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In Sydney in May 2026, more than 400 business leaders, government officials, NGO representatives and sustainability professionals gathered at the UN Global Compact Australia conference to discuss a pressing question: how do we move from commitment to delivery?
Australia currently holds the COP31 Presidency of Negotiations, responsible for brokering agreements on emissions commitments, climate finance, and loss and damage ahead of the UN climate conference in Türkiye this November.
Bringing together government, business and civil society, the conference focused on what will it take to turn ambition into action.
The message from the room was clear: the era of target-setting is over. The targets exist. The frameworks exist. What is missing is execution.
Melda Çele, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Türkiye, representing the COP31 host nation, addressed the conference and put it plainly: "This is the COP of implementation. Expectations are rising; on execution, accountability and meaningful performance. We must move beyond commitment."
Two themes dominated both days: responsible mining and a just transition. Australia possesses many of the critical mineral resources needed for the global energy transition including; copper, lithium, and rare earth elements. The opportunity is real. So is the tension. One mining sector speaker observed:
“One wind turbine needs four tonnes of copper, and that copper comes from somewhere; a landscape, a community, an ecosystem.”
Navigating that tension, extracting what the transition needs while maintaining and restoring nature, is one of the defining professional challenges of this decade. It’s not just an Australian dilemma; it’s a global one with no simple solution.
Explorer and UN Goodwill Ambassador Robert Swan, the first person to walk to both Poles and founder of the 2041 Foundation, highlighted another crucial dimension: engaging the people who feel excluded from the conversation. Communities are pushing back precisely because they have not had a say or a stake in the future being built around them. Without trust, the transition will not move at the speed it needs to.
ISEP was represented at the conference because COP31 will increase demand for skilled, credentialled sustainability professionals at a time when expertise needs to be seen as essential mainstream infrastructure, rather than a niche function. As the body that sets those professional standards globally, ISEP becomes more relevant, not less.
Kate Dundas, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Network Australia, and David Fogarty FRICS PISEP REnvP, Executive Director and CEO of the UN Global Compact Network Singapore, were among those supporting the professionals delivering this important work. Every commitment agreed at COP31 in Türkiye this November will require people to implement it. Sustainability professionals will be vital to that task.
Author: Anna D’Arcy MISEP CEnv is vice chair of ISEP Australia. She attended the UN Global Compact Network Australia’s UNiting Business LIVE 2026 in Sydney representing ISEP Australia.
Pictures: Explorer Robert Swan and also with Kate Dundas CEO of UN Global Compact Network Australia and Dwayne Mallard, proud Yamatji man and first indigenous person appointed to Board of the WA Royal Flying Doctor Service.
