Company Philosophy

In the early 19th century, the Anglican clergyman and political economist, Thomas Malthus laid out the apocalyptic theory that geometric growth in the world’s population would exceed the planet’s ability to produce food and resources.  His views contrast directly with those of Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Solow, who in the mid-20th century expounded the theory that the world’s environmental and resource problems could be solved by technology and innovation.  Notable examples include the growth in agricultural production delivered by the green revolution of the mid-20th century, and an array of processes that turn waste into valuable resources.

At Verterra we subscribe to the need for a balance between Malthusian and Solovian principles.  Our future lies in a balance between minimising waste and efficient, innovative utilisation of our resources to develop enduring nature-based solutions that turn today's risk into tomorrow’s value.  To achieve this, we bring a combination of leading edge science combined with practical management experience and rational economics to develop tailored solutions to environmental and resource problems ranging from management of associated mine water and degraded land rehabilitation to production of renewable resources and improved agricultural land productivity.  Our solutions take a triple bottom line approach, aiming to deliver environmental benefits and positive community outcomes together with sound financial returns.  Starting with benchmarking of soil, water, flora and fauna resources, we assess inherent land capability and design solutions that meet both technical limitations and client aspirations.

Verterra’s novel approach to maximising the benefits of environmental services from vegetation-land-water systems has delivered significant value to our clients across applications ranging from beneficial use of coal seam gas and mine water, production of biofuels, renewable timber resources and perennial fodder crops, integrated grazing productivity-biodiversity-carbon bio-sequestration, mine site and degraded land rehabilitation to native habitat regeneration.