WME Media decided it was time to name the champions of the environment business industry, spanning Corporate Sustainability, Resource Efficiency & Waste, Industrial & Urban Water, Energy & Carbon and those with the X-factor.
A panel of 15 experts has provided 52 names (see profiles below); now it’s your turn to help pick the cream of the crop by VOTING for the champion in each sector. You can vote for only one person in each category, though it’s not compulsory to vote in each one.
We’ll profile the Top 10 online and in the May issue of WME – environment business magazine.
CATEGORIES
• Corporate Sustainability
• Resource Efficiency & Waste
• Industrial & Urban Water
• Energy & Carbon
• The X-Factor
Maria Atkinson has been influential in generating the wave of reform sweeping commercial property. She is the global head of sustainability for Lend Lease and founding CEO of the Green Building Council of Australia, which has developed the Green Star rating scheme for building design and a range of industry-specific guides. Last year she participated in the Clinton Global Initiative’s green buildings project.
As founder of Energetics, Jon Jutsen has been at the forefront of energy efficiency delivery for 25 years. With a blue chip client base, the company is well positioned to help corporate Australia as it switches on to the need for energy and resource efficiency. Energetics has achieved considerable scale in a hostile environment and will help business deliver considerable savings in greenhouse emissions and money.
Woolworths last year launched its Sustainability Strategy in what promises to be an important development within the retail industry and supply chain. Luscombe has lead the country’s biggest retailer to address its footprint by bringing in advisory expertise and pursuing a wide range of practical measures in-house, such as developing energy efficient “green stores”, pushing alternative fuel vehicles and sponsoring an industry-wide study on carbon labeling.
As MD of Westpac for many years, David Morgan elevated its sustainability strategy to be one of the best in the global banking community, encouraging other banks and making fellow corporations take notice. Morgan inherited the sustainability program but nurtured it further – indeed he took it to a new level with the recent advertising campaigns integrating profit motive with social responsibility.
Sam Mostyn was until recently IAG’s group executive, culture and reputation, since 2002 helping it achieving global recognition as the leading sustainability company in general insurance. Her influence is now based on her networks, including on the Academic Advisory Board of the Australian Institute of Management and on Woolworths’ sustainability advisory panel and advising the Myer Foundation on climate change strategy.
Gavin Murray is head of sustainability, institutional & corporate at ANZ, which has vied with Westpac for the title of the world's banking sector leader on sustainability. He joined miner Placer Asia Pacific as environment manager in the 1990s, rising to vice-president, sustainability leadership for parent company Placer Dome Inc. Before joining ANZ he served as director for environment and social development at the International Finance Corporation.
Dr Noel Purcell has been a Westpac senior executive since 1986 in a variety of roles, currently as group GM for stakeholder communications. He has been a constant figure through Westpac’s decade-plus focus on sustainability and was prominent when it was a key member of the Business Roundtable on Climate Change, including its breakthrough report in April 2006 on the business case for early action on climate change.
Robert Purves has been instrumental in providing a platform for the thinkers and agents of change in Australia. The businessman is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists; former chair of WWF Australia; supported Tim Flannery in writing ‘The Weather Makers’; and has been chair of Environment Business Australia for three years, including funding through the Purves Environmental Fund.
Bob Welsh has driven sustainability in the superannuation industry and continues to lead from the front with commitments in forests, creating the Carbon Disclosure Project program in Australia and sitting on the corporate oversight team of leading sustainability-focused investor Regnan. Welsh has influenced many by making Al Gore available to a raft of Australian business leaders.
Dr John White has been a strong boardroom voice for internalising the environmental and social externalities of business. A former global chief executive of Visy Industries and current director of alternative waste treatment technology company Global Renewables, he sits on a wide range of boards from defence procurement, scientific organisations, investment groups and new technology companies.
One of Australia’s leading authorities on organic waste, green waste and biosolids processing and materials management, Paul Coffey is behind development of the Coffs Coast Resource Recovery Facility on the NSW north coast. The fledgling alternative waste technology facility includes Australian-first autoclave technology, but it is assumption of the commercial risk that rates a nomination.
