Just Transitions in Australia Webinar Series
Just Transitions in Australia: Moving Towards Low Carbon Lives Across Policy, Industry and Practice
A transition to a low-carbon economy is perhaps nowhere more crucial or contested than in Australia, a continent on the front line of global heating and climate change-induced bushfires, drought, flash floods and extreme temperatures. The heavy reliance on extractive industries for coal and minerals exposes some of the political and structural lock-ins to highly carbonised industries and lifestyles.
This three part webinar series is funded by the British Academy Just Transitions project and brought to you by the Royal Holloway University of London (RHUL) and Monash University.
The Just Transitions in Australia report aggregates new and existing research to examine actual, possible, partial and failed, examples of ‘just transitions’ across multiple sectoral and societal domains (work, energy and industry, mobility, home, technologies). The project builds on a research partnership between Royal Holloway University of London, Monash and a wider network of researchers and advisors in Australia to examine ‘just transitions’ to decarbonisation.
This webinar series will present an overview of the Just Transitions in Australia project. Researchers from the project will outline the ways that the report identifies, collates and examines different examples of ‘just transition’, cases of good and bad practice, and evaluates their transferability. Key industry experts and policy makers will be invited to respond to the findings of the draft report.
Webinar 1: Just Transitions in Australia: Moving Towards Low Carbon Lives Across Policy, Industry and Practice
A transition to a low-carbon economy is perhaps nowhere more crucial or contested than in Australia, a continent on the front line of global heating and climate change-induced bushfires, drought, flash floods and extreme temperatures. The heavy reliance on extractive industries for coal and minerals exposes some of the political and structural lock-ins to highly carbonised industries and lifestyles.
The Just Transitions in Australia report aggregates new and existing research to examine actual, possible, partial and failed, examples of ‘just transitions’ across multiple sectoral and societal domains (work, energy and industry, mobility, home, technologies). The project builds on a research partnership between Royal Holloway University of London, Monash and a wider network of researchers and advisors in Australia to examine ‘just transitions’ to decarbonisation.
This webinar, the first in a series of three, will present an overview of the Just Transitions in Australia project. Professor Peter Adey (Royal Holloway University of London) will outline the ways that the report identifies, collates and examines different examples of ‘just transition’, cases of good and bad practice, and evaluates their transferability. Panellists Felicity Wade (from The Hunter Jobs Alliance), Reuben Berg (from RJHB Consulting), Janet Hunt (from ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research), have been invited to respond to the findings of the draft report.
Panellists
Chair: John Thwaites, Chair of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and ClimateWorks Australia
Researcher: Pete Adey, Royal Holloway University of London
Panellists: Felicity Wade, The Hunter Jobs Alliance
Reuben Berg, RJHB Consulting
Janet Hunt, ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
Thursday 3rd March 7pm [AEDT]
Hosted by Monash Sustainable Development Institute
Webinar 2 - Prospects for just low-carbon energy, home, and mobility futures
The second in our series on Just Transitions in Australia, this webinar explores the changes that would be needed across overlapping domains of energy, home, and mobility to achieve a socially just transition to decarbonisation. A narrow focus on the technological substitution of fossil fuels for electric and renewable alternatives undermines the real need to reimagine energy, housing and mobility systems and technologies. Attention to accessibility, participation, and the fair distribution of costs and benefits highlights the value of local collective action and improved public services.
What steps do we need to take to find a viable and just way forward? What can be learned from existing decarbonisation efforts across government, civil society, the private sector and everyday life realities. The panel will discuss these questions and reflect on emerging pathways for just energy, home, and mobility futures in Australia and beyond.
Panellists
Chair: Rob Raven, Monash Sustainable Development Institute
Researcher: Paris Hadfield, Monash Sustainable Development Institute
Panellists: Lynne Gallagher, Energy Consumers Australia
Kellie Caught, Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS)
Tim Schwanen, University of Oxford
Thursday 10th March, 7pm [AEDT]
Hosted by the Monash Energy Institute
Webinar 3 - Just Transitions and the Future of Technology and Work
Australia is confronting three dramatic transformations: a technology transformation towards digital, automated and connected t systems; a looming transition to a decarbonised way of life or ‘net zero’; and a changing form of work and labour in many key industries including energy, mining and agriculture.
Can these processes work in tandem? Where are they in tension? and how will they impact the labour market and training for Australians? What would Just Transitions look like in this context?
Panellists
Chair: Sarah Pink
Researcher: Adam Badger (work) Ben Lyall (tech)
Lars Coenen, Western Norway University of Applied Science in Bergen
David Bissell, University of Melbourne
Christine Parker, University of Melbourne
17th March, 7pm [AEDT]
Hosted by the Faculty of Information Technology