On target? Understanding Australia’s 2035 net zero numbers

The UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures with the UTS Business School presents an evening with Matt Kean, Chair of the Climate Change Authority and UTS Adjunct Professor.

The recent announcement of Australia’s much-anticipated 2035 emissions target has been met with a range of responses. Many consider the Government’s 62% - 70% to be too moderate to matter, while others say a more ambitious target would seriously harm the economy.

So, what’s the truth about our target? And what will it mean for Australian industry, policy, the economy and jobs over the coming decade?

Join Matt Kean as he answers these questions and unpacks the Climate Change Authority’s recommendations that informed the target. Matt will be joined in conversation by Professor Stuart White, Director of the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures.

Continue the discussion with a post-event drink hosted by Café 80 bar and cafe. Cash and card accepted.

Canapés provided

Please note: On Target? Understanding Australia’s 2035 net zero numbers is a live in-person event. To see recorded highlights of it, please subscribe to the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures newsletter.

About the speakers

Matt Kean

Matt was appointed as Chair of the authority on 5 August 2024 for a term of 5 years. He was previously the Member for Hornsby in the NSW Parliament from 2011 until 2 August 2024.

Matt was most recently the NSW Shadow Minister for Health. He was Deputy Leader of the NSW Liberal party from August 2022 until March 2023. Throughout his 13-year political career, Matt also held ministries of Innovation and Better Regulation, Treasury, Energy and Environment.

As Treasurer and Energy Minister of NSW, Matt championed climate action that is in the best interests of households and businesses. In 2020, he delivered the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap: A 20-year plan for NSW’s energy infrastructure. The roadmap spurs private investment in renewable energy while reducing emissions and power bills for the people of NSW.

Matt commenced in the role of Director, Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Wollemi Capital on 15 August 2024.

Matt studied a Bachelor of Business at the University of Technology Sydney and is a Chartered Accountant by profession.

Stuart White AM

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. Stuart first trained as an electrician, going on to earn an Honours degree in nuclear physics at UWA and a PhD in applied physics of solar thermal energy at Sydney University.

For more than three decades, Stuart has made impact through sustainability research, innovation and advocacy. As a sustainability consultant, he trialled the first urban composting toilet in Australia and designed the (then) largest Australian water efficiency program in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Projects he has led at the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures include a review of container deposit legislation in NSW (which supported its introduction in 2017), the Sydney Metropolitan Water Plan Review during the Millennium Drought. Stuart has advanced the development of distributed energy resources as a key contributor to the energy transition, through his work on the successful bid for the RACE for 2030 CRC, and his personal initiative as one of Australia’s first household applications of vehicle-to-grid charging. 

Stuart ran the first combined citizen’s jury and televote and led the World-Wide Views on Global Warming citizen’s assembly in Sydney prior to the UNFCCC COP15. He was Chair of the International Water Association Specialist Group on Efficient Urban Water Management and has been on the board of the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity and Climate-KIC Australia.

Stuart was joint winner of the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Environmental Research in 2012 and in 2025 was made a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to environmental research, to corporate sustainability, and to tertiary education.