After 20 years guiding Veolia Environmental Services (previously Collex), Doug Dean is the longest serving CEO in Australia’s waste management and industrial services sectors. Veolia has been a strong advocate for the professional development of the sector and for policies to promote performance improvement and sustainable development, including bioreactor landfill technology to hasten waste decomposition. Dean chairs the Barton Group’s Taskforce on Resource Recovery.
Rob Joy, along with late EPA Victoria chairman Brian Robinson, was instrumental in the development and design of the National Packaging Covenant, the key scheme for addressing packaging waste. The former deputy chair of EPA Victoria helped break down barriers between industry and government to develop the co-regulatory model that underpins the NPC, which today has more than 600 signatories.
Russ Martin has been active behind the scenes of the National Packaging Covenant, both helping companies develop action plans to reduce their packaging waste and supporting the Covenant Council’s goal to improve data collection. The American has brought an international perspective to packaging and sustainability, including as founder of think-tank, the Product Stewardship Council.
John Nolan has played a key role in the development of policies and strategies for waste management and resource recovery across Australia. His consultancy work (initially through Nolan ITU) is highly regarded by governments of all levels and major companies. He has been a key driver for the use of life cycle assessment tools to guide policy development and decision making, particularly in packaging, recycling and technology comparisons.
As executive chairman of Transpacific Industries, Terry Peabody has recently transformed the ownership structure of a significant proportion of the Australian (and New Zealand) waste business. Through acquisition and organic growth, TPI’s operations have expanded to include collection, landfills, transfer stations, waste-to-energy sites, composting facilities, and recycling plants. The major industry player heralds significant potential change for sector.
The MD and owner of Signum has long been passionate about increasing recycled content in plastic packaging. He has made the company a leading recycler of PET and invested his own money in R&D on recycled content products. Peck was behind the development of McDonald’s sundae cups that contain at least 35 per cent recycled PET. He is on the board of the Packaging Council of Australia.
The chair of integrated packaging and recycling company Visy, Richard Pratt has lead the company that has invested in all parts of the packaging chain. Visy engages customers on innovative solutions to packaging problems and was among the first to have an independent audit of its (publicly available) action plan under the National Packaging Covenant. Its motto is “We make it, we take it”.
Anne Prince has advised the waste industry since the mid-1990s, both as a consultant specialising in waste auditing and planning, and in recent years as CEO of ACOR, Australia's peak industry association representing companies involved in recovering secondary resources. She is respected in the sector for her professionalism and thoughtful policy advocacy for ACOR.
The national GM of marketing & communications for waste company SITA, Mike Ritchie has been the industry’s most vocal policy voice around the issues of market-based instruments and climate change. He has also argued for a more strategic approach to infrastructure development and, as chair of the NSW branch of the Waste Management Association, has spearheaded development of a national Carbon Division.
Peter Wadewitz is MD of Peats Soil and Garden Supplies and has driven the composting sector in South Australia and beyond for many years. He is the inaugural chair of Compost Australia and a leading figure in development of the Australian Compost Road Map. His commitment and common sense have been instrumental in improving composting processes and product quality. Wadewitz is a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.
For almost a decade until last year Chris Davis was CEO of the Australian Water Association and was an early voice for sustainable management of water and more rational water pricing. He initiated creation of the Water Industry Capacity Development network to address the sector’s skills shortage and is chair of the $50 million SE Queensland Urban Water Security Research Alliance.
Trevor Bridle has over 35 years experience in wastewater treatment and reuse, bio-solids management, renewable energy and sustainable development in the water and waste sectors. He has extensive experience in minimising water use in industry and maximising water reuse, and is a technology leader in energy recovery from industrial wastes and sludges. Bridle has published and presented some 100 papers on water management.
Jonathan Crockett previously lead the specialist water and wastewater technology division of consultancy GHD. Now a senior manager at the firm, his experience includes all aspects of municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment, from laboratory and pilot plant investigations to disposal strategies, water saving and reuse studies to process designs for water and wastewater treatment plants.
Marc Fabig is director of Osmoflo, Australia’s leading supplier of package membrane systems serving the industrial and mining sectors. He has lead the expansion of the South Australian company to the point where it is the leading manufacturer and supplier of membrane based equipment for Australia’s small- to mid-size industrial water market.
