How a Cohort of Innovative Thinkers Are Leading the Way Forward for Sustainability

Climate change: it’s the challenge of our lifetime. And while some are still debating the best way forward, a cohort of innovative thinkers are charging ahead with action in the areas that matter. From the crucial role that business can play in tackling biodiversity loss to the creative ways in which we can transform waste, there are promising developments guaranteed to reprogram the way we live – and reasons to feel excited about the future.

The future of… biodiversity

Biodiversity is the latest sustainability hot topic – and not before time. Deborah Tarrant talks to Professor Hugh Possingham of the Biodiversity Council about why business needs to get on board, fast.

“Biodiversity is just a fancy word for nature,” says Professor Possingham, former Queensland chief scientist and a global expert on the subject. He rates biodiversity loss alongside climate change as the two biggest existential threats to humanity.

When species and habitats are both thriving they deliver the essentials of life, from clean water and air to the food we eat. “Without it, they are all a mess,” he says. While almost everyone has “got it” when it comes to climate change and its decarbonisation solution, many are still waking up to the need for urgent action on biodiversity.

Australia – among the world’s 17 “megadiverse countries” – has suffered the greatest biodiversity decline of any continent. An estimated 10 per cent of the country’s land mammals have been lost, with many more only hanging on. Almost 2000 species are now officially at risk of extinction. Many regions have far fewer types of plants and animals and in smaller numbers than they did in the past. Habitat loss, invasive species, global warming and pollution all get top billing for putting pressure on ecosystems.

The crisis is hitting crunch time. Possingham is chief councillor of the newly formed Biodiversity Council, a group of 30 Australian scientists who got together in December to push the issue. Hosted by The University of Melbourne and funded by philanthropic heavy hitters, including The Ian Potter Foundation, the council has been established as an expert voice on the biodiversity challenge, to inform the public and work with governments and businesses. In only a matter of months, it’s been run off its feet with the intense interest from organisations across sectors.

Driving awareness and demand for insights is a federal government reform agenda. Organisations are on notice that they’ll need to explain their impact on nature and their restorative actions – or face the wrath of investors, regulators and consumers. New biodiversity tools, platforms, frameworks and markets are evolving, along with a range of specialist consultancies offering to smooth the way.

Spurring action internationally is the September release of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures framework, which will provide cues for how to assess and respond to biodiversity risks. Locally, biodiversity credits are planned as part of a Nature Repair Market in which participating environmentnurturing landholders may be issued with tradable certificates.

So what can companies do now? “Get their biodiversity accounts in order,” says Possingham. “There’ll be big advantages for first movers.”

Some are already forging ahead. The University of Oxford is leading a Nature Positive Universities alliance. Luxury brand Louis Vuitton surprised many with the announcement earlier this year that it has partnered with conservation charity People For Wildlife to maintain and improve biodiversity on Australia’s Cape York Peninsula. Among other big corporations taking action are furniture retailer IKEA, mining giant BHP and consumer brands Blackmores, Unilever, and Nestlé.

The Biodiversity Council states that a significant funding boost of about $1.7 billion is needed to support threatened species, pointing out that’s about seven times greater than current funding levels and less than a third of the contribution that biodiversity-related Great Barrier Reef tourism makes to the economy.

Reducing land clearing, programs to combat invasive species, such as feral cats and foxes, and creating havens for threatened species are also among the new council’s priorities.

Understanding and preparing for the massive impact of climate change on biodiversity will become an enduring focus because the threats are intertwined to a large extent. As business faces a new round of sustainability responsibilities, notes Possingham, research has revealed about one-third of the immediate solutions to climate change will also deliver positives for biodiversity. “That’s a win-win.”

The future of… renewables

Australia has the public appetite and natural assets to be a world leader in renewable energy. Alison Boleyn speaks to Shane Bartel, CEO of renewable energy project investment and management firm Climate Capital, who says money makes all the difference.

Our land abounds in nature’s gifts. In 2021 renewable energy generated almost a third of Australia’s electricity; sunshine alone delivered 12 per cent, according to the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

“Australia has some of the best wind and solar resources in the world,” says Shane Bartel of Climate Capital. He says investor confidence is high and Australia will likely reach its national target of 50 per cent renewables in the electricity grid by 2025.

