australian 
Government and 
its agencies; state 
and territory 
governments and 
their agencies

• Annual report and corporate plan
• Official reporting channels, including Ministerial briefings and 
correspondence
• Regular meetings, targeted briefings, reports, submissions to formal 
consultation processes
• Research collaborations and partnerships
• Working groups and committees


We share our research activities, 
listen to the needs of ministers 
and government departments, and 
provide scientific information and 
advice to inform policy development 
and program implementation.

Australian and 
global businesses 
and industries

• Surveys
• Research collaborations and consortiums
• Education and outreach program partnerships
• Missions program
• Membership of or participation in industry associations or professional 
groups such as the Business Council of Australia and the Australian 
Climate Leaders Coalition 
• Membership of international business networks 
• Multi-stakeholder fora including the Energy Efficiency Council, Australian 
Ocean Energy Group, Future Earth
• Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs)
• SME programs
• Advisory services
• Innovation services


We bring together our partners 
in industry to co-create 
commercialisation outcomes that 
deliver the greatest impact and create 
economic value for the nation.

Australian and 
international 
research 
organisations 
and universities

• Research collaborations
• Strategic partnerships with other national science and research agencies 
• Membership of peak bodies such as Science & Technology Australia and 
Standards Australia and Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care 
of Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART)
• Multi-stakeholder fora including the Energy Efficiency Council, Australian 
Ocean Energy Group, Future Earth
• CRCs


We partner with research institutions 
through co‑location, co-publication, 
and collaborative research to boost 
innovation and ensure the best 
available research is used to solve 
the greatest challenges and deliver 
outcomes for Australia and the world.

The Australian 
and international 
community

• Website
• Social media
• National research infrastructure
• Education and outreach programs
• Publications, including through CSIRO Publishing
• Citizen science program
• CREST program
• Community and customer surveys
• Annual report
• Sustainability report


We deliver learning experiences 
for students, teachers, and the 
community to equip Australians with 
the knowledge they need to enter 
the workforce and increase their 
science, technology, engineering, 
and mathematics skills.

 Employees and suppliers

Employees

• Internal communication channels, including all staff meetings
• Leadership blog and communications
• Employee engagement surveys
• Culture and Pulse surveys
• Annual reporting
• Complaint’s process and PID Scheme
• HSE resource hub
• People hub


We engage with our people on 
our strategic objectives, which 
includes delivering impact through 
innovation; having purpose driven 
science and technology; engaging 
and empowering talent; and building 
collaborative networks, as well 
as topics related to capabilities 
and sustainability.

Suppliers

• Procurement and contract management channels


COVID-19 response and business 
continuity, data security, 
modern slavery.







Data pack

This Data Pack comprises our sustainability performance for the financial year ending 30 June 2022. Our performance data 
and metrics have been stated at the enterprise level. In Australia, our environmental data is reported with both the Energy 
Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) boundary and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (2007) (NGERS) 
operational control boundary. The basis of this data pack is our EEGO boundary, unless otherwise stated. Where data was 
unavailable at the time of publication, estimates have been made based on historical consumption trends or financial year 
activity data. As a result of earlier Annual Report printing deadlines, the environmental performance figures may differ 
slightly between the CSIRO Annual Report and Sustainability Report.

Environmental data

Boundary: Energy Efficiency in Government Operations

Table E1

SCOPE 1 AND 2 GREENHOUSE GAS 
EMISSIONS SUMMARY (EEGO)

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Total Scope 1 GHG emissions (ktCO2e)

305-1

18

20

21

20

16

Total Scope 2 GHG emissions (ktCO2e) 
Location-based

305-2

103

96

86

80

75

Total Scope 2 GHG emissions (ktCO2e) 
Market-based

305-2/ 
305-5

 

 

 

21

4

Total Location-Based Emissions (ktCO2e) 

 

121

116

107

100

90

Total Market-Based Emissions (ktCO2e) 

305-5

 

 

 

41

20





Notes: 1. This boundary is based on the Energy Efficiency in Government Operations (EEGO) Policy boundary. It excludes tenants on CSIRO operated 
sites, but includes sites where we are a subtenant. 2. The basis of our performance metrics and breakdowns are based on the EEGO boundary. 3. Scope 1 
and 2 emissions are for Australian sites only, and do not include our international sites. However, our international sites are immaterial to our footprint. 
4. Market‑based emissions account for our renewable energy purchases, including the surrender of Large-scale generation certificates from our PPA. 
Under market-based emissions, the residual mix factor was used to estimate the emissions from the residual grid electricity, which is in accordance with 
Section 6.11.4 of the GHG Protocol Scope 2 guidance. 5. Dual figures are reported in accordance with the WRI's Greenhouse Gas Protocol – Scope 2 guidance. 
6. FY22 figures may differ from the Annual Report due to its earlier reporting deadlines. 7. FY19 is the base year for CSIRO's net zero calculations.

