100 Speakers at Joint Sustainability and Liveable Cities Conference Melbourne, June 2013

Over 100 Presenters over the 3 days – 17th to the  19th  of June 2013 at the Novotel Melbourne St Kilda. Confirmed keynotes presenters include; Dr Nick Fleming, Chief Sustainability Officer, Sinclair Knight Merz and Chairman of the Sustainability Taskforce of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, and a Director of the Board of the Australian Green Infrastructure Council. NSW Jason Roberts, Co-Founder, Better Block,  USA Melissa Houghton, Director, Sustainability at Work, VIC Professor Anthony Capon, Head, Discipline of Public Health, Faculty of Health University of Canberra ACT Tony Wood, Energy Program Director, Grattan Institute, VIC Simon Lockrey, Research Fellow, Sustainable Products and Packaging, …

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Sustainable Outcomes Through Work Transformation

Organisations are at the brim of a major transformation. One fundamental element of this change is rapidly re-shaping itself to the beat of the sustainability drum, with innovative changes to how organisations interface with colleagues, the community and the environment. At the heart of this transformation lies one single, yet complex phenomenon. Work. Fuelled by a multitude of drivers, including globalisation, technology and management innovations, the how, when and where we work is revolutionising at full speed. Shifting economies, priorities and social structures means variations to the ways in which we do business and also in the ways in which …

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Local Councils responding to Climate Change – just don’t call it adaptation or mitigation!

As with many local Councils around Australia, Randwick Council in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs has been developing and delivering comprehensive environmental programs via an innovative environmental levy program for 8 years. Many of these programs involve close collaborations with neighbouring Councils and are targeting community and operational initiatives aimed at responding directly or indirectly to the impacts of human-induced Climate Change. Over the years these initiatives include: providing financial incentives for energy changes in local homes; the first attempts to establish carbon trading between 12 NSW Councils; installation of 1330kilowatts of renewable energy including small scale wind; recycled and waste water …

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Climate impacts– analysing infrastructure interconnectivity and flow-on effects for Australian cities

Manidis Roberts, KPMG and The Climate Institute (TCI) collaborated to undertake an exercise to credibly identify, quantify and cost, climate impacts on city infrastructure (Melbourne) as a result of extreme heat event. We modelled the impacts on infrastructure and their interdependencies under a specified climate event. This provided a case study of the flow-on impacts of the damage to infrastructure from future climate events. We explored the interdependencies that play out between businesses and infrastructure owners and operators under future climatic conditions, such as an extreme heat, sea level rise or extreme rainfall events. The exercise identified nodes of interconnectivity …

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Carbon price to cost trucking industry $500m

The trucking industry wants to stay protected from Australia’s carbon price legislation beyond 2014. Under current plans, fuel used by trucks on Australia’s roads is not subject to the carbon price until middle of next year. That is when the Labor government’s legislation will reduce the fuel tax credits trucking operators can claim. Australian Trucking Association chairman David Simon has said the planned reduction of about seven cents a litre amounts to a 27 per cent increase in the fuel impost. To read the full story, click here

Landfill Carbon Pricing – Revenue and Risk

Landfill carbon pricing – revenue and risk 1. Examining the current state of pricing of landfills in the market 2. Why are different landfills charging such different rates – the answers revealed 3. Claw backs and reasonable costs 4. Identifying reasonable versus unreasonable price adjustments to carbon 5. Advice for landfill users 6. Advice for landfill owners 7. What does the recent changes to emissions factors mean for pricing 8. Pricing now for an emission in 2038 with both proximity, emission factor and carbon pricing uncertainty all in the mix. Mike Ritchie will address these issues and more at the …

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Sustainable Investment Guidelines – linking sustainability into the investment decision

The single largest investor in capital works  is the public sector, but it’s the same sector that struggles with some of the fundamentals of sustainable investment. Key challenges include: • the prioritisation of construction over operational spends; • a lack of focus on long term benefits realisation at the expense of immediate delivery pressures; • a narrow definition of sustainability, often singularly toward environmental (as opposed to social or economic) issues; • and a fundamental disjoint between sustainability and the investment decision. Major Projects Victoria and AECOM have tackled the issue by developing guidance that explains why and how to …

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Warmer climate boosts northern crops but the bad soon outweighs the good

By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation Climate change is creating warmer growing conditions in parts of the Earth’s northern regions, a new study has found, but experts warn that drought and heat wil soon cancel out the agricultural benefits. The international study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, analysed NASA satellite data and 30 years of land surface temperature records for 26 million square kilometres between the Arctic Ocean and 45 degrees north latitude. “Higher northern latitudes are getting warmer, Arctic sea ice and the duration of snow cover are diminishing, the growing season is getting longer and plants are …

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GBCA calls on WA to strengthen sustainability commitment

20 February 2013 — In the face of Western Australia’s 9 March state election, the Green Building Council of Australia has outlined a three-point green plan for the state’s buildings and communities to create “a clear long-term pathway to resilience and sustainability”. The Council has called on the political leaders of Western Australia to strengthen their commitment to more efficient, productive, resource-friendly and sustainable buildings and communities. Executive director Robin Mellon said “despite a slow start” the number of Green Star rated buildings in WA continued to grow, government and industry were working collaboratively, the GBCA’s state industry group was …

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Climate change linked to declines in labour productivity

By Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Charis Palmer, The Conversation Increases in humidity caused as a result of climate change are reducing labour productivity and it’s only likely to get worse over time, argue researchers from America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In an article published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, the researchers say humidity is already reducing people’s working capacity by 10% during peak months of heat stress around the world, and this is likely to grow to 20% by 2050. The researchers say even if the global community commits to active mitigation of CO2, there will …

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