Top: Atelier Ten Melbourne has appointed Chris Buntine as its new Melbourne regional director.
Buntine had been known to the sustainability world as a regenerative design expert with over 30 years of experience and had recently left his role of more than four years as the associate sustainability group manager at Northrop Consulting Engineers. He had also spent nine years as a sustainability leader for Aurecon’s branch in Victoria along with other roles in civil engineering, urban planning and building science I both the US and in Australia.
He had also worked in projects related to in health care, industrial precincts, civic and cultural facilities, schools and university buildings, and multi-family residential. He currently co-leads the regional member community of Australia for the International Living Future Institute and was the founder of the Melbourne Regenerative Design Forum. It is also known to the community that he is currently building his own sustainable home for his family with his wife – and sharing lessons he learnt along the way on his socials.
MARKET PULSE: Climateworks Centre in Melbourne based at Monash University says that Australia’s strong education system can be critical in driving decarbonisation – especially in the Indo-Pacific region, which has proved to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of human-induced warming.
Despite this, progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals has been moving backwards. While the ASEAN special summit in Melbourne in March this year painted climate change as the issue where Australia’s interests converge with its neighbours, Australia is also becoming more reliant on green exports from Southeast Asia’s manufacturing powerhouses for technology such as solar panels and batteries.
The Albanese government’s move towards the “Future Made in Australia” policy reflects this concern. But “Australia would be well served to look to its strengths — such as its education sector,” writes Climateworks’ Trang Nguyen and Luke Brown.
For example, Vietnam is emerging as a vital producer of decarbonisation technology but struggles to decarbonise its own energy generation amid rapid economic growth, the authors say in a recent publication.
They note that just six of Vietnam’s 460 universities offer specialised programs in renewable energy systems, highlighting a demand mismatch which Australia could help resolve.
Vietnam has already experienced the highest level of renewable jobs growth in the region, following the boom period of solar in 2020. It has the highest level of renewable uptake in Southeast Asia. Yet Vietnam’s green economy transition necessitates a workforce equipped with specialised skills tailored to emerging industries.
The ASEAN Centre for Energy forecasts that 50 per cent of the 5.5 million newly created renewable jobs in the region by 2050 will be in Indonesia and Vietnam, citing a strong correlation between renewable uptake and potential job creation opportunities and skill demands.
But it’s not just about education and training, said the authors. “Sharing expertise, technical assistance and infrastructure can make a big difference in Vietnam’s energy transition.”
Initiatives such as Climateworks and Asialink’s Australia-Vietnam green economy academy help bridge the gap by sending delegates from 30 Australian companies to Vietnam to meet with 100 Vietnamese counterparts to help Aussie companies understand green economy opportunities in Vietnam and vice versa.
Australian universities can be catalysts for progress. Increasing demand from both domestic and overseas markets provides an economy of scale for the education sector to transform and grasp these opportunities.
Future changemakers in the spotlight
This month, the Wattle Fellowship will run a series of spotlight events to showcase the work of sustainability’s youngest changemakers.
Past and current graduating fellows include undergraduate and postgraduate students from Australia, Ghana, Israel, Indonesia, and Chile.
Some exemplary alumni and notable graduates include:
- Pamudika Kiridena developed a virtual reality game for school aged students to learn more about the interconnected ecosystem and environmental health
- Clancy Lester, who has installed more than 100 backyard bee hotels in suburban areas to encourage biodiversity to move into urban environments
- Rob McIntyre, who used his postgraduate law degree and his Bachelor of Music to turn a real climate litigation case into an award-winning classical music composition
Jobs news:
Bradley Moggridge, a Kamilaroi professor of science known for his work in sustainability and environment, has been appointed by the University of Technology Sydney as the assistant associate dean of Indigenous leadership and engagement.
Prior to his new role, Moggridge had been an associate professor in Indigenous Water Science at the University of Canberra’s Centre for Applied Water Science while undertaking his PhD.
Among decades of experience, some of his other more notable roles include being the indigenous liaison officer for the NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub, special advisor of first peoples’ water at Water Stewardship Australia and team leader of the Aboriginal Water initiative for NSW Department of Primary Industries.
Moggridge is also the president of the Australian Freshwater Science Society and a board member of the NSW Environment Protection Authority and Biodiversity Council.
Matthews Architects has promoted two senior staff members to associates. One of them is Sofiya Yunovidova, who has been with Matthews since 2017; the other is Brayden Josephs, who has been part of the team since 2019.
Yunovidova joined the team immediately after graduating with an architecture degree, where she worked on several education, residential and commercial projects. She had completed her registration in 2023.
Josephs was involved in similar projects across education and had also completed his registration in 2023. He is also part of the UDIA Young Professionals Committee and the
Mr Josephs, who completed his registration in 2023, is also a member of the UDIA Young Professionals committee and the Australian Institute of Architects.
Julia Gillard to chair new energy transition fund
Julia Gillard, the former prime minister who established carbon taxes (removed by her successor Tony Abbott) has been appointed as the chair of a new multi-billion dollar green energy fund.
Gillard was known in the sustainability space for the creation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Climate Change Authority and creating Australia’s first hung parliament for 70 days over the introduction of carbon taxes.
She will now lead the Energy Transition Fund launched by real estate asset managers HMC Capital due for the coming months. The body will seek $2 billion in funding from institutions and wholesale investors, which will then be invested into a 15 gigawatt renewables portfolio – such as wind, solar, batteries, bio-fuels, and other technologies.