Seventeen prominent Australians from business, academia and the community have come together to establish a Leadership Forum on Energy Transition for Australia.
Seventeen prominent Australians from business, academia and the community have come together to establish a Leadership Forum on Energy Transition for Australia.
The Forum, an initiative of the Australian Conservation Foundation, is being hosted by UNSW as part of the University’s Climate Change Grand Challenge. At the inaugural meeting of the Forum the members committed to producing a roadmap for a rapid transition to clean energy.
The Forum brings together an influential grouping of ‘unusual’ partners who recognise the significant dangers and disruptions to Australia that are already occurring and that will worsen as the globe continues to warm.
The forum members accept the science of climate change and the evidence that the way energy is produced and consumed is a fundamental driver of global warming and that a fair and just transition to clean energy is essential for Australia’s future.
If Australia is to honour the international commitments made at the climate negotiations in Paris last year, all of those in leadership roles must contribute to tackling the problem of pollution from energy production in Australia.
Without a national plan to transition from emissions intensive energy to clean energy, the growth of clean energy in Australia will stagnate and forum members fear the nation’s contribution to international greenhouse pollution will continue to rise.
The forum will develop a blueprint for energy transition in Australia that is in the best interests of the Australian community, economy and environment; it will offer this evidence-based plan for transition to political decision makers.
To assist the next Australian government in leading the energy transition, the forum will produce the blueprint within 100 days of the upcoming federal election.
The Leadership Forum on Energy Transition is an initiative of the Australian Conservation Foundation and is hosted by UNSW.
It includes the following leaders:
Professor Ian Jacobs (Chair), President and Vice-Chancellor, UNSW Australia
Mr Geoffrey Cousins AM, President, Australian Conservation Foundation
Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, Former Governor-General of Australia
Ms Jillian Broadbent AO, Chair, Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Swiss RE Life and Health Australia
Mr Andrew Vesey, CEO, AGL Energy
Mr David Thodey, Chair, CSIRO and former CEO, Telstra
Ms Maria Atkinson AM, Co-founder of Green Building Council of Australia and board member, Australian Renewable Energy Agency
Mr Mark Burrows AO, Global investment banking and capital markets expert
Mr Alex Malley FCPA, CEO, CPA Australia
Ms Sam Mostyn, Chair, Australian Council of International Development and Citibank Australia, board member of Virgin Australia, Mirvac, Transurban and Cover-More
Ms Indira Naidoo, Journalist, TV presenter and author
Mr Martijn Wilder AM, Partner, Baker and McKenzie and Chair, Australia Renewable Energy Agency and board member, Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Mr Miles George, Managing Director, Infigen Energy and Chair, Clean Energy Council
Dr Simon Longstaff AO, Executive Director, The Ethics Centre
Ms Anna Skarbek, CEO, ClimateWorks Australia
Professor Merlin Crossley, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, UNSW
Ms Kelly O’Shanassy, CEO, Australian Conservation Foundation
