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Latest Sustainable Development Goals Progress Report
Monash Progress Report 2021 – Goal 7

Monash Progress Report 2021 – Goal 7

Monash University Progress Report 2021 on the Sustainable Development Goals

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Research

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Monash Energy Institute View

Monash Energy Institute is working to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable energy future by fostering and facilitating impactful interdisciplinary research, in collaboration with its trusted partners. The Institute has been instrumental in harnessing the university’s research capital and capabilities to deliver transformative initiatives such as the Net Zero Initiative, the Grid Innovation Hub and the Woodside Monash Energy Partnership. They are connecting leading educators and researchers with industry to offer joint PhD scholarships, to facilitate problem-solving, innovation and commercialisation in the energy sector, and also helping align educational goals with the sector’s current and future needs.

RACE for 2030 Cooperative Research Centre View

Monash is the lead Victorian research institution in the Coorperative Research Centre (CRC) for Reliable Affordable Clean Energy (RACE) for 2030. The CRC is addresses one of Australia’s major challenges – delivering reliable, affordable and clean energy services for consumers and businesses. A cross-disciplinary partnership between the Faculty of Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Monash Business School, the Monash Grid Innovation Hub, Monash Sustainable Development Institute and the Monash Energy Institute is working to amplify Monash’s research impact in the energy sector. Monash is also leading the RACE for Networks program, which is working to optimise Australia’s electricity grid through customer distributed energy resources and network integration.

Demand management opportunities report View

The ways that households contribute to, and impact on, Australia’s energy system are diversifying. In 2021, Larissa Nicholls, Industry Research Fellow with the Emerging Technologies Lab Digital Energy Futures project, led a new report that identifies opportunities for better energy management to address lifestyle changes in Australian households.

2021 Publications Performance View

Mean Field Weighted Citation Impact of Monash Outputs: 1.98

Number of Monash Research Outputs: 263

Education

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Chloe Munro scholarship for transformational leadership View

In 2021 the Monash Energy Institute together with clean energy partners launched the Chloe Munro scholarship for transformational leadership in recognition of the legacy of the late Chloe Munro AO, to continue her legacy and to support the next female leaders in Australia. The scholarship is open to emerging and mid-level female leaders in the fields of renewable energy, energy management and carbon abatement.

Unit statistics and highlights View

In 2021, 75 units directly related to SDG7 were offered across Monash University, with a total enrolment of 3,538 students.

The units highlighted below are a small sample of the units at Monash relating to affordable and clean energy:

ENE2021 Energy and the environment
MEC6885 Energy efficiency and sustainability engineering
MEC5888 Renewable energy systems
ENS5320 Climate change, energy and human security

Engagement

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Microgrid Toolbox View

In 2021, Monash University released a suite of interactive resources to support the implementation of microgrids in commercial, industrial and community settings in Victoria, partly funded by the Victorian government’s Microgrid Demonstration Initiative. The Microgrid Electricity Market Operator (MEMO) ‘Toolbox’ comprises a step-by-step journey on how to develop a microgrid – from planning to operations – to help guide precincts, businesses and communities through the process. The toolbox was based on Monash’s own experience in developing a microgrid for our Clayton campus. Monash is now supporting businesses and councils across Victoria to increase uptake of microgrids.

Monash Energy Institute Webinar Series View

The Monash Energy Institute hosted 13 webinars in 2021 as part of its ongoing webinar series. The webinars aim to engage a broader community on the progress made to solve industry energy challenges, showcase innovations, solutions and build new collaborations for a greener future. Each webinar focuses on research to get better business models, better technologies, better solutions allowing the acceleration of our energy transition to a low carbon economy. All the recordings are freely available on the Monash Energy You Tube channel.

Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT) View

In March 2021, Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with Monash University, released Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT), an open-source economic model that maps the economic viability of hydrogen operations across Australia. HEFT is designed to support implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy, and will support policymakers and investors to make decisions on the location of new infrastructure and the development of hydrogen hubs in Australia.