Charlie Foxall is the environment and safety manager at Foster’s Yatala Brewery in Queensland, helping it achieve world’s best practice in water management. In over 20 years there he has been instrumental in developing innovative water efficiency and recycling measures that reduced overall water consumption by 60 per cent to become the world’s most water-efficient brewery, and reduced the load on the local sewerage treatment plant.
Well beyond founding Australia’s annual clean up day in 1990, Ian Kiernan has been closely involved in environmental and resource issues, including water. The former Australian of the Year is an advocate of wastewater and stormwater recycling for environmental and non-potable uses and among other roles chairs the CRC for Environmental Biotechnology and is a director of public venture capitalist CVC Reef.
Les Lloyd is an iconic fixture in the Australian industrial water market having delivered a suite of water treatment and recycling projects across the power and minerals processing sectors. He is recognised as a process guru in industrial water applications across the power, mining and manufacturing sectors.
Elizabeth Nosworthy is chair of the independent Queensland Water Commission established by the State Government in 2006 to address the water crisis in the state’s south-east. Rapidly scaling up the coordination of efforts ranging from water restrictions to mandatory efficiency plans for big water users, she has helped put water management on the map in south-east Queensland.
Des Richardson is responsible for implementing a variety of measures to conserve water and improve environmental outcomes at the Boyer and Albury pulp mills. The pulp and paper industry is one of the leading consumers of water per unit production, meaning water savings efficiencies in this area have a great impact on water availability and quality for environmental uses, including in the Murray.
Professor Stuart White has for 20 years lead development of demand management initiatives for water. As head of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, he supports least-cost planning, which seeks to save resources through demand-side programs rather than increase supply. He has been instrumental in designing or implementing comprehensive water efficiency programs around Australia, including for Sydney Water.
Energetics principal consultant, carbon markets and strategy, Cheryl Bowler has been advocating cost effective energy and greenhouse audit programs throughout Australian business for at least three years. After 13 years in the electricity industry, Bowler joined the energy efficiency consultancy in 2005 to advise clients on environmental markets and strategic energy procurement.
Petrea Bradford was a driver behind Origin Energy's innovative Carbon Reduction Scheme, a flexible and integrated carbon trading framework allowing companies to monetise their carbon savings without waiting for a federal scheme. Launched early last year, it recognised the growing credibility gap around carbon claims and so included verification of carbon credits and offset products.
The operations manager in Treasury’s sustainability, government services group has helped the government take a leadership position by making 16 buildings available for measurable energy and water conservation under the Clinton Climate Change Initiative. The energy performance contracting model could act as a guide for other public and private building portfolio holders.
The partner at Baker & McKenzie's Global Climate Change Practice has lead thinking and development of the CDM Rulebook, a comprehensive online database for the rules surrounding the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) under the Kyoto Protocol. Curnow headed the multilateral initiative designed to fill a significant global gap in public resources on the CDM.
Dave Holland has been developing solar concentrator PV technology for 16 years and as MD of Solar Systems has been a tireless promoter of large-scale solar energy in Australia. He also places a high priority on community and environmental corporate responsibility, which includes bringing solar energy to remote indigenous communities.
Mark Kelleher is MD of Roaring 40s, which is growing to become one of the leading renewable energy business in Asia and Oceania, investing, developing and operating renewable energy assets in Australia and NZ, but particularly China and India. Kelleher was previously GM, renewables development for Hydro Tasmania, where he worked for 12 years and put Tasmania’s wind resource on the map.
Roger Olds is MD of engineering and environment consultancy Coffey International and has a strong handle on the business of energy and carbon reduction. He was chair of the Export Task Force of the Barton Group, which aimed to develop export opportunities for the environment industry. He is one of Engineers Australia’s Top 100 influential engineers.
Professor Alan Pears has been a fearless supporter of commercial and domestic energy efficiency, working for community groups, government and the private sector since the late 1970s. He has been involved in building energy and environmental rating and regulation, educational software, green appliance development, industrial and business energy management and policy analysis.
