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Economics should work in harmony with nature, with rights for people and rules for business.

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Everyone should be able to put healthy food on the table, access clean energy and enjoy a thriving environment. Yet we live in a world facing growing inequality, climate change and pollution. Some corporations are using their money and power to take too much for themselves, and are destroying our planet.


ANZ Bushfire Survivors action 2020

Friends of the Earth believe that the banks, superannuation funds and governments that have custody of our money should use it to protect not damage our environment.


The shoes, electronics and products we buy often contain slavery or environmental destruction in their global supply chains. And some of Australia’s biggest mining and banking companies are implicated in abuses overseas and at home, yet these crimes go unpunished.


Empowered communities and social movements working together across borders can build a sustainable and just future.


Bad trade and investment deals transfer enormous powers to multinational corporations whilst undermining fundamental human rights. For example, under the Investor-State dispute mechanism, governments can be sued in secret trade tribunals for legislating to protect the environment.

The government must change the rules to ensure that corporations are held accountable and trade is fair. Australian schools, universities and local councils can drive positive change by ensuring that everything they buy is made sustainably and justly. Friends of the Earth’s Food Co-op and Café, and the Earthworker co-op, demonstrate that sustainable business models are not only good for the planet, they're also good for us!

We act in solidarity to stop corporate crime, demanding rights for people and binding rules for business.


Earthworker Coop is a member group of Friends of the Earth

EarthWorker Cooperative brings together people from diverse backgrounds in practical action to solve the social and environmental problems faced by communities and the planet. Earthworker Cooperative is a member group of Friends of the Earth.

Economics for Earth Vision

 

Resilient, and self managing societies make their own decisions about how to distribute their resources.

 

 

Cooperatives and public services work for economic justice - reducing inequality in society.

 

 

Australian corporations are held accountable for their human rights & environmental violations here and overseas through binding rules.

 

 

That international trade deals have social and environmental justice at their core, and the undemocratic Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism is removed.

 

 

An economic system that works in harmony with nature - with rights for people, and rules for business.

Economics for Earth Campaigns

Friends of the Earth participate in Alliances with other environmental, community, union, and other groups to work for economic justice including:

We are also building people-powered campaigns resisting neo-liberalism and working for economic justice.

Check out your local Friends of the Earth local group to find out about how to get involved with local activity.


Information on national campaign work


Economic Justice

Across the globe people are standing up for people and planet. From workers in China standing up to major brands like Apple, to indigenous groups resisting land grabs in the Amazon rainforest.

Our economic system should serve communities and the environment, not the other way round. While CEOs make fortunes, billions live in poverty. People and planet are being destroyed by companies that have effectively bought our democracies. The fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground, challenge multinational corporations and protect human rights can't be won in one country. To create a new world based on justice and sustainability we need to build movements without borders.

Friends of the Earth's economic justice project stands with social movements, including feminists, factory workers, indigenous people and peasant movements around the world, to challenge corporate power through global action.

We've challenged government on it's dodgy trade deals, targeted Australian companies committing human rights and environmental abuses across the globe, and demanded economically just solutions.

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Market Forces believes that the banks, superannuation funds and governments that have custody of our money should use it to protect not damage our environment.  Our work exposes the institutions that are financing environmentally destructive projects and help Australians hold these institutions accountable. We work with the community to prevent investment in projects that would harm the environment and drive global warming.

Friends of the Earth believe that the banks, superannuation funds and governments that have custody of our money should use it to protect not damage our environment.

Our Market Forces work exposes the institutions that are financing environmentally destructive projects and help Australians hold these institutions accountable. We work with the community to prevent investment in projects that would harm the environment and drive global warming.

Find out more  Take Action!  Donate


Earthworker Cooperative brings together people from diverse backgrounds in practical action to solve the social and environmental problems faced by communities and the planet. We provide common ground where trade unionists, environmentalists, small business people and others work together in common cause.  Our goal is to establish a network of worker-owned cooperatives committed to sustainable enterprise throughout Australia. We believe social and environmental exploitation are intertwined, and that the problems of climate change, job insecurity and growing inequality must be tackled simultaneously, through greater grassroots economic ownership.

EarthWorker Cooperative brings together people from diverse backgrounds in practical action to solve the social and environmental problems faced by communities and the planet. We provide common ground where trade unionists, environmentalists, small business people and others work together in common cause.

Our goal is to establish a network of worker-owned cooperatives committed to sustainable enterprise throughout Australia.

Find out more  Donate


Food Coop

Friends of the Earth Melbourne's world famous, not-for-profit social enterprise cafe and bulk-food-store has been operating since the 70's with a focus on zero waste, localising food systems, and providing healthy, biodynamic, organic, locally sourced, vegan, seasonal meals and food options to the community.

We recognise that we are part of our local food system, and we partner with a local school to compost our food waste, whilst educating the next generation about where their food comes from. 

Find out more  Shop Online  Donate


Latest Publications

2020 - Draw the line: A black book about the shady investments of Australian banks in palm oil

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Economics for Earth News

Capitalism and Neo-liberal policies are driving causes of much of the destruction we see on the planet today - we believe there is a better way to do things.

5 June 2023, Paris   The second round of negotiations for a new global treaty to end plastic pollution has concluded in Paris, France. ...
Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) is a federation made up of 13 independent member groups. We normally meet each year for our national...
To become post-extractivist, we need to ask some deep, searching, questions about what the extent to which we're willing to change our mindsets and...