Speaker Forum on Green Economy attracts national panellists
May 30, 2011
This year’s World Environment Day Festival on June 5 will include a high-profile Speaker Forum on ‘The Green Economy’ with an impressive panel of experts from across Australia participating in the Q&A style forum.
Festival organiser and Executive Officer of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, Wiebe ter Bals says the Forum is expected to be a highlight of the Festival as the panellists aim to shed light on what a ‘Green Economy’ might look like and how a transformation to this model may be possible.
“The hard questions need to be asked and addressed. What technologies will be required to feed 9 billion people when we can no longer rely on fertiliser to boost crop yields? How will we go about cycling minerals such as platinum once global ore deposits have been exhausted? This is the reality of our future and the Speaker Forum hopes to tackle these issues head-on,” said Mr ter Bals.
“We have chosen this topic as there is a dire need in our region to diversify our economic base. Rather than relying on old-style industries we want to explore the potential of embracing the future of agriculture, manufacturing and service delivery and build a prosperous region around sustainable industries.”
“The panel will discuss how we can create economic opportunities by responding to environmental challenges. It will examine some of the innovative production processes and financial services that are helping small and large businesses to improve their market position while ‘cleaning up their act’.
The high calibre panellists were selected to represent the various areas of community, industry and academia and their collective wealth of experience will see the Forum be one of the most credible debates on the Green Economy to date.
Panellists include Cate Collins, Head of Sustainability at LendLease Australia; Assoc. Prof. Michelle Rosano, Chair of Industrial Ecology Department, Curtin University; Robert Pekin, founder and director of Food Connect; Garrie Lette, Chief Investment Officer Catholic Super and Dr Haley Jones, Senior lecturer in Engineering at Australian National University.
The forum will be facilitated by Dr. Richard Cassells, an archaeologist and expert in human adaptation as well as founder and director of Climate Leadership.
Attending the Speaker Forum is free however as places are limited, those interested in attending are encouraged to reserve a place by emailing wed@scec.org.au. The forum will start at 11:00 in Lecture Theatre 7 (LT7) as part of the World Environment Day Festival at the University of the Sunshine Coast on June 5.
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Speaker Profiles
Facilitator – Richard Cassels is director of Climate Leadership, an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum in Environmental History and Sustainable Futures and a Governor of W.W.F. Australia.
Ms Cate Collins – As head of sustainability for LendLease Australia, Ms Collins is responsible for managing the implementation of sustainability across all the Lend Lease Australian businesses and through her work for the UNEP contributes to the development of resources to facilitate sustainable responsible investment globally.
Speaker Forum input: Cate will speak about the opportunities for delivering sustainable urban development and her experience with the redevelopment of the Barangaroo South precinct in Sydney.
Associate Professor Michelle Rosano – Is director of the Centre for Excellence in Cleaner Production at Curtin University where she also leads the Industrial Ecology Group within the Centre of Sustainable Resource Processing. She is co-founder of Australia’s first Industrial Ecology Networking organisation.
Speaker Forum input: Michelle will speak about the potential for waste reduction and maximising energy efficiencies by creating industrial synergies in industrial ecology precincts such as the at Kwinana in Western Australia.
Mr. Robert Peakin – A former Dairy farmer, market gardener Mr Peakin is the founder and director of Food Connect; a Social Business and advocacy organisation that provides marketing and distribution solutions for Ecological Family Farmers. He is a member of the global committee for URGENCI (an organisation fostering Local Solidarity Partnerships between Producers and Consumers).
Speaker Forum input: Robert will share his experience in setting up a nationally successful and internationally acclaimed business model linking primary producers and consumers.
Dr. Haley Jones – Dr Jones is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering at the Australian National University. Her research interests are in the area of sustainability with an avid interest in sustainable manufacturing processes in particular the application and modelling of the cradle-to-cradle paradigm applied to manufacturing.
Speaker Forum input: Haley will address the issue of how smarter engineering at the design stage of a product can reduce waste at the end of a product’s lifecycle and facilitate a cradle to cradle model of mineral resource use (as well as reduce production costs).
Mr. Garrie Lette – As Chief Investment Officer for the Catholic Super Fund Mr Lette is responsible for the management of $4.1 billion in super funds. He has many years of experience in the investment industry and has extensive knowledge of the institutional investment industry including the challenges faced in implementing sustainability-driven investment strategies. He has recently contributed to the report ‘Climate Change Scenario’s – Implications for Strategic Asset Allocation’.
Speaker Forum input: Garrie will speak about the investment risks associated with investing in renewable and cleantech industries and those associated with investing in established climate sensitive industries (he recently contributed to a Mercer report on this topic).
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