By signing the Kyoto Protocol, Kevin Rudd has sent a clear statement Australia is serious about addressing dangerous climate change. At a practical level, it has flagged to business leaders that carbon is an issue that needs to be considered seriously and will strengthen sectors involved in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
David Shapero established Future Energy with the goal to develop small renewable energy projects with individuals and communities within Australia. The company developed Australia's first community owned wind farm in Hepburn Springs, Victoria, which was also the pilot wind farm project to test the Certified Wind Farms Australia accreditation process.
As executive GM, generation and SEA gas, Andrew Stock has been a heavyweight in renewable energy for some time. He has been one of the driving forces in commercialising Origin Energy’s “sliver cell” in Australia, building a pilot plant in South Australia. He serves on numerous committees and think tanks.
While many people in industry have been the target of the head of the Total Environment Centre over 30 years, Jeff Angel commands respect as a formidable campaigner. His impact on legislation to control everything from preservation of forests to lead in petrol is far-reaching and largely unattributed. The TEC’s regular Green Capital events are the leading forum bringing business, government and NGOs together.
Flannery's profile was only raised by being named Australian of the Year in 2007, but he was already a recognised authority on Australia's environmental problems. He appeals to the public in that bearded, authoritative scientist kind of way and has used his public profile to open boardroom and cabinet doors. Once seated at the table he has worked hard to convince the occupants of the need to act, and soon.
Tim Grant all but created the use of life cycle assessment in Australia. In 1996 he joined RMIT’s Centre for Design and took over LCA program, first developing inventory databases and then applying them across a broad range of sectors. He was founding president of the Australian LCA Society in 2002 and remains an acknowledged leader in the field.
One of the longest serving academics on sustainability in Australia, Ronnie Harding has combined a flair for education with real-world experience for some 30 years. She is on numerous boards, councils and advisory bodies in the public sector, industry and environmental organisations, including WWF Australia. She is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.
As executive director of one of Australia’s best known conservation organisations for more than a decade, Don Henry has had a profound impact on negotiations in political circles to apply resources to protect the environment. He has skillfully used media combined with negotiation to ensure issues such as the status of the Murray Darling, remnant forest and biodiversity are regular talking points in Australia.
News Corporation reaches a global audience of billions through its network of media outlets, making its influence over policy, politics and business almost unparalleled. Thanks then to James Murdoch for influencing his father Rupert to announce News Corp will be carbon neutral by 2010. After taking News subsidiary BSkyB under his control and going carbon neutral, he's back in the News Corp sphere overseeing the Asian and European operations.
The National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development has been running since 2000, bringing together business and green thinkers. Harriss Olson, once executive director of Bill Clinton’s President’s Council on Sustainable Development, is behind these innovative forums and this year has managed to convince Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to address the assembled. And there’s nothing business leaders like so much as mixing it with other leaders.
An innovator in environmental education and community engagement, Les Robinson has spent over 10 years creating and implementing social marketing and education programs for government, councils, business and community organisations. Much of that time was spent with Social Change Media in Sydney, where he developed programs such as the EcoLiving program for the NSW Government and the EcoSmart business network strategy in Wollongong.
Matthew Warren, who has been the environment journalist at The Australian since 2006, has challenged environmentalists and the environment industry with his "contrarian" attitudes and writings. The former policy adviser with the Australian Food and Grocery Council and latterly the NSW Minerals Council pushes the industry to question its own orthodoxies and be rigorous in its arguments.
Dr Shi Zhengrong has taken a sustainable solar cell technology and developed it into a product that can be mass produced. Dr Shi is an Australian citizen, albeit living much of his time in China where his company is the leading producer of solar cells. He will have a major impact on delivering technology to change energy use at a household level worldwide.
Ian Coles – ex-EcoRecycle Victoria
Francis Grey – Sustainable Asset Management
Chris Hertle – GHD
Murray Hogarth – Ecos Corp
Greg Leslie – University of NSW
Maree McCaskill – Banksia Foundation
Peter Moser – ex-Business SA
Sara Phillips – G Magazine
Mohan Seneviratne – ex-Sydney Water
Peter Shmigel – Parker & Partners
Fiona Wain – Environment Business Australia
Ron Wainberg – Hyder Consulting
Gavin Williams – Packaging Council of Australia