Innovating thinking: addressing Australia's energy predicament panel
Centre Director, Professor Andrew Garnett, was recently invited to share his energy expertise on a panel delving into the innovative thinking needed to address Australia's energy predicament.
Competitive pricing, reliable supply, and sustainability are all linked by the need for Australia to secure investment in new energy resources and technologies. The American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham) hosted the panel event on 6 December in Brisbane, to garner the diverse perspectives from both the supply and demand side of the industry, government policy, and academic research.
Professor Garnett was joined on the panel by Nick McKenna, the President of Australia East for ConocoPhillips; Miranda Taylor, the CEO of National Energy Resources Australia (NERA); and Seth Hobby, the Executive Commercial Manager of Incitec Pivot Limited.
Key themes to emerge from the discussion included the critical importance of managing the cost of energy, the poor state of energy literacy across the Australian and global population, the challenges of managing the cost of energy as a big employer, the need for targetted energy climate policy to drive investment, and the gas-food nexus. The need for bringing increased supply of gas on line to support the transition to a low emissions future also emerged as a key issue.