Experts and audience unpack the opportunities

Our next monthly leaders forum will bring you four brilliant people to help us dig out the best opportunities for green business now we’ve cleared the runway for take off, post federal election.

In true forum style, we’ll be seeking the wisdom of the crowd to help – your questions, insights and business strategies to shine a light on the best opportunities for green jobs and growth! Here are some key sectors that come top of mind as boom-ready:

The electric revolution: EVs, batteries, electrification of commercial and residential buildings and renewables. We need more engineers, policy wonks and financiers to enable fast transition. Check out the stories on European companies such as Artelia buying up LCI Consultants and Spanish Ayesa acquiring ADP Consulting – both neatly formed Aussie companies of 300 people each, each focused on buildings, specialist engineering and large scale renewables
Social and affordable housing: government plans are locked in, budgets secured. Now we need the people who will deliver this to roll up their sleeves – architects, builders, planners, materials suppliers, policy makers, local government enablers, social value engineers, engineers of all sorts. The green business fillip will come from the government’s opportunity to embed low upfront carbon in these homes and stimulate the nascent modular construction market with the steady pipeline of demand it desperately needs. Oh, and train up the many tradies we’ll need who will soon move to the private sector.
Science, tech and AI: we need all the nerds to help us manage the awakening giant of the AI genie and make sure it can help, not hinder our world. We need people who can accelerate the cooling technology in data centres and dramatically reduce their hunger for power and water from renewables.
Real estate: hot spots that produce the optimal efficiency of location so that capex and opex (capital and operational expenditure) are slashed. This means the adjacency of large infrastructure such as industrial logistics centres, commercial and residential precincts with renewables, batteries and the data centres. We need switched on real estate consultants who can give investors the data they need to make the right decisions.
Climate reporting: this sector kicked off at warp speed the moment the election result was clear. There’s a boom on here absolutely, but it’s soaking up an enormous level of resources in many companies that might have been hoping that a change of government would make these laws simply fade away. Just ask Max Van Biene from Edge Impact – it’s why his phone rang off the hook on Monday 5 May). But what are the consequences of this? Hint: Some of the best innovation and sustainability specialists in the industry are looking for work as budgets make way for auditors. But ditto the new opportunities emerging.
Nurturing nature: removal of pollutants from the air and our earth. We need landscape professionals, academics, social and psychosocial experts, tree experts and local government – again.
Capital market flows: how good does Australia look right now to capital that’s always on the lookout for a “safe home” to park its squillions? We have a steady Trump-free government right now. As insiders will tell you, the Asia Pacific is a hot destination right now for capital. This is a growth region, and Australia is perfectly placed to lead in reaping the opportunities.

Our speakers are brilliant – and we’ll bring you more of their insights in coming days. But we also expect brilliance from our audience as they share their views.

We want the wisdom of the crowd!

Frankie Muskovic: director of national policy for the Property Council of Australia, could not be better placed to share how real-world property investment in various sectors will move now that we have a chance for the much-longed-for policy certainty that’s now on offer. If you listen to Frankie’s podcast with cohosts Luke Menzel and Tennant Reed, you’ll love the direct insights Frankie brings and be keen to ask her some direct questions.
Ali Ingram: head of sustainability – capital markets at JLL, is a great find. She brings a wealth of global experience to the Australian marketplace and will reveal some of her company’s valuable research into the specific investment drivers her clients expect from such a leading global brand.
Jeremy Gill: head of policy at the Committee for Sydney, is one of the best thinkers on city and national economics we know. We’ve been long-term fans – from his time at SGS Economics and Planning to his current gig and the work he leads now, taking great policy to the top end of town and right up to Canberra. The data tells the story.
Richard Smith: director of MBM is down to earth, practical and inspirational. We were rivetted by a presentation he gave at a CIBSE event last year and saw the excitement he created in the crowd when he urged peers and colleagues alike to understand that social and affordable housing was a boom ready to ignite. It’s a segment of the industry that will spin off an enormous amount of work through the entire residential development chain, from top line architects already deeply embedded to the suppliers of the goods and services to make it all happen.
But we know all this, right?

Greenhouse, Salesforce Tower

3 June
12 noon to 2.15 pm
Lunch included
Summary articles to appear in The Fifth Estate and deeper stories in the next quarterly follow up magazine

The green giant is awakening – and not a moment too soon

Meet the speakers

Jeremy Gill, Head of Policy, The Committee for Sydney
Jeremy is a public policy expert who joined the Committee after ten years working in public policy consulting. Jeremy’s expertise lies in the intersection of urban policy, economic, workforce and industry development and land use. He has worked with and for state and local government, the university and private sectors in a career spanning over fifteen years across Australia and the United Kingdom. Jeremy’s policy experience ranges in scale from precinct-level strategies through to projects at metropolitan, state and national scales.

Francesca Muskovic Director, National Policy Property Council of Australia
Frankie is the National Policy Director at the Property Council of Australia and leads the national policy and advocacy agenda on sustainability, cities, and housing for the property industry and is also a co-host of the popular climate and energy podcast Let Me Sum Up.

Richard Smith, Director, MBM
Richard carved a successful quantity surveying career in the United Kingdom following the completion of his Bachelor of Science and shaped his repertoire through the extremes of the construction industry – from economic recessions to transformational booms.

Ali Ingram, Head of Sustainability, Capital Markets, APAC (& EMEA)
Ali has over 13 years investment experience across both APAC and EMEA, four of which have been more recently focused on sustainability investment. She has a deep understanding of global and European investors' decarbonization strategies (including energy solutions) and climate risk requirements. She heads up a global network of sustainability capital markets professionals aimed at gathering intelligence on the overall investment impacts of decarbonization and climate risk trends across the globe.

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