Conference Day Two - Wednesday 4 September

Go to day one Go to pre-conference masterclasses

08:15

Registration and welcome coffee

08:45

Opening remarks from the Chair

Kylie Turner
System Lead - Sustainable Economies
Climateworks

Evolution of technology to reduce or capture emissions

09:00

Exploring technology to progress towards lower emissions steel

Gretta Stephens
Chief Executive Climate Change & Sustainability
BlueScope

09:30

Reducing carbon in manufacturing to yield a low emissions product

Examining the approach GFG Alliance is taking globally and across its two primary Australian businesses (Whyalla and InfraBuild) to reduce its emissions, led by the transition from Blast Furnace to Electric Arc Furnace-based steelmaking techniques
Exploring how these techniques adhere to the principles of material efficiency, which is something the market is demanding of manufacturers
Understanding the impact of emissions reduction on overall business performance and profitability

Steve Porter
Head of Sustainability Trade and Innovation
InfraBuild – a member of GFG Alliance

10:00

PANEL DISCUSSION: Approaching emerging technologies that are not yet commercially proven

What is the most useful way to analyse the financial risks associated with investing significantly in unproven technologies?
How do organisations move from the research and development or demonstration phase and into commercial deployment?
When to invest? - Balancing ‘jumping the gun’ and investing too early with the urgent need to find solutions that can reduce emissions now
How can companies achieve scale while remaining cost-competitive?

Moderator:

Blair Pritchard
Partner
Virescent Ventures

Panellists:

Andrew Cleland
General Manager, Distributed Energy & Site Solutions
Origin Zero

Andrew Cheah
Head of Group Energy
Borg Manufacturing

Paul Matuschka
"Sustainable in a Generation" Operations Lead
Mars Petcare Australia

Damien Dwyer
Director – Policy and International Relations
Low Emission Technology Australia (LET Australia)

10:40

Morning tea

Heat energy – alternative gases and hydrogen as replacements for natural gas

11:10

Examining the commercial feasibility of renewable gas / bio gas in an industrial facility

Exploring biomethane and renewable methane as immediate replacements for natural gas
Switching existing infrastructure to biogas and biomethane without costly re-tooling of manufacturing processes
Creating biomethane for onsite use

Melissa Perrow
General Manager Energy
Brickworks Building Products

11:40

Balancing risks and opportunities in the transition to low carbon heat energy (pre-recorded message)

Quantifying increases in the cost of production and the potential to reduce energy demand
Coping with the growing regulatory pressure to reduce emissions resulting in increased expenditure for abatement technologies
Exploring heat energy alternatives to reduce operating costs

Karen Durand
Corporate Sustainability Manager
Incitec Pivot

12:00

Networking lunch

13:10

PANEL DISCUSSION: What are the most realistic alternatives to high emission fuels for heat energy?

How should alternative gases and hydrogen be deployed (can they be retrofitted to existing facilities, or do they require whole new systems)?
What are the timelines for the kind of economies of scale and wide availability that will make low emission fuels viable?
What are the carrots and sticks that are going to make replacing natural gas attractive?

Moderator:

Linden Birch
Group Decarbonisation Manager
CSR Limited

Panellists:

Ross George
Director
Austeng

Melissa Perrow
General Manager Energy
Brickworks Building Products

Dominic Zaal
Director, Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute (ASTRI)
CSIRO

Building a workable net zero pathway

13:50

Stepping off: setting up a net zero plan that has achievable goals (and isn’t going to bankrupt the business)

Defining the financing needed to support the transition to a net zero
Effectively implementing and monitoring a net zero plan
Importance of transparent reporting and accountability mechanisms

Taku Ide
Head of Carbon
Cleanaway Waste Management

14:20

Creating clear, long-term development plans to support the implementation of a robust and resilient transition roadmap

Providing certainty and investment confidence for all stakeholders
Coordinating across levels of government to align the regulatory and policy mechanisms needed
Collaboration for shared infrastructure developments
Streamlining development approval processes

Tjakko Dijk
Technical Director Resilience
Arcadis

14:50

Afternoon tea

15:15

Call for industry partners to join World Green Building Council’s publication focusing on water conservation in the built environment

15:20

Mars Wodonga Energy Net Zero Roadmap, our journey – learnings, challenges, and achievements

Focussing on energy reduction through operational efficiency improvement and alternative technologies
Renewable energy considerations and our thermal energy toolkit
Technologies in our roadmap (and key considerations)

- Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) with Thermal Energy Storage (TES)
- Graphite Energy (GE) eTES (Thermal Energy Storage using electrical energy) to store heat and generate operational steam
- Bioenergy
- Renewable hydrogen
- Geothermal
- Energy sharing

Paul Matuschka
"Sustainable in a Generation" Operations Lead
Mars Petcare Australia

15:50

PANEL DISCUSSION: Using carbon credits without getting burnt

What is the impact of the Chubb Review and the government’s position paper on changes to the Safeguard Mechanism for Australia’s carbon market?
What are the risks that carbon purchased on the voluntary carbon market (carbon offsets) might not be delivered? What can be done to address this?
How should producers of carbon offsets manage the risk of natural catastrophe exposure?
How can ACCU’s overcome legitimacy issues?
What are the best ways of addressing future supply and pricing issues?

Moderator:

Jackie McKeon
Program Director
Business Renewables Centre Australia (BRC-A)