Table E2

ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND EXPORTED 
BY FUEL SOURCE (GJ)

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Electricity (grid)

302-1

445,881

403,044

371,773

354,283

339,835

Electricity (solar)

302-1

2,765

6,260

19,818

19,638

21,196

Electricity (off-grid)*

302-1

0

10,106

9,929

7,559

8,547

Electricity (exported to grid)

302-1

-

-

-

623

1,038

Natural gas

302-1

210,020

204,852

205,819

204,399

198,527

Diesel

302-1

90,762

116,511

138,763

125,188

68,272

Petrol

302-1

6,040

6,327

5,161

4,603

3,510

LPG

302-1

8,520

8,428

4,204

5,285

5,617

Ethanol

302-1

84

54

18

12

0

Other

302-1

10,510

767

3,292

2,910

2,563

Total Energy Consumed (GJ)

 

774,583

756,349

758,777

723,877

648,066





Notes: 1. Data based on invoices. Where unavailable metered data and costs (as proxy) used . Where data has been unavailable estimates have been made 
based on historical usage and / or activity data. 2. Electricity (solar) is based on energy consumed from our onsite PV systems. It is considered 'behind 
the meter' usage. 3. Electricity (Horizon Power*) is based on an off-grid electricity source from a diesel power plant provided by a third party retailer. 
4. Conversion factors are based on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) (Measurement) Determination 2008, for each reporting year. 
5. We do not sell electricity, heating, cooling or steam. 6. We have adopted the EEGO boundary for our energy and emissions footprint and net zero targets.



Table E3

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY FUEL 
SOURCE (TONNES CO2e)

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Scope 1

305-1

 

 

 

 

 

Stationary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natural Gas

305-1

10,782

10,499

10,606

10,533

10,230

Diesel

305-1

443

579

727

379

623

Petrol

305-1

6

83

96

92

79

LPG

305-1

516

511

255

320

326

Other

305-1

0

3

3

2

0

Transport

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diesel

305-1

5,961

7,642

9,043

8,435

4,182

Petrol

305-1

403

345

254

220

158

Ethanol

305-1

0

0

0

0

0

LPG

305-1

14

Scope 2

305-2

 

 

 

 

 

Electricity (off-grid*)

305-2

-

1,757

1,738

1,302

1,353

Electricity (grid, Location-based)

305-2

103,342

94,538

84,422

78,686

73,194

Electricity (grid, Market-based)

305-2

-

-

-

19,699

2,792

Total (Scope 1 and Scope 2 (location-based)

 

121,454

115,955

107,142

99,968

90,160

Total (Scope 1 and Scope 2 (market-based)

 

-

-

-

40,872

19,759





Notes: 1. Emission factors for Scope 1 and 2 emissions are calculated based on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) (Measurement) 
Determination 2008, for each reporting year. 2. Location-based emissions are calculated in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and in alignment 
with Australian frameworks. 3. Electricity (Horizon Power*) emissions are calculated based on the defaut factors provided in the NGER Determination. 
4. Sum of individual energy sources may differ to "total" due to rounding. 5. Market-based emissions have not been restated for 2019–20 and prior. 
No LGCs were purchased or surrendered in those years. 6. Off-grid scope 2 calculated in accordance with Section 6 .11. 4 of GHG Protocol Scope 2 guidance.



Table E4

RESOURCE AND OPERATIONAL METRICS

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Mains Water Usage (ML)

303-5(a)

321

320

345

277

230

Waste Generation (tonnes)

306-3

2,380

2,370

2,085

1,721

1,384

Recycling Rate (%)

306-4

46

49

38

36

39

Air Travel (million passenger kilometres (pkm))

 

114

123

84

7

13

Air Travel (tonnes CO2e, domestic)

305-3

-

5,211

3,303

748

1,084

Air Travel (tonnes CO2e, international)

305-3

-

4,918

3,206

162

323





Notes: 1. Where data was unavailable for water usage (specifically for sites where we do not readily have separate metering due to tenancy), estimates have 
been made. 2. Waste data is based on sites where we have contractual arrangements, and excludes sites where we do not have control of the facility. It does 
not include contractor managed waste streams. 3. Air travel data and metrics are provided by our service provider and is based on the methodology adopted 
by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. It does not currently take into account the radiative forcing impacts.

Table E5

RESOURCE AND OPERATIONAL METRICS 
BY FTE

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Greehhouse gas emissions (tonnes/per FTE)

305-4

23

22

21

8

4

Energy (GJ/FTE)

302-3

149

141

150

146*

123

Waste generation (kg/FTE)

 

459

442

412

348

262

Mains water usage (kilolitres/FTE)

 

62

59

68

61

44

Air Travel (thousand pkm/FTE)

305-3

22

23

17

1

3





Notes: 1. FY21 and FY22 tonnes CO2-e/FTE is based on Scope 1 and Scope 2 market based emissions. 2. All calculations based on Australian FTE figures. 
3. *FY21 figure restated, based on updated data.