Reaching the 82 per cent target by 2030, however – essential to shrinking carbon emissions to 43 per cent below 2005 levels – will take accelerated investment, both private and public, in large- and smallscale projects across the country. It takes an organisation of means three years to set up a wind farm.

“Money moves the needle,” says Bartel. Australian businesses are getting to net zero because their overseas parent companies and trading partners demand it.

The biggest obstacle for reaching 82 per cent is transmission “because it’s ugly. Nobody likes poles and wires except for engineers, and some of them don’t.” People rarely equate green energy with thousands of kilometres of transmission lines, “where you can comfortably spend $1,000,000 per kilometre on one line”.

Australia’s transmission networks have developed around coal-rich regions. To build a distributed network of small power plants generating green electricity, buy-in from landowners is essential. So is solving environmental issues, such as habitat disturbance, and navigating regulations set up in the 1990s to discourage new coal-fired plants. “Overseas investors get big returns in developing countries. But they look to Australia’s stability. We need to keep the momentum.”

North Queensland, for example, is a land of transmission opportunity, where the sun shines all day and strong winds come up in the afternoon.

Bartel calls hydrogen the green fuel of the future. Australia doesn’t yet have enough electrolysers (machines that produce hydrogen from solar, wind or batteries) with enough gigawatts to generate sufficient hydrogen to meet targets. So at the same time as the technology improves and the price of hydrogen goes down, we’ll see it first used in applications where it’s cheaper or at least the same price as diesel.

Last December the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California announced a breakthrough in non-carbonemitting nuclear fusion. For the first time physicists achieved fusion ignition: they produced more energy than was put in. “It works against how many people think the laws of physics work,” marvels Bartel. And it has brought the idea of cold fusion power stations closer to fruition by decades.

Using organic waste – biomass – as an energy source poses challenges. Investors with pockets deep enough to back large-scale projects want security around volume, quality and the timing of supply. Still, Bartel and others are open to investing in micro-projects that will divert waste from landfill and repurpose it.

Likewise, while energy sources from the earth’s crust are far deeper in Australia than they are in Iceland or New Zealand, they are plentiful. Geothermal energy may contribute to the renewable mix.

Perhaps Bartel is most excited about a collaboration with the European Space Agency. Last year, New Zealand startup Emrod demonstrated satellites that capture solar energy in space, where the sun always shines.“It’s amazing,” he says. “I wish I was 18 again because that’s what I’d do.”

The future of… waste

Lateral integration is the key term when it comes to sustainability in the creative sectors. Bek Day talks to Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMaRT) at UNSW Sydney, who says there is cause for quiet celebration.

As a nation, our collective waste rap sheet is sobering. Of the 27 kilograms of new clothing the average Australian acquires each year, 23 kilograms are thrown out – a total of 800,000 tonnes, of which more than 90 per cent ends up as landfill. Annually, Australians are responsible for 7.6 million tonnes of food waste, 140,000 tonnes of e-waste and 32.8 megatonnes of waste from the commercial and industrial sectors.

But in the face of the herculean task of decarbonisation and sustainable waste management, the case for optimism is already being made in science labs and innovation hubs across the country. In fact, says Professor Sahajwalla, “I’m really hopeful.”

The 2022 NSW Australian of the Year, whose development of a new generation of recycled materials, including “green steel” made from waste tyres, earned her a 2022 Eureka Prize, says that while her innovations are exciting, the underpinning message – a two-birds-one-stone solution to the dual problems of resource scarcity and excess landfill – is what she is most passionate about.

“I want to change the thinking around waste – it should no longer be seen as waste but as a high-value resource, waiting to come back to life in a circular economy.” Vital to this paradigm shift is reframing the way we’ve siloed waste by industry verticals in the past, says Sahajwalla, who has also pioneered the establishment of micro-factories at waste disposal sites to streamline zero-waste processes. “For xample, we use materials like waste textiles and waste glass in our green ceramic tiles. Instead of saying, ‘A fibre must become a fibre so the only thing we can do with waste textiles is convert them into new textiles,’ we need to think more laterally. Lateral integration can reshape the way we view the limits on what can be done and reimagine these materials.

“You can connect various partners who would normally never have thought about making those products because they never thought they had the capacity, the money or the ability to do it.”

