When faced with the world’s biggest problems, how can embedding sustainable leadership in your organisation make a difference? According to AGSM’s Academic Director, Associate Professor Michele Roberts, it’s the only way forward.
Australia is a world leader in global energy and must play a critical role in the transition to clean energy. But whether we are the leader the world needs us to be is a question that is playing out in real time, according to Associate Professor Michele Roberts, Associate Dean (Post-Experience) at UNSW Business School.
“Statistics tell you loud and clear that Australia has a corner office in the global energy transition. As the world’s third largest exporter of fossil fuels our leadership in the energy transition is absolutely pivotal” she said.
Can we put responsible and sustainable leadership principles to work to keep the world well below two degrees global warming? It’s what Associate Professor Michele Roberts and Mark Rowland, Chief Collaboration Officer at climate action enabler Greenhouse, urged attendees at the AGSM 2024 Professional Forum to explore during an interactive Masterclass.
The ‘one-way doors’ of climate change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change – says as much as possible to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Through the Paris Agreement, countries have committed to substantially reducing global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep the long-term global average surface temperature from increasing by more than 1.5°C.
Associate Professor Roberts shared that even if every country was on track to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions towards the Paris Agreement, we would still be on track for 3.3°C global warming.
Associate Professor Roberts and Rowland set the challenge for attendees to come up with strategies that would keep the global temperature increase well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees. These strategies would be tested using a global climate simulation that allows users to explore the impact of dozens of policies – such as electrifying transport, pricing carbon, and improving agricultural practices –on hundreds of factors, including energy prices, temperature, air quality and sea level rise.
Pulling the levers of sustainable leadership
Masterclass participants were given various levers to pull to make an impact, including energy supply, transport, building and industry, population and economic growth, and removal of carbon dioxide and other sources of greenhouse gases. It was then up to everyone in the room to discuss what hypothetical changes they should make and why.
In energy supply, attendees could choose to change up the energy mix by reducing coal, oil and natural gas consumption. They could also increase the reliance on renewables, nuclear and bioenergy, as well as set a price on carbon. They also had the option to electrify transport and buildings, invest in nature-based carbon dioxide removal, and reduce agricultural emissions and deforestation.
With the teams coming back to share their ideas, Rowland plugged each strategy into the simulation to see the potential impact. The wider group quickly learned that a one-track approach was the least effective. Even drastic reductions in single areas failed to shift the dial significantly.
But when every lever shifted either above or below the status quo, global temperature started to drop. This meant that, hypothetically, 1.5°C warming is still achievable. And while that is an inspiring thought, there’s an enormous amount of work to be done to get there.
“If we are looking for a roadmap to net zero, we need to transition away from fossil fuels, deal with coal, switch to renewable energy and electrify everything. When electrification is not possible, use other renewable energy sources,” Associate Professor Roberts said.
“We also have to conserve energy efficiency, stop deforestation, tackle agricultural emissions, get a well-staged carbon price, and when there's no other hope, use carbon capture and storage.”
"There is an enormous amount of work to be done and we need every country and every leader to go harder and faster in the race to net zero."
She urged those in the room to think about what they could do in their own work to reduce emissions and make a difference to the energy transition.
Putting sustainable leadership front and centre
The multitude of options provided insight into the real changes that can, and must, be made by governments and organisations. It also demonstrated the impact of collective effort to make a significant difference. And with the opportunity to lead the way in the global energy transition, there’s never been a more important time to make sustainable leadership a priority in Australia. Together, as leaders we can drive actionable commitment to climate change and safeguard our future.