Chart E1: Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (EEGO) boundary

Chart E2: Energy usage by major energy sources

Chart E1: Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (EEGO) boundary, column graph.
––––
market-based
–
location-based
–
market-basedTOTAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS KILOTONNES (kt) COe 
Total Scope  GHG emissions (ktCOe)Total Scope 	 GHG emissions (ktCOe)
„„–
location-based
Chart E2: Energy usage by major energy sources, column graph
,,,,,–––––
TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION BY SOURCE (’ GJ)
Electricity (grid and o-grid)Natural gasOther fuels and energy sourcesElectricity (on-site solar)

Our people

Note: all data excludes affiliates unless otherwise specified.

Table P1

EMPLOYEES BY GENDER

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Total employees 

102-8

5767

5915

5319

5221

5672

Male (%)

405-1(b)

58.6%

57.8%

58.8%

57.9%

56.0%

Female (%)

405-1(b)

41.4%

42.1%

41.1%

42.0%

43.8%

Non-binary/ 
prefer not to say (%)

405-1(b)

0.0%

0.1%

0.1%

0.2%

0.2%





Note: 1. Total employees by headcount as at 30 June. 2. Percentages represent percentage of total employees.

Table P2

EMPLOYEES BY 
CONTRACT TYPE

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

Permanent (ongoing) 
– Full Time (%)*

102-8

43.2%

21.7%

42.4%

22.7%

46.3%

25.1%

45.9%

25.6%

42.1%

24.5%

Permanent (ongoing) 
– Part Time (%)*

102-8

1.7%

8.0%

1.7%

7.7%

1.7%

8.4%

1.7%

8.0%

1.5%

7.5%

Temporary 
(non‑ongoing) 
– Full Time (%)*

102-8

9.9%

7.0%

10.2%

7.2%

9.6%

5.9%

9.0%

6.1%

10.3%

8.2%

Temporary 
(non‑ongoing) 
– Part Time (%)*

102-8

3.8%

4.7%

3.5%

4.5%

1.2%

1.7%

1.3%

2.1%

2.2%

3.7%

Employees 
completing Annual 
Performance 
Appraisal (%)**

404-3

96.2%

95.7%

97.2%

96.5%

97.7%

96.3%

96.3%

95.6%

-

-





Notes: 1. Sum of percentages do not add up to 100, with remaining identifying as non-binary/prefer not to say. 2. FY22 Annual Performance Appraisal 
(APA) completion not available at time of publication due to timing of reporting and timing of APA finalisation. 3. Casual employees included in Temporary 
(non-ongoing) – Part Time. 4. There are no significant seasonal variations. 5. *represents percentage of total employees per financial year; **represents 
percentage of reference group in column heading.



Table P3

EMPLOYEES 
BY AGE, AND 
DIVERSITY GROUPS

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

Employees < 30 years 
old (%)

405-1(b)

5.7%

4.7%

5.8%

4.4%

3.8%

2.7%

3.7%

2.6%

4.8%

3.6%

Employees >30 years 
old <50 years old (%)

405-1(b)

32.1%

23.9%

31.0%

24.2%

31.9%

24.0%

30.5%

24.3%

28.8%

25.0%

Employees > 50 years 
old (%)

405-1(b)

20.8%

12.8%

21.0%

13.5%

23.1%

14.4%

23.7%

15.1%

22.5%

15.3%

Employees who 
identify as Aboriginal 
and Torres Straight 
Islander (%)

405-1(b)

0.8%

1.1%

0.8%

1.2%

0.6%

1.0%

0.5%

1.0%

0.5%

1.2%

Employees who 
identify with a 
disability (%)

405-1(b)

2.4%

1.6%

2.4%

1.7%

2.4%

1.6%

2.4%

1.7%

2.4%

1.9%





Notes: 1. Sum of percentages do not add up to 100, with remaining employees identifying as non-binary. 2. Leadership positions outside of governance 
bodies. 3. Percentages represent percentage of total employees per financial year.

Table P4

LEADERSHIP OF 
GOVERNANCE 
BODIES BY GENDER 
AND AGE

GRI

2020–21

2021–22

BOARD

EXECUTIVE 
TEAM

CLT

ALL 
LEADERS

BOARD

EXECUTIVE 
TEAM

CLT

ALL 
LEADERS

Gender – Male (%)

405-1 (a)

50.0%

62.5%

68.2%

62.4%

37.5%

50.0%

52.0%

58.9%

Gender – Female (%)

405-1 (a)

50.0%

37.5%

31.8%

37.6%

62.5%

50.0%

48.0%

41.1%

Age < 30 years old (%)

405-1 (a)

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.5%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.4%

Age >30 years old <50 
years old (%)

405-1 (a)

12.5%

0.0%

27.3%

51.8%

12.5%

25.0%

24.0%

53.7%

Age > 50 years old (%)

405-1 (a)

87.5%

100.0%

72.7%

47.6%

87.5%

75.0%

76.0%

45.8%





Notes: 1. Executive team includes our Chief Executive. 2. CLT means CSIRO Leadership Team and for reporting purposes includes all employees at Director 
level, excluding those considered 'General Managers'. 3. CSIRO does not currently have any leaders of governance bodies identifying as non-binary/prefer 
not to say. 4. Leaders include any person whose job title contains the word 'Manager', 'Director', 'Leader' or 'Executive'; excluding 'Executive Assistant' or 
'Executive officer'. 5. Percentages represent percentage of reference group in column heading.



