No Time to Lose

Look Back Leap Forward Go Faster on Climate

A ground-breaking 30-year-old film Greenbucks by Gabrielle Kelly and Nick Hart-Williams, confronts us with the wasted years of global climate inaction. Following the film, a smart panel looks to the future. How can we Go Faster on climate action?

Join us for this compelling event about the cost of lost time, the role for industry and how to seize the opportunity for South Australia. No time to lose.

A distinguished panel, chaired by KPMG Ms Rowan Roberts and featuring Gabrielle Kelly; Dr Ian Lowe OA; Dr Ian Overton, Green Industries SA; and Nick Palousis, 2XE asks “What’s next for climate?” “What are the opportunities?” "How quickly can we move?”

THE CHALLENGE

Greenbucks, is the follow up film to 1989 Prophets and Loss with Robert Redford, one of the first major films on Climate Change, was launched at the First Rio Earth Summit and screened on BBC and ABC in 1992.

Seen now, it throws light on the wasted years of inaction and the momentum for change during Glasgow COP26. Can we leverage this momentum into urgent, effective on climate?

We can never regain lost time. There is no time to waste now.

In 2021, the Green Economy is here to stay. Cleaner industrial processes and renewable energy are capturing global investment. South Australia is about to be recognised as the global leader in renewable energy use. This is a tsunami of opportunity and investment in the Green Economy about to hit.

But the global political will and the national policies have been mired in political argument, lobbying by powerful industry groups, vested in the old economy and voters, overcome by the complexity of it all. Short term-ism and self-interest have been the winner for nearly 30 years.

How can we ensure that this destructive delay never happens again, while we deal with COVID, geo-politics , more frightening every day and disruptive technology all arriving at once?

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

THE FILM

It is 1992

At the Rio Earth Summit , Global Agenda 21, the non-binding agreement for global action on environment takes off.

Poor nations want their turn at fossil fuel development too.

Environmental leaders are at loggerheads with industry.

Industry mostly has no idea where to start but the powerful UN Business Council for Sustainable Development is pushing hard.

The film Greenbucks – the Challenge of Sustainable Development, produced and directed by Gabrielle Kelly (Adelaide) and Nick Hart-Williams (London) captures this moment.

It set out to build a common understanding between bitterly opposing camps – environnment and business -about the risks and costs of climate change and environmental degradation and the need for massive action by business.

Nothing less than strong systematic action on climate, renewables, and a circular economy, leveraging first mover environmental leadership, and the ‘good enough’ scientific evidence of the day will work, it says.

The less developed world cannot be left behind.

The UN Business Council for Sustainable Development, serious industry players like Dupont, ABB, Pacific Gas and Electric are some of the voices. The renewables revolution in California, the very first green cotton tee shirts in Denmark, and cleaning up polluting tanneries in Africa, just a few of the stories.

Stop the argument and get going, is the subtext

www.gabriellekelly.com.au/no-time-to-lose

THE PANEL

A distinguished panel reflects on the film and its meaning in 2021.

Chaired by Ms Rowan Roberts, KPMG	Featuring: Gabrielle Kelly, Gabrielle Kelly & Associates	Dr Ian Lowe, OA	Dr Ian Overton, Green Industries SA	Nick Palousis, Environmental Consultant

How did we get so distracted? How do we stop it happening again?
With the whole world on board at last, what opportunities do we have and how can we lead?
How can democracies move out of entrenched argument to long-term solutions?
What is the role for industry? How fast can they go?
South Australia is the global leader in renewables, can we use this platform to leap ahead?
Could we imagine a completely bipartisan climate vision for South Australia?

INTRODUCING THE PANEL

	Rowan Roberts is a Partner with KPMG and the South Australian lead for the People and Change Practice and South Australian Government account. Rowan is an economist and prior to joining KPMG, Rowan worked in the public sector at the Commonwealth and State level, including in climate policy and emissions trading mechanisms. She has also worked in research for non-government and multi-lateral organisations in Australia and Europe. Rowan is an experienced facilitator and has worked with a variety of stakeholder groups across government, industry and the community.
	Gabrielle Kelly’s rich career spans national film, business, tech innovation and social change, always with an eye to a positive global future. Her role include: founder Australian International Documentary Conference , Ops Manager South Australian Film Corporation, GM Showads Interactive Sydney/Adelaide, VP New York start up Health Accord, Director of the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence program along with national Board roles in those industries. She founded SAHMRI’s Wellbeing and Resilience Centre and developed the SAHMRI online mental health measurement platform. Gabrielle was the City of Adelaide Citizen of the Year and shortlisted South Australian of the Year 2020. Currently working on a digital project to tell the story of the SA Renewable Energy Miracle, she consults and speaks on topics such as Wellbeing for People and Planet, Circular Economy, the Psychological Vaccination of the nation, and Resilience.
	Ian Lowe AO published the influential Living in the Hothouse in 1987. Committed to evidence-based environmental action, he is an emeritus professor at Griffith University, where he was formerly Head of the School of Science, an adjunct professor at Flinders University and chairs the Adelaide-based Wakefield Futures Group. Serving on many advisory bodies , he chaired the advisory group that produced the first national report on the state of the environment. He was president of the Australian Conservation foundation from 2004 to 2014. He has attended 3 international climate summits and contributed to several major global reports. His numerous awards include the Prime Minister’s Environmental Award for Individual Achievement, the Queensland Millennium Award for Excellence in Science and the Konrad Lorenz Gold Medal of the International Academy of Sciences, Health and Ecology. Awarded Officer of the Order of Australia in 2001 and elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering in 2005, his latest book Long Half Life; the Nuclear Industry in Australia, provides invaluable facts, evidence and economic analysis in the nuclear vs renewables debate.
	Ian has over 30 years’ experience in business, research, academia and government, including 17 years with the CSIRO. He has a passion for sustainability and enhancing environmental, social and economic outcomes through strategy and implementation of the circular economy. He has a science background in environmental and water resource management with an Honours Degree and a PhD. He also has a business background in entrepreneurship and innovation with a Graduate Certificate in Management, a Diploma in Company Directorship and an MBA. Ian is also an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Global Food and Resources.
	Nick is an entrepreneur and qualified nerd. He is the CEO and Founder of 2XE, a South Australian engineering and strategy consulting firm that designs and manages Net Zero Emissions pathways and programs for companies and government agencies across Australia. Over the last fifteen years, Nick has been engaged by some of Australia’s most iconic businesses to make strategic, long-term investments in pursuing deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. In amongst his client engagements, Nick recently co-designed and facilitated Australia’s first organisational Net Zero Emissions Accelerator program on behalf of the NSW Government, which included participating organisations such as the Sydney Opera House, Hunter New England Health, Diageo, Lion, John Holland Group and Sydney Water. Nick has degrees in Mechatronic Engineering (First Class Honours) and Mathematical & Computer Sciences from Adelaide University, is a former Young South Australian of the Year and recipient of a British Council Eureka Prize. Under his leadership, 2XE received a 2018 Climate Change Leadership Award by the Premier of South Australia. Most importantly, Nick is the proud father of three ferocious young daughters, and tries his best to inspire them to make this world a better place.