Tony Wood
The National Sustainability in Business Conference will be held in Brisbane from the 23-24 March 2017. The Conference theme ‘Renewables – Markets – Innovation – Opportunities – Capital’ will address the need for sustainable business practices, and what this means in today’s ever-changing world.
Tony Wood from the Grattan Institute joins us in March and will keynote on the topic ‘Zero-emissions energy: dreams and nightmares’.
Wind and solar energy have been rapidly adopted by Australians. More than 40 per cent of South Australia’s electricity comes from wind and more Australian homes have solar PV on their roofs than just about anywhere else on Earth. Yet we also depend on electricity to power our lives at home and at work, and energy affordability has been a hot political topic. These issues were brought home by recent events in South Australia (high prices and blackouts), Tasmania (transmission failures and shortages) and Victoria (plant shutdowns). They led to an emergency meeting of national energy ministers and announcement of a review of electricity security. we are going address climate change and transition to a low-carbon energy future. We can do it well while maintaining affordability and protecting security; or we can do it badly with high prices and insecurity. My presentation will address how we should make this choice.
Tony Wood has led the Grattan Institute’s Energy Program since mid-2011. Since then he and his team have delivered twelve major reports on energy and climate change and he has developed a strong profile with governments and industry, and is a regular contributor in major media on key energy issues. From 2009 until mid-2014, he also had a role as Program Director of Clean Energy Projects at the Clinton Foundation, advising governments in the Asia-Pacific region on effective deployment of large-scale, low-emission energy technologies such as solar and CCS.
Prior to these roles, he spent 14 years working at Origin Energy in senior executive roles covering retail and LPG line management and corporate affairs. In 2008, he was seconded to provide an industry perspective to the first Garnaut review. He has built widespread relationships within the energy sector and is an adviser to government.
For more information on the 2017 National Sustainability in Business Conference and to secure your spot today, please visit the conference website.