Table P5

EMPLOYEE CATEGORIES 
BY GENDER, AGE AND 
DIVERSITY GROUPS

GRI

2020–21

2021–22

RESEARCH STAFF

NON-RESEARCH 
STAFF

RESEARCH STAFF

NON-RESEARCH 
STAFF

Gender – Male (%)

405-1(b)

64.9%

46.4%

63.5%

44.3%

Gender – Female (%)

405-1(b)

34.9%

53.5%

36.3%

55.6%

Gender – Non-binary (%)

405-1(b)

0.2%

0.1%

0.2%

0.1%

Age <30 years old (%)

405-1(b)

6.3%

6.3%

8.9%

7.7%

Age >30 years old <50 years old (%)

405-1(b)

55.3%

54.3%

54.5%

52.8%

Age > 50 years old (%)

405-1(b)

38.4%

39.4%

36.6%

39.4%

Employees who identify as 
Aboriginal and Torres Straight 
Islanders (%)

405-1(b)

1.3%

1.8%

1.4%

2.1%

Employees who identify with 
a disability (%)

405-1(b)

4.1%

4.0%

4.2%

4.4%

Employees from non-English 
speaking backgrounds (%)

405-1(b)

31.5%

12.1%

32.5%

13.1%





Note: 1. Percentages represent percentage of reference group in column heading.

Table P6

NEW HIRES 
AND TURNOVER 
BY GENDER

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

Number of new hires

401-1

615

568

605

553

161

138

255

249

554

628

Turnover (%)

401-1

10.9%

9.8%

11.7%

10.8%

12.8%

9.7%

10.2%

10.7%

11.1%

11.9%





Note: 1. *represents percentage of reference group in column heading.

Table P7

WORKFORCE 
TRAINING 
BY GENDER

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

MALE

FEMALE

Average Hours of 
Mandatory Training 
(LMS) completed per 
employee (hours)

404-1

3.2

3.72

3.58

3.79

3.17

3.27

5.25

5.74

3.16

3.5

Mandatory training 
completed (%)*

404-1

-

-

-

-

-

 

98.3%

98.9%

97.5%

97.9%





Notes: 1. Mandatory training completed (%) includes active staff only- excludes casuals, affilliates and staff on long term absence. 2. New method for 
recording mandatory training from FY21 onwards. 3. *represents percentage of reference group in column heading.



Table P8

ETHICS AND CORRUPTION TRAINING

GRI

2020–21

2021–22

Code of Conduct (%)

205-2

99.5%

100.0%

Security Awareness (%)

205-2

98.1%

99.7%

Fraud Awareness (%)

205-2

98.6%

99.7%

Conflict of Interest (%)

205-2

New 2022

86.6%

Privacy (%)

205-2

New 2022

83.9%

Phishing (%)

205-2

98.3%

99.7%

Percentage of researchers trained in Research Excellence (%)

102-17

99.5%

99.5%





Note: 1. Mandatory training completed (%) includes active employees only – excludes casuals, affilliates and staff on long term absence.

Table P9

HSE TRAINING (MANDATORY AND NON-MANDATORY)

GRI

2020–21

2021–22

Starting with your safety (% completion)

403-5

99.98%

Course no 
longer offered

The Work Health & Safety Act: Your Legal Duties (% completion)

403-5

100.00%

Course no 
longer offered

HSE Induction (new in FY22)

403-5

n/a

99.83%

HSE for Supervisors & Managers (% completion)

403-5

99.98%

96.46%





Notes: 1. Compliance rates for those assigned the training; exclude affilliates, casual staff and staff on long term absence. 2.HSE Induction is new for FY22 
and replaces the two courses referred to above no longer offered in FY22. 3. Mandatory training completed (%) includes active staff only- excludes casuals, 
affilliates and staff on long term absence.

Table P10

HEALTH AND SAFETY INDICATORS

GRI

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Lost Time Injury (LTI)

403-9

36(2)

24

12 (1)

Medical Treatment Injury (MTI)

403-9

33(1)

24

25 (2)

Total hours (hours)

403-9

12,036,188

11,875,834

12,454,261

Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR)

403-9

5.70

3.90

3.00





Notes: 1. Lost Time Injury (LTI): A work-related injury/ illness that results in the loss of one or more complete work days/shifts. 2. Medical Treatment Injury 
(MTI): A work-related injury/ illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid or extensive therapeutic treatment prescribed by a medical practitioner but 
has not resulted in lost time from work. 3. Total Hours: Work schedules of CSOF staff minus leave plus estimated hours for affiliates workers covered under 
the HSEMS. 4. Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR): Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate = number of MTIs + LTIs per million hours worked. 
5. Number in parentheses is contractor injuries that are not included in the frequency rate calculations. 6. CSIRO updated its definitions for recordable 
injuries from 1 July 2019 and changed the calculated hours worked to include an estimation of affiliate hours worked. 7. Number in parenthesis is contractor 
injuries that re not included in the frequency rate calculations.