ASEAN Green Future project View

The ASEAN Green Future project is a collaboration between the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Climateworks Centre at Monash University, the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development at Sunway University, and five national research groups from across Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Thailand). The project aims to demonstrate how sustainable, decarbonized economies offer enhanced economic development and more resilient futures for the region. In 2021, the project released the Phase 1 reports, including a report for each country presenting priorities and actions to date, and key technology and policy opportunities to further advance domestic climate action, as well as a synthesis report, The agenda for decarbonizing ASEAN.

Zero Emissions Solutions Conference (ZESC) View

Monash collaborated with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and other partners to organise the Zero Emissions Solutions Conference in parallel to COP26 in November 2021. The five day online event brought together 74 global technical experts and world-leading scientists, engineers, and innovators from business, academia, and civil society to share knowledge and showcase solutions to maximise climate commitments in the wake of the Paris Agreement. The conference welcomed over 2,000 participants from 104 countries.

Monash-ENGIE Alliance View

In 2021, Monash University and global energy company ENGIE announced the Monash-ENGIE Alliance, a long-term collaboration until 2030 to advance Monash’s UN award-winning Net Zero Initiative. A core element of the Alliance is the Net Zero Solutions Fund to which Monash and ENGIE will contribute in order to develop new solutions to help precincts and cities achieve net zero.

An example of the Alliance in action is the the Net Zero Precinct ARC Linkage project, led by the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI) in collaboration with Monash Art, Design and Architecture, the Faculty of Information Technology, the Faculty of Arts and ENGIE Research. The project will help cities and urban regions reach net zero emissions by using design anthropology to engage with the precinct community.

State of Energy Research Conference 2021 View

The Monash Energy Institute hosted the 2021 State of Energy Research Conference, which provided a snapshot of current innovations, articulated research impact, and showcased collaborations to enable Australia’s sustainable, reliable, affordable, and fair energy transition. The conference was aimed at researchers, decision-makers in Federal and State governments, industry professionals, consultants, NGOs, and anyone with an interest in energy sector research.

Net Zero Universities View

Monash is sharing our practical decarbonisation expertise with tertiary and other sectors on how to achieve carbon neutrality. Monash is a member of the International Universities Climate Alliance, we are one of more than 1000 universities in the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and a founding member of the recently-announced World Alliance of Universities on Carbon Neutrality (WAUCN).

Our Net Zero Universities initiative complements and extends the work of these important alliances. It provides a tangible goal for a network of universities across the globe to put net zero into action, and lead the way by showing how our own campuses can be net zero models.

Supply chain solutions for critical minerals View

During 2021, Austrade, the Australia India Chamber of Commerce (AICC), Monash University and MinterEllison conducted a workshop series, comprising four sessions. The objective was to bring together stakeholders from government, industry, corporate and research sectors across the regions, to work through the opportunities and the challenges involved in building an additional and diversified supply chain for critical minerals. In December 2021, Monash Energy Institute and Critical Minerals Consortium were among the partners who co-hosted the Australian-Japan Symposium to learn about key risks and opportunities for lithium battery production supply chains.

Operations

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Net Zero Initiative View

In 2017, Monash University made a commitment to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2030. Our award winning Net Zero Initiative aims to facilitate the transition to an energy-efficient, renewable energy-powered future by transforming and utilising campus assets and to date have invested $37 million in capital upgrades to reduce our energy usage and carbon emissions and have made significant progress against our targets.

Net Zero Buildings View

To prepare ourselves for the move to 100 per cent renewable energy, we're re-thinking the design of our new buildings and retro-fitting our old buildings to be state-of-the-art spaces for comfort and performance. Our new buildings are all electric with roof top solar, designed to Passive House principles to achieve low energy demands and high occupant comfort. We have also set a target for all existing campus buildings to be electrified by by 2030.

Energy Use Intensity View

We have reduced our energy intensity (GJ/m2) by 24 percent between 2015 to 2021.

energy intensity graph

Divestment from fossil fuels View

Monash has a policy to divest from fossil fuels and this commitment was formalised in our first ESG statement launched in December 2016. Progress reports were published in 2018 and 2021. Our new ESG statement launched in Oct 2021 reaffirms this commitment. Monash was first University to sign UNPRI in 2017.