Part of the power of the micro-factories is that they decentralise the recycling and manufacturing process, remodelling the concept of supply chains along the way. “We enable waste collectors to transform their businesses into manufacturing models, turning consumerism on its head.

We have to think about economies of purpose and economies of purpose achieve scalability in a very different way. We can solve the challenges of waste recycling and remanufacturing across the country. When waste is being processed in local micro-factories, you’re not having to cart it across the country.”

It’s proof, says Sahajwalla, that when industry and science work together, real sustainable change is possible. “We’re showing the rest of the world that it’s not just business as usual in Australia.”

The path to many of the large-scale new technologies isn’t without obstacles. “Funding is always an issue for scientific research,” she says, adding that outdated beliefs about Australia’s economic dependence on the natural resources sector also hamper progress.

“We need to design solutions and products that we can manufacture in a way in which we’re not reliant on the resources of the past.”

And in spite of Australia’s relatively low contribution to the problem of global greenhouse gas emissions, Sahajwalla believes we can be a disproportionately large part of the solution. “When we talk about decarbonisation, people say, ‘Well, Australia's a small country, how much impact can we really have?’ But we have clever science and technology and we can inspire others to come on the journey with us. To me, that’s the most important contribution we can make.”

The future of… EVs

The personal car is a cornerstone of Australian life and culture but when it comes to reducing the CO2 in our vehicles, Australia has been on the backfoot. Noelle Faulkner speaks to Tony Weber of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) about encouraging change.

Light vehicles account for 10 per cent of all emissions in Australia. Electric vehicles, which promise to reduce emissions, are still in their infancy here – the first quarter of 2023 saw EV sales make up 6.5 per cent of the new car market. That’s almost double the transactions in 2022. Encouraging but compare it to the United Kingdom’s 22 per cent last year and it’s not great.

It comes down to adoption, availability and affordability. Australia’s huge appetite for SUVs and light commercial vehicles made up more than 75 per cent of new vehicle sales last year. This, coupled with our battery range needs and government initiatives, has prevented us from getting many of the smaller and more affordable EVs found in other markets.

“The reason why EVs are cheaper elsewhere in the world is threefold,” says Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, the peak body of the automotive industry in Australia. “For one, some governments subsidise battery costs. Another way to make cars cheaper is to have smaller batteries. But small batteries do not translate very well to the Australian market. Our major capital cities are large and regional Australia is enormous.”

We’re in a chicken-and-egg scenario. In order to introduce a variety of EVs, infrastructure investment is needed and vice-versa. Currently, there are around 3700 public chargers across the country – a fraction of what is found in similar markets, such as Canada (20,000) and the UK (more than 40,490).

“The good news is that there’s a lot of money coming in from the government, at the federal and state level, as well as the private sector,” says Weber.

NSW has committed $171 million towards building charging stations every 100 kilometres along major highways and every five kilometres on commuter corridors in metropolitan areas.

In April, the federal government offered a glimpse of its first electric vehicle strategy aimed at addressing supply, adoption and infrastructure. On top of existing EV tax cuts and various statelevel initiatives, it intends to work with the industry on initiatives such as developing a mapping tool for charging infrastructure investment (from green energy sources, ideally), offer guidance for apartment dwellers and create local recycling initiatives for EV batteries via new manufacturing possibilities. What’s currently missing are targets for EV uptake and a fuel efficiency standard, the latter of which is expected in the next year.

For now, all eyes are on that fuel efficiency standard. Australia is one of only two developed nations without one (the other is Russia). This has resulted in a lack of incentive for automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), which are already suffering from supply restraints, to bring EVs and other innovations to market in quantity.

Thankfully, the government is taking this seriously. But Weber warns of a toonarrow focus on EVs only and suggests we consider what the right low-emissions options might be for our lifestyle needs – Australia can’t simply copy and paste strategies from other markets.

“We need to have a holistic approach. The policy objective is to reduce CO2 from the tailpipe. EVs are one solution but there’s a whole raft of other technologies out there. Whether it be battery electric, hydrogen, synthetic fuel or hybridisation, there are different potential ways that we can address the emissions problem.”

This, he says, allows competition and innovation to do the work.

“We’ll see more changes in the next 20 years in the automotive industry than we’ve seen in the past 100. We’ll have lowemissions environments, connected vehicles and much safer vehicles. Put that together and the future is very exciting.”