Table P11

WORK RELATED HEALTH INDICATORS

GRI

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Number of work related ill heatlh recorded

403-10

4

8

4





Note: 1. Ill-health records are a subset of total recordable injuries.



Table P12

LEADING HEALTH AND SAFETY INDICATORS

GRI

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Health and Safety Actions Completed %

403-2

-

99%

88%

Proactive Hazard Reporting

403-2

521

481

771

% to target

403-2

69%

45%

71%

HSE "Contacts"

403-2

2079

2559

2315

% to target

403-2

94%

106%

97%





Note: 1. 'Actions' means any HSE-related corrective action recorded in our reporting system. 2. 'Contacts' are short visits or discussions by senior leaders 
with CSIRO team members in their work environments.

Table P13

ACTION FOR RECONCILIATION

GRI

2020–21

2021–22

Annual expenditure on Indigenous owned/operated businesses

204-1

$9,763,890

$3,966,700

Employees completing cultural awareness training (%)

404-1

98.89%

99.62%





Note: 1. Mandatory training completed (%) includes active staff only- excludes casuals, affilliates and staff on long term absence.

Table P14

ETHICS AND TRUST SENTIMENTS

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Business sentiment survey 'extremely 
trustworthy' score (%)

 

58%

48%

Not 
conducted

59%

64%

Community sentiment survey 'extremely 
trustworthy' score (%)

 

43%

36%

40%

43%

60%

Customer satisfaction Net Promoter Score

 

+40

+45

Not 
conducted

+51

+47

Our people are proud to be associated 
with CSIRO (%)

 

90%

92%

95%

93%

93%





Note: 1. Customer satisfaction and advocacy is an organisational Key Performance Indicator (KPI) measured on an annual basis using the industry benchmark 
of Net Promoter Score (NPS). The primary objective of the NPS methodology is to infer customer loyalty. It is calculated by deducting the percentage of 
low‑scoring ‘detractors’ from the percentage of high-scoring ‘promoters’, in answer to the question “How likely are you to recommend CSIRO to others?”.

Table F1: Economic (Financial) Impacts

SUPPLY CHAIN EXPENDITURE 
WITHIN AUSTRALIA

GRI

2017–18

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

2021–22

Small business suppliers paid within 20 
days (%)

204-1

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

97%

Small business suppliers paid within 30 
days (%)

204-1

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

98.60%

Small business annual expenditure ($'000)

204-1

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

190, 450





Note: 1. FY22 is the first full financial year of reporting on payments to small business. 2. Small business is defined by the Payment Times Reporting Act 2020.



TCFD Reporting Index

An overview of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures recommendations. These disclosures will continue to 
be refined as our progress matures over the coming years.

TCFD RECOMMENDED DISCLOSURE

OUR APPROACH

Governance: Disclose the organisation’s governance around climate-related risks and opportunities

a) Describe the board’s oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

b) Describe management’s role in assessing and managing climate-related risks 
and opportunities

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

Strategy: Disclose the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organisation’s businesses, 
strategy, and financial planning where such information is material

a) Describe the climate-related risks and opportunities the organisation has 
identified over the short, medium and long terms

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

b) Describe the impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on the 
organisation’s businesses, strategy, and financial planning

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

c) Describe the resilience of the organisation’s strategy, taking into consideration 
different climate-related scenarios including a 2°C or lower scenario

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

Climate scenario analyses will take place 
in the coming year/s

Risk management: Disclose how the organisation identifies, assesses and manages climate-related risks

a) Describe the organisation’s process for identifying and assessing climate-
related risk

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

b) Describe the organisation’s process for managing climate-related risks

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

c) Describe how processes for identifying, assessing and managing climate-
related risks are integrated into the organisation’s overall risk management

Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition p. 66

Metrics and targets: Disclosure the metrics and targets used to assess and manage relevant climate-related risks and opportunities 
where such information is material

a) Disclose the metrics used by the organisation to assess climate-related risks 
and opportunities in line with its strategy and risk management process

See Appendix – Data Tables E1 to E5; Charts E1 
and E2

b) Disclose scope 1, 2 and, if appropriate, scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, 
and the related risks

See Appendix – Data Tables E1 to E5; Charts E1 
and E2

c) Describe the targets used by the organisation to manage climate-related risks 
and opportunities and performance against targets

Sustainability Report Table 2; Reducing our carbon 
footprint – Our performance pp58–9; pp62–4

