Who should attend

• Executives and senior leaders in business, government and not-for-profit who are responsible for, or directly involved in, delivering their organisation’s net zero strategy.
• Leaders who want to upskill and accelerate their organisation’s transition to net zero.
• Experienced professionals in leadership roles.

What you will learn

Why join our Executive Leadership Program?

• Navigate the Net Zero Landscape With Confidence
  Gain the skills to cut through the complexity of net zero. Explore the “why” behind net zero goals, the solutions and technologies that support them, and how to translate insight into strategy.
• Turn Net Zero Expertise into Career Advantage
  Net zero is no longer a future issue – it’s changing careers now. Build the knowledge and leadership skills to thrive in a low-carbon economy, and leverage this expertise for career progression.
• Learn from Industry Experts
  Gain first-hand insight from industry leaders who have turned climate ambition into action. Through face-to-face learning, explore real-world case studies and global best practice.
• Lead Your Organisation’s Net Zero Transition
  Move from targets to implementation by embedding net zero into the systems, processes and culture of your organisation. Develop the skills to engage stakeholders, drive behavioural change, and deliver long-term impact.
• Join a Community of Net Zero Leaders
  Learn alongside senior leaders from across sectors who are tackling the net zero transition in real time. Develop meaningful, lasting connections through a collaborative cohort and continue the conversation through an active alumni network.
• Turn Net Zero Action Into Competitive Advantage
  Net zero is often framed as a cost or compliance burden, but in practice it can be harnessed as a strategic opportunity. Learn how to use net zero to unlock innovation, access new markets, and ensure your organisation stands out in its sector.

Program structure

Day 1: Net Zero in Context

Understand the latest trends, drivers and evidence for net zero.

Day 2: The Transition to Net Zero

Explore what the transition to net zero looks like and the implications for economies, sectors and organisations.

Day 3: The Net Zero Opportunity

Develop or refine a credible transition plan and identify opportunities to thrive in a net zero future.

Day 4: Change-Making for Net Zero

Embed net zero into your organisation and unlock change.

Testimonials

"The facilitators and the industry experts that have given time to this program and designed the content have been exceptional. They have a fantastic natural ability to convey what needs to be done, how to do it, and how to strive for success."

"If you do anything, do this program. I can't think of anything else that's more relevant and contemporary and necessary… This program really arms you with what you need to have the confidence to start to take action."

"One of the things from the program that's really stuck with me is that we're the first generation to really understand climate change and the last generation to actually be able to do something about it... As business leaders, we've got a role to play and the time to lead is now."

Program speakers and contributors

Learn face-to-face from expert leaders in sustainability and industry.

Featured Experts & Course Facilitators

Our facilitators are drawn from this group of experts, with teaching teams and industry speakers varying by delivery.

Holly Dillabough
Senior Lecturer
Sustainable Development Education

Holly is a Senior Lecturer in the Sustainable Development Education team, where she leads the professional education portfolio including the Net Zero Academy. Through transformative education informed by the latest research and industry needs, she builds capability across leaders and organisations to shape and accelerate sustainability transitions. Drawing on sustainability expertise and experience working across government, not‑for‑profit and corporate sectors, Holly oversees the development and facilitation of applied executive and professional learning programs. She also teaches across the Monash Business School, empowering future business leaders with the skills needed to drive, and thrive in, a resilient, low‑carbon future. Holly holds a Master of Environment (University of Melbourne) and a Bachelor of Biology specialising in ecology (Laurentian University).

Elspeth Taylor
Program Manager
Climateworks Centre

Part of Climateworks Centre’s Capacity Building team, Elspeth works with the experts within Monash University to design and deliver professional education experiences that equip participants with the skills, knowledge and mindsets to take action in the transition to a Net Zero world. Elspeth’s background is in Change Management, working with PricewaterhouseCoopers to provide businesses and governments with strategic advice and implementation using a people-first framework. Prior to joining Climateworks Centre, Elspeth was a Strategic Designer and Project Manager at leading social enterprise STREAT. Here, Elspeth developed her passion for inclusive, accessible and engaging facilitation and education practice, using Trauma-Informed Design principles. Elspeth holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Business (Management) from Monash University.

Will Lewis
Project Advisor
Climateworks Centre

Working within Climateworks Centre’s Capacity Building team, Will supports the corporate sector to understand why decarbonisation is critical and how to turn commitments into action. His role provides a range of high-level project coordination, research and education content development services to support the end-to-end delivery of projects within Climateworks’ capacity building and education program. Will began his career in education working as a primary school teacher – both in Australia and abroad. He later moved into the world of sustainable international development, providing program and partnerships coordination for the Australian Volunteers Program (managed by AVI). Will holds a Master of Environment with University of Melbourne, and a Bachelor of Education from Deakin University.

Tom Rochford
Associate Director
KPMG Australia

Tom provides sustainability, climate risk and decarbonisation advisory services to a wide range of major clients across a range of industries. He has worked on climate scenario analysis, climate risk assessments, sustainability benchmarking, developing sustainability related policies, and sustainability strategy. Currently, he is spending a lot of time with organisations understanding the impacts of the incoming mandatory reporting requirements being driven by the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards. He has been providing assurance to large financial services companies over their annual TCFD disclosures, Net Zero Banking Alliance targets and financed emissions calculations, as well as providing multiple ASX listed companies with TCFD gap analysis and draft disclosures for their annual reports. Tom is an admitted lawyer to the Supreme Court of Victoria, and previously served as a non-executive director for Bendigo Bank’s Kew East Community branch.

Michael Li
Research Strategy Lead
Climateworks Centre

Michael leads the Research, Analysis and Modelling team that provides strategic direction on research practice at Climateworks Centre. He provides independent and objective advice on how to develop, interpret and translate analytical outputs to deliver strategic outcomes. He also leads Climateworks’ modelling advisory projects with partners including CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. In 2017–18, Michael managed the Built to Perform initiative in collaboration with industry and government. This resulted in a once-in-a-decade reform of Australian building energy regulations, and his recognition as Young Energy Efficiency Professional of the Year at the 2018 National Energy Efficiency Awards. Michael led a multidisciplinary team to deliver the Climateworks Centre Decarbonisation Scenarios 2023, currently the preeminent non-government evidence base cited by the Australian public and private sectors for setting climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement. For seven months over 2024–25, Michael acted as Head of Strategy on Climateworks’ executive leadership team. Before joining Climateworks in 2017, Michael worked as a sustainability consultant at global engineering consultancy AECOM. Michael holds Bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering (with honours) and applied mathematics from the University of Melbourne and a Master’s degree in sustainable development from the University of Cambridge. He is currently studying an online Master of Business Administration specialising in digital transformation at RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology).

Shirin Malakpour
Associate Professor, Politics & International Relations
Monash University

Shirin Malekpour is Associate Professor in sustainability governance. As a social scientist, her work is dedicated to improving long-term policy making and governance for sustainable development. In recent years, her research has centred on governance through goals, exploring the potential of goal-based frameworks (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) to drive policy and institutional change in different contexts. Throughout her academic career, Shirin has led complex transdisciplinary programs on localising the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), collaborative governance, futures thinking and scenario planning. She has published in renowned journals, including Nature, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications and Science. Shirin is a