Climate Change Authority

The Climate Change Authority is now operating in accordance with the Australian Public Service caretaker conventions, until the resolution of the 2025 federal election. Information on the caretaker conventions is available at: www.pmc.gov.au/caretaker

📣 Are you an experienced communications leader with a strong sense of public purpose and a sharp understanding of the media landscape?  The Climate Change Authority is looking for two communications specialists to join the Media and Public Affairs team. These roles offer an exciting opportunity to shape Australia’s understanding of climate policy and pathways to a thriving net zero economy, while working closely with some of the country’s most prominent climate leaders.  Applications close Monday 28 April 2025. Apply now! 📰 https://lnkd.in/geTWe6fh 

Meet the Authority’s newest member: Gretta Stephens The Climate Change Authority welcomes new member Gretta Theobald Stephens as she officially commences her 5-year term. Ms Stephens brings over 30 years of experience in the aluminium and steel industries across Australia and New Zealand, having held senior executive roles in operations leadership, business transformation and technical development. She has deep specialist knowledge of industrial decarbonisation, energy systems, climate change and sustainability, and corporate strategy. In 2021, Ms Stephens was appointed as the inaugural Chief Executive, Climate Change and Sustainability at BlueScope – the first role of its kind in a major Australian industrial organisation. In this role, she led the development and implementation of BlueScope’s decarbonisation strategy, initiated major cross-sector partnerships with global industrial heavyweights like Rio Tinto and BHP, and initiated New Zealand’s largest industrial decarbonisation project. Beyond her executive roles, Ms Stephens has contributed to numerous government, industry and community initiatives, including the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council and several advisory and governance boards. The Authority is delighted to have Ms Stephens join its membership and looks forward to the valuable insight and leadership she will bring as we continue our work to provide independent advice on Australia’s climate policies and progress. #ClimateChangeAuthority #Decarbonisation #Sustainability #ClimateLeadership #HeavyIndustry #NetZero #ClimatePolicy #Australia 

🏗️ This week’s edition of On Good Authority looks at the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC)’s new report on reducing upfront embodied carbon – that’s emissions released during the construction, maintenance and replacement of buildings and infrastructure. ASBEC analysis indicates that at least 60% of these embodied carbon emissions need to be reduced by 2035 to achieve Australia’s target of net zero by 2050. Practical strategies to achieve this include updating national building codes, using low-embodied carbon materials like timber and cork, and designing buildings that use the fewest materials possible. Subscribe to On Good Authority to stay up to date with the latest developments in climate science, policy and progress 🗞️ https://bit.ly/3ZPsTEA #greenconstruction #greeninfrastructure

Climate change moves fast. On Good Authority helps you keep up—with the latest news, research and analysis from Australia and around the world. It’s a weekly read for people shaping policy, driving change, or just staying informed. This week we dive into strategies for managing the urban heat island effect in megacities like Bangkok, opportunities for improving methane measurement from livestock, decoding China’s climate and energy lingo, and much more. Subscribe for the weekly email digest, delivered straight to your inbox🗞️🌍📩 https://bit.ly/3ZPsTEA

The KangaNews Sustainable Debt Summit today brought together key players in the sustainable finance industry to explore important issues like financing climate adaptation and resilience, and pricing physical climate risk. Climate Change Authority Chair The Hon. Matt Kean presented the keynote speech, discussing priorities and opportunities for harnessing private capital to accelerate Australia’s decarbonisation and build resilience in a changing climate. Read his speech on the Authority’s new media centre: https://bit.ly/4c8ePdD #sustainablefinance

Some of the boldest minds working at the frontiers of innovation shared their ideas at the Western Sydney Manufacturers Forum this morning. Organised by the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub and the NSW Smart Sensing Network, this event put a spotlight on the industrial transformation underway in Western Sydney – one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in Australia. The Authority’s Chair The Hon. Matt Kean spoke on the importance of investing in clean tech innovation, to accelerate decarbonisation at home and grow new markets abroad. Australia can become a supplier of choice for in-demand green goods and technologies by building up the innovation ecosystem that helps great ideas power along the pipeline from R&D to pilots, and out into the marketplace. Read his speech on the Authority’s new media centre: https://bit.ly/4c8ePdD #NetZero #IndustryTransformation #WesternSydney

This week’s On Good Authority includes a look at new research from Climateworks Centre, which finds Australia could dramatically reduce household energy consumption by targeting upgrade efforts to the least efficient homes. Residential buildings make up around 24 percent of Australia’s electricity use but our buildings have some of the poorest energy efficiency in the world. The Climateworks analysis finds upgrading the least-efficient 10 percent of homes could save enough energy to power 4.5 million EVs! Subscribe to On Good Authority here to stay up to date with the latest developments in climate science, policy and progress 🗞️ https://bit.ly/3ZPsTEA   #energyefficiency #energyconsumption

Australian innovation and investment will play an important role in the overhaul of our electricity grid, as the Authority’s Chair The Hon. Matt Kean saw firsthand on a visit to the NSW Hunter region this week. At Allegro Energy Matt was part of the unveiling of Australia’s first locally-manufactured micro-emulsion flow battery. New types of batteries could help drive down the cost of storing clean energy, while powering up the number of manufacturing jobs in places like the Hunter.  Matt also connected with local business and community leaders at an event hosted by Business Hunter, where he spoke about the progress underway in Australia’s energy system.   Read his speech on the Authority’s new media centre: https://bit.ly/4c8ePdD

Chair The Hon. Matt Kean spoke today at the Energy Efficiency Council’s Industrial Decarbonisation Summit, in conversation with their CEO Luke Menzel. He reflected on the importance and unique challenges of decarbonising heavy industry, noting that over 50% of sector emissions come from just 20 major facilities. But with around 90,000 manufacturing businesses in Australia – many of them small and medium enterprises – there’s also plenty of ways to start reducing emissions now with technologies like electric heat pumps and improving energy efficiency.    The Sector Pathways Review identified opportunities to cut industrial emissions by around 100 million tonnes between 2025 and 2050 – read more about the Authority’s advice on decarbonising the industrial sector here 🏭 https://bit.ly/3DHQLkR