CSIRO Sustainability Strategy 2020–2030







Limited Assurance Statement



GRI Content Index

GRI 102: GENERAL DISCLOSURES 2016

Organisational profile

102-1

Name of organisation

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Sustainability Report 2022 Overview

https://www.csiro.au/en/About

102-2

Activities, brands, products, services

Sustainability Report 2022 About us; Sustainability is in our DNA

https://www.csiro.au/en/About

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 1 Our purpose and strategy

102-3

Location of headquarters

https://www.csiro.au/en/Contact

102-4

Location of operations

https://www.csiro.au/en/Locations

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Our Sites

102-5

Ownership and legal form

Sustainability Report 2022 About us

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/We-are-CSIRO

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 1 Our purpose and strategy

102-6

Markets served

https://www.csiro.au/en/Locations

https://www.csiro.au/en/About/Policies-guidelines/Working-with-CSIRO/
Service-Charter

102-7

Scale of the organisation

https://www.csiro.au/en/about

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Our organisation

102-8

Information on employees and 
other workers

Sustainability Report 2022 Our people; Appendix – Data pack Tables P1–P2 

102-9

Supply chain

Sustainability Report 2022 Responsible Value Chain; Appendix – Data pack, 
Tables F1 and P13

102-10

Significant changes to the organisation 
and its supply chain

There were no significant changes during the reporting period

102-11

Precautionary Principle or approach

Sustainability Report 2022 Risk Management

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability – Identifying 
and managing our risks and opportunities

102-12

External initiatives

Sustainability Report 2022 discussed throughout

Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, National Statement on 
Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007)

Australian Code for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes

Australian Climate Leaders Coalition, AS ISO 20400:2018, AS ISO 31000:2018, 
AS/NZS ISO 45001:2018, AS/NZS ISO 14001:2016, 

102-13

Membership of associations

Sustainability Report 2022 Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders

Strategy

102-14

Statement from senior decision-maker

Sustainability Report 2022 Message from our Chief Executive

102-15

Key impacts, risks and opportunities

Sustainability Report 2022 Risk management; Strategic focus areas

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability – Identifying 
and managing our risks and opportunities

Ethics and integrity

102-16

Values, principles, standards and norms 
of behaviour

Sustainability Report 2022 Our people 

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Values

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 1 Values







GRI 102: GENERAL DISCLOSURES 2016

102-17

Mechanism for advice and concerns 
about ethics

Sustainability Report 2022 Culture, Ethics, Integrity and Trust; Appendix – Data 
Pack Table P8

https://my.csiro.au/Policy-Portal/Governance/Public-Interest-Disclosure-
Scheme

https://www.csiro.au/en/Contact/Complaints

https://www.csiro.au/en/About/Policies-guidelines/Integrity-of-science/
Ethical-human-research

https://data61.csiro.au/en/Our-Research/Our-Work/AI-Framework

https://www.csiro.au/en/About/Policies-guidelines/Integrity-of-science/
Animal-Ethics-Committee-ToR

https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/privacy-act/

csshrec@csiro.au

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability

Governance

102-18

Governance structure

Sustainability Report 2022 About us; Governance

https://www.csiro.au/en/About/Leadership-governance

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Our organisational structure; Management and 
accountability

102-19

Delegating authority

https://www.csiro.au/en/About/Leadership-governance

102-20

Executive-level responsibility for economic, 
environmental and social topics

Sustainability Report 2022 Governance

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability

102-21

Consulting stakeholders on economic, 
environmental and social topics

Sustainability Report 2022 Materiality assessment; Governance; Appendix – 
How we engage with our stakeholders

102-22

Composition of the highest governance 
body and its committees

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/people/Board-Members

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Leadership-and-
governance

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Minister-and-Board

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability

102-23

Chair of the highest governance body

The current CSIRO Chair is Ms Kathryn Fagg AO

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/people/Board-Members

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Leadership-and-
governance

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Minister-and-Board

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability, Governance

102-24

Nominating and selecting the highest 
governance body

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability; Governance

102-25

Conflicts of interest

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Disclosure of interests and related entity 
transactions 

102-26

Role of the highest governance body 
in setting purpose, values and strategy

https://www.csiro.au/en/About/Leadership-governance/Minister-and-Board/
Directions-to-CEO

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability

102-27

Collective knowledge of highest 
governance body

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Minister-and-Board/
Directions-to-CEO

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability

102-28

Evaluating the highest governance 
body’s performance

Under its Charter and Operating Guidelines, the CSIRO Board examines its 
performance, composition, and skill base regularly to ensure it is operating 
efficiently, effectively and following the principles of good corporate 
governance. Board performance is usually reviewed at least every 18 months, 
with the most recent being a self-assessment in February 2022.

