KPMG Nature Positive Challenge 2025

The KPMG Nature Positive Challenge 2025 (the ‘Challenge’) is organised by KPMG (ABN 51 194 660 183) of International Towers Sydney, Tower 3, Level 38, 300 Barangaroo Avenue, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia (‘KPMG’, ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’).

In these terms, all references to ‘Applicant’ and ‘you’ refer to an applicant participating in the Challenge.

By participating in the Challenge, you accept these terms and conditions, both on your own behalf and on behalf of any company or partnership through which you enter the Challenge.

1 Entry requirements

General participation

In order to participate in the Challenge, you must:

1. Complete and submit the Application Form by 11.59pm AEST on Sunday 9 Nov 2025 (the 'Closing Date'); and
2. be available to attend a virtual pitch event during the week commencing on 8 December 2025, if your entry progresses to that stage. Shortlisted Applicants will be informed of further details of this event in due course.

You may not submit more than one entry. There is no charge for participating in the Challenge.

Timeline

• Monday 13 October 2025 – Applications open
• Sunday 9 November 2025 – Applications close, 11.59pm AEST 
• Monday 1 December 2024 – Five finalists are selected  . Chosen ventures will be contacted. 
• Monday 8 December 2025 – KPMG Nature Positive Challenge Virtual Pitch Event with our Judging Panel
• By Friday 23 January 2025 – The finalists will be publicly  announced

2 Who can enter?

In order to participate in the Challenge, an Applicant must:

• reside in Australia, PNG or Fiji;
• be aged 18 or over (in the case of a director or manager of a corporate Applicant, and also in the case of an Applicant who is a natural person);
• hold an Australian Business Number (or equivalent in PNG or Fiji); and
• demonstrate the use of AI and circular strategies to regenerate nature, accelerate biodiversity goals, and scale sustainable impact.

The following persons are ineligible to participate in the Challenge:

• KPMG Partners, employees, contractors and their immediate family members; and
• KPMG audit clients, their related entities and each of their affiliates.

For the purposes of this clause 2:

• a “KPMG audit client” is a client of KPMG for which KPMG has provided audit services; and
• “related entity” has the meaning given to it in the Corporations Act 2001 and APES 110 (Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants).

By participating in the Challenge, you warrant that you meet the eligibility requirements set out in this clause 2.

3 Assessment process

Applications submitted through the online application form will be assessed after the Closing Date. KPMG will evaluate applications against the criteria referred to in the application form, including: impact, team, innovative solution and business model.

Subject to KPMG’s applicable screening and independence checks, five finalists will be shortlisted and invited to pitch their solutions to an expert panel comprised of both KPMG and non-KPMG members.  One of these finalists will be allocated to an Australian First Nations business. To be eligible to be considered as a First Nations business, a First Nations business is one that is either:

• At least 50% owned by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person(s); or
• Indigenous-controlled (such as an Indigenous-led board or key decision-making roles) with a minimum of 30% ownership by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person(s).

The panel’s selection of the winner will be final, and Applicants will be notified of the result in writing. Finalists will be provided with written or verbal feedback on their pitches. The winners will be notified in writing by close of business (AEST) on Friday 12 December 2025.

All finalists are to maintain confidentiality on being selected as a finalist or winner until the KPMG public announcement.    

KPMG Partners and staff will vote to determine which of the finalists will receive the People’s Choice Prize. This is a cash prize.  Staff will be provided with a summary of the Applicants’ venture to inform their vote. The winner of the People’s Choice Prize will be notified in writing before close of business (AEST) on [30 January 2026].

4 Prizes

Finalist prizes:

To assist with scaling up their businesses, and subject to applicable conflict and independence checks, the five finalists will each receive up to A$50,000 worth of pro-bono tailored services from KPMG Australia. Finalists will be entitled to access these pro-bono services from the date they are selected as finalists, until 31 Dec 2026. Finalists will also be entitled to identify their business as “a finalist in the KPMG Nature Positive Challenge” from the date of the public announcement (anticipated to be January 2026).

First prize:

The winner will receive a cash prize of A$100,000.

Subject to any written directions from KPMG from time to time, the winner will be entitled to identify their business as “the winner of the KPMG Nature Positive Challenge”. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include any right to reproduce or publish the KPMG logo or brand.

People’s Choice Prize:

The winner of the People’s Choice Prize (as voted by KPMG Partners and staff) will be entitled to identify their business as “the winner of the People’s Choice Prize in the KPMG Nature Positive Challenge” and will also receive a cash prize of A$20,000.

In all instances, prizes are not transferable.

5 Tax and other costs

Applicants are fully responsible for any fees or costs that may be incurred in participating in the Challenge, including technology access, travel, currency conversion costs.

Cash prizes may be subject to tax under applicable laws. KPMG will not reimburse or compensate any Applicant or winner for any taxes, duties, or other charges incurred in connection with the receipt or use of any prize.  It is the sole responsibility of each Applicant to determine and fulfil any tax obligations arising from participation in the Challenge or receipt of any prize.

6 Privacy

All personal information that we collect, use or disclose in connection with the Challenge will be handled in accordance with our privacy policy.

7 Intellectual Property and Publicity

By participating in the Challenge, each Applicant:

• warrants that all material that it provides to KPMG as part of the Challenge is its own original work;
• warrants that all material supplied to KPMG as part of the Challenge does not infringe any intellectual property rights of any other person; and
• grants to KPMG a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use any intellectual property included in their pitches and submissions, including their name, logo, brand and image (including of any corporate entity or partnership participating in the Challenge), for the purpose of administering the Challenge and for KPMG’s own internal purposes. This may include:
  1. sharing application content with judges within and external to KPMG for the purpose of judging and evaluating submissions, including within its network of KPMG member firms;
  2. sharing pitch content with KPMG staff for the purposes of voting for the People’s Choice Prize; and
  3. using Applicants’ names, logos and pitch content to promote the Challenge on KPMG’s internal and external websites and social media channels, including to promote the impact of prizes provided to Applicants under clause 4.

8 Breach of terms

KPMG, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to exclude you and/or your company from participating in the Challenge and any future challenges or competitions operated by KPMG if:

• you breach these terms or conditions, or if KPMG, acting reasonably, suspects that you have breached these terms and conditions;
• you infringe a third party’s intellectual property rights; or
• you do anything which (in KPMG’s discretion) could bring KPMG’s reputation into disrepute.

Notwithstanding anything else in these terms, KPMG reserves the right to suspend, cancel, or vary the Challenge and/or the prizes referred to in clause 4, where it (in its absolute discretion) deems it necessary to do so.

9 General

To the extent permitted by law, we will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate a winner or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of you entering or taking up a prize in this Challenge, except where it is caused by our negligence or that of our employees. Nothing in these terms and conditions affects your statutory rights.

These terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia, and the parties irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that State.

© 2025 KPMG, an Australian partnership and a member firm of the KPMG global organisation of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved. The KPMG name and logo are trade marks used under license by the independent member firms of the KPMG global organisation. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.