Budget 2022: KeepCup cameo drives focus on sustainability pledges, as climate advocates welcome reform

Hours before revealing the 2022-2023 federal budget on Tuesday, Labor’s economic leadership team fronted the press with reusable coffee cups in hand.

The appearance caught the eye of Australian coffee cup innovator KeepCup, which called for green initiatives to become an integral part of the new budget — and celebrated the sustainability measures revealed in the fresh document.

Photographers snapped Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher sporting reusable coffee cups on Tuesday, as Chalmers cradled the budget documents in his other hand.

The Budget I’ll hand down tonight provides responsible cost-of-living relief to make life easier for Australians, without adding to inflation #OctBudget2022 #auspol #ausecon pic.twitter.com/UbMY2NRXCh

— Jim Chalmers MP (@JEChalmers) October 25, 2022

While it’s not unusual to see politicians ferrying coffees across Parliament House, the conspicuous appearance of three reusable mugs — one of the most high-profile sustainable consumer goods — was hard to ignore.

Abigail Forsyth, KeepCup co-founder and managing director, says their decision to venture out with reusable mugs drove her interest in Labor’s sustainability plans.

“I’ll certainly be watching the budget with a good deal more hope and curiosity now,” she told SmartCompany before the budget was handed down.

“Cautiously optimistic” about Labor’s sustainability plans

As Chalmers prepared to deliver his first federal budget speech, the official KeepCup Twitter account shared the company’s policy wishlist.

The B Corp calling for a broad ban on single-use plastic, slashed logging of native forests, and extra support for circular economy initiatives.

It also called for Labor to upgrade its emission reduction targets to achieve net zero by 2030, twenty years earlier than currently planned.

Following tonight’s AU budget with renewed hope. Coherent Federal action on banning unnecessary single use plastic and native logging, supporting circular economy, product stewardship legislation. We need strong vision and mandatories to reach net zero 2030. 2050 is too late.

— KeepCup (@KeepCup) October 25, 2022

Those concerns were partially addressed in the budget papers, as $204.8 million over five years will go towards encouraging “sustainable and productive growth” for Australia’s timber production.

After the budget was handed down, Forsyth hoped future budgets will do even more to protect old growth and native forests.

“Australia has some of the last remaining wilderness in the world, and current state government commitments do not go far or fast enough to secure the remaining biodiversity and wild places left on earth,” Forsyth said.

Budget measures specifically focused on single-use plastics, product stewardship, and radically updated net-zero targets were not included in the final documents.

However, Forsyth welcomed the bulk of Labor’s commitments.

Among them was the plan to measure community wellbeing, instead of pure economic performance, in its next budget.

“GDP is an outdated measure that is counterproductive to the transition to circular economy,” she said, noting it is “critical” to apply a “wellbeing lens for people and the environment, on all government activity.”

The scrapping of the controversial Hell’s Gate Dam project in Queensland also earned her approval, with the decision “prioritising the protection of biodiversity and the natural environment.”

Even the KeepCup cameo itself boosted her assessment of Labor’s sustainability bonafides.

“It sends a message that this government is serious about Australian business, local manufacturing, product stewardship, climate change and the environment,” she said.

“And I am cautiously optimistic in what it plans to deliver.”

Climate Council broadly welcomes sustainability measures

Climate-focused groups broadly welcomed the budget’s sustainability initiatives.

The Climate Council has typified the budget as a significant step forward, with ‘climate change’ mentioned 220 times in the papers.

It welcomed Labor’s decision to begin incorporating the fiscal toll of climate change in the budget documents, enshrining a changing environment as a significant risk to the nation’s bottom line.

Broadly, the papers dedicate $1.8 billion in taxpayer spending towards environmental protection and restoration efforts, and the deployment of $20 billion in finance to prepare Australia’s grid for new renewable energy production.

The budget also provides business-focused measures addressing the climate crisis and sustainability concerns.

Small businesses will soon have access to $62.6 million in grants designed to improve energy efficiency and sustainability, while a $95.6 million scheme will subsidise the wages of apprentices entering ‘new energy’ training.

The budget shows the government is “living up to its pre-election climate commitments with investment in renewable energy, the grid, electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, and a cornucopia of other measures, which all add up,” climate councillor Nicki Hutley said.