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and Accountability – Governance







GRI 102: GENERAL DISCLOSURES 2016

102-29

Identifying and managing economic, 
environmental and social impacts

Sustainability Report 2022 Materiality assessment; Governance

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Minister-and-Board/
Directions-to-CEO

102-30

Effectiveness of risk management processes

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Minister-and-Board/
Directions-to-CEO

102-31

Review of economic, environmental 
and social topics

Sustainability Report 2022 Governance

Corporate Plan 2022 from p.14

102-32

Highest governance body’s role 
in sustainability reporting

The Annual Report 2021–22, containing sustainability information, is 
approved by the CSIRO Board. The Sustainability Report 2022 is approved by 
CSIRO’s Chief Operating Officer

102-35

Remuneration policies

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 5 Financial statements 

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability – Remuneration 
of key management personnel

102-36

Process for determining remuneration

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability – Remuneration 

Stakeholder engagement

102-40

List of stakeholder groups

Sustainability Report 2022 Our stakeholders; Partnerships and engagement; 
Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders 

https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/Working-with-CSIRO/Service-Charter

102-41

Collective bargaining agreements

Sustainability Report 2022 Our People 

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/CSIRO-Enterprise-Agreement

102-42

Identifying and selecting stakeholders

Sustainability Report 2022 Our stakeholders; Partnerships and engagement; 
Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders 

102-43

Approach to stakeholder engagement

Sustainability Report 2022 Our stakeholders; Partnerships and engagement; 
Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders 

102-44

Key topics and concerns raised

Sustainability Report 2022 Our stakeholders; Partnerships and engagement; 
Appendix – How we engage with our stakeholders 

Reporting practice

102-45

Entities included in the consolidated 
financial statements

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 5 Financial statements

102-46

Defining report content and 
topic boundaries

Sustainability Report 2022 Our approach; Material topics; Appendix – Material 
topic definitions

102-47

List of material topics

Sustainability Report 2022 Our approach; Material topics; Appendix-Material 
topic definitions

102-48

Restatements of information

Not applicable – this is CSIRO’s first sustainability report

102-49

Changes in reporting

Not applicable – this is CSIRO’s first sustainability report

102-50

Reporting period

Sustainability Report 2022 Overview

102-51

Date of most recent report

Sustainability Report 2022 Overview

102-52

Reporting cycle

Sustainability Report 2022 Overview

102-53

Contact point for questions 
regarding report

sustainability@csiro.au

102-54

Claims of reporting in accordance with 
the GRI Standards

This report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards 2016–20: 
Core option

102-55

GRI content index

Sustainability Report 2022 Appendix

102-56

External assurance

This report has limited assurance – see the Limited Assurance Statement in 
the Appendix. 







GRI 103: MANAGEMENT APPROACH 2016

103-1

Explanation of the 
material topic and 
its boundary

Sustainability Report 2022 Materiality assessment; Our stakeholders Table 2; Appendix – Material topic 
definitions

103-2 

The management 
approach and 
its components

Culture, ethics, integrity and trust

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 15

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Enabling capabilities 

Financial sustainability

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 15

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 5 Financial statements

Digital disruption and innovation

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 21

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Enabling capabilities

Data security and privacy

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 19

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Sustainable 
operations, sites and infrastructure

An agile, future-focused workforce

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 30

Connected and collaborative ways of working

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 31

Health, safety and wellbeing

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 32

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3, Enabling 
capabilities, Health and Safety Performance

Diversity, inclusion and belonging

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 34

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Our people

Relationship with government

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 37

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management 
and accountability, Government engagement

Collaboration with business and industry

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 37

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Annual 
performance statements

Community engagement and capacity building

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 42

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 2 Empowering 
tomorrow’s science‑driven industries 

Action for reconciliation

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 46

Ethical science and research

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 51

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and 
accountability, Ethics and Code of Conduct

Impactful science and research areas

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 49

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3, Annual performance 
statements

Research dissemination and application and impact 
measurement

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 49–50

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Annual performance 
statements

National and international research partners

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 40 

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3, Annual 
performance statements

Resource efficiency

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 67

Responsible value chain

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 74

Reducing our carbon footprint

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 58

Risks and opportunities of the global climate transition

Sustainability Report 2022 p. 66

103-3

Evaluation of the 
management 
approach

Per material topic. Refer to page references in 103-2







TOPIC SPECIFIC DISCLOSURES

ECONOMIC

GRI 201: Economic performance 2016

201-1

Direct economic value generated and 
distributed

Sustainability Report 2022 How CSIRO Creates Value; Appendix – Data pack – 
Table F1

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 5 Financial statements

201-2

Financial implications and other risks and 
opportunities due to climate change

Sustainability Report 2022 Risks and opportunities of the global climate 
transition; Appendix – TCFD Reporting Index

201-4

Financial assistance received from 
government

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 5 Financial statements

GRI 203: Indirect economic impacts 2016

203-2

Significant indirect economic impacts

Sustainability Report 2022 How CSIRO Creates Value; Impactful science and 
research dissemination; Community engagement and capacity building

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Corporate-governance/Ensuring-our-impact/
Auditing-our-impact

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 3 Delivering benefits to Australia

GRI 204: Procurement practices 2016

204-1

Proportion of spending on local suppliers

Sustainability Report 2022 Responsible Value Chain; Appendix – Data pack, 
Tables P14, F1

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 5 Financial statements

GRI 205: Anti-corruption 2016

205-2

Communication and training about anti-
corruption policies and procedures

Sustainability Report 2022 Culture, ethics, integrity and trust; Appendix – Data 
pack Table P8

