Climate & Recovery Initiative Public Forum

On 23 November, CPD co-hosted a public forum as part of the Climate & Recovery Initiative. We were joined by three special guest speakers: APRA Executive Board Member Geoff Summerhayes, ClimateWorks Australia CEO Anna Skarbek, and AustralianSuper Chair and former Australian Ambassador to the United States, Don Russell.

The discussion focussed on climate change, the COVID-19 recovery and the road ahead in 2021, taking stock of recent global developments on climate and clean energy and the implications for Australia as we look towards next November’s COP26 summit. It was also a chance to highlight the important work underway through the Climate & Recovery Initiative, a new collaborate effort we are running with ClimateWorks Australia and other partners to identify the best ideas and opportunities to align Australia’s economic recovery with a net zero transition. You can read more about the Climate & Recovery Initiative here.

In his remarks, Geoff Summerhayes highlighted important steps that Australian institutions and regulators had taken to step up their focus on climate risk, and said these put us in a stronger position to tackle the challenges ahead:

“With both risks and opportunities rising, it will be critical for Australian firms to ensure that they have sufficient responses to both physical and transition risks, but also are maintaining our highly regarded financial sectors’ competitiveness in the emerging green economy.”

“I’m encouraged that we’re up for the challenge – not just of responding to risk, but of seizing new financial sector opportunities that will flow from this next industrial revolution, to a low carbon future.”