ENVIRONMENTAL

GRI 302: Energy 2016

302-1

Energy consumption within the 
organisation

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Tables E2, Chart E2

302-1d – CSIRO does not sell electricity, heating, cooling or steam

302-3

Energy intensity

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table E5

GRI 303: Water and effluents 2018

303-5

Water consumption

Sustainability Report 2022 Resource efficiency; Appendix – Data Pack Table E4

GRI 305: Emissions 2016

305-1

Direct (scope 1) GHG emissions

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Tables E1, E3, Chart E1

305-2

Energy indirect (scope 2) GHG emissions

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Tables E1, E3, Chart E1

305-3

Other indirect (scope 3) GHG emissions

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table E4

305-4

GHG emissions intensity

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table E5

305-5

Reduction of GHG emissions

Sustainability Report 2022 Reducing our carbon footprint; Appendix – Data Pack 
Chart E1







TOPIC SPECIFIC DISCLOSURES

GRI 306: Waste 2020

306-1

Waste generation and significant 
waste‑related impacts

Sustainability Report 2022 Resource efficiency

306-2

Management of significant 
waste‑related impacts

Sustainability Report 2022 Resource efficiency

306-3

Waste generated

Sustainability Report 2022 Resource efficiency; Appendix – Data Pack Table E4

306-4

Waste diverted from disposal

Sustainability Report 2022 Resource efficiency; Appendix – Data Pack Table E4

306-5

Waste directed to disposal

Sustainability Report 2022 Resource efficiency; Appendix – Data Pack Table E4

GRI 307: Environmental compliance 2016

307-1

Non-compliance with environmental 
laws and regulations

There were no reported incidents of non-compliances under Australian 
environmental laws or regulations that required external notification to 
an environmental regulatory authority.

SOCIAL

GRI 401: Employment 2016

401-1

New employee hires and 
employee turnover

Sustainability Report 2022 Appendix – Data Pack Table P6

GRI 403: Occupational health and safety 2018

403-1

Occupational health and safety 
management system

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being

403-2

Hazard identification, risk assessment 
and incident investigation

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table P12

403-3

Occupational health services

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being

403-5

Worker training on occupational health 
and safety

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table P9

403-6

Promotion of worker health

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being

403-8

Workers covered by an occupational 
health and safety management system

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being

403-9

Work-related injuries

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table P10

403-10

Work-related ill health

Sustainability Report 2022 Health, safety and well-being; Appendix – Data Pack 
Table P11

Note: Ill-health records are a subset of total recordable injuries







TOPIC SPECIFIC DISCLOSURES

GRI 404: Training and education 2016

404-1

Average hours of training per year 
per employee

Sustainability Report 2022 Appendix – Data Pack Table P7

404-3

Percentage of employees receiving 
regular performance and career 
development reviews

Sustainability Report 2022 Appendix – Data Pack Table P2

GRI 405: Diversity and equal opportunity 2016

405-1

Diversity of governance bodies 
and employees

Sustainability Report 2022 Diversity, inclusion and belonging; Appendix – Data 
Pack Tables P1, P3, P4, P5

GRI 407: Freedom of association and collective bargaining 2016

407-1

Operations and suppliers in which the right 
to freedom of association and collective 
bargaining may be at risk

Sustainability Report 2022 Our people; Responsible supply chain

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/CSIRO-Enterprise-Agreement

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/modern-slavery-statement

GRI 408: Child labour 2016

408-1

Operations and suppliers at significant 
risk for incidents of child labour

Sustainability Report 2022 Community engagement and capacity building – 
protecting children and young people; Responsible supply chain

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/policies/child-safe-policy

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/modern-slavery-statement

GRI 411: Rights of indigenous peoples 2016

411-1

Incidents of violations involving rights 
of indigenous peoples

There were no known incidents of violations involving rights of Indigenous 
peoples during the reporting period

GRI 412: Human rights assessment 2016

412-1

Operations that have been subject 
to human rights reviews or 
impact assessments

Sustainability Report 2022 Responsible supply chain

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/modern-slavery-statement

GRI 414: Supplier social assessment 2016

414-1

New suppliers that were screened 
using social criteria

Sustainability Report 2022 Responsible supply chain

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/Policies/modern-slavery-statement

GRI 418: Customer privacy 2016

418-1

Substantiated complaints concerning 
breaches of customer privacy and losses 
of customer data

CSIRO has measures in place to manage compliance including our Privacy 
Management Plan and Data Breach Response Plan. During FY22 CSIRO had 
no Notifiable Data Breaches under the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme.

Sustainability Report 2022 Data security and privacy

https://www.csiro.au/en/about/policies/privacy

Annual Report 2021–22 Part 4 Management and accountability – Archives, 
privacy and administrative decisions

privacy@csiro.au







Contact us

1300 363 400
csiro.au/contact
csiro.au

For further information

CBIS Sustainability

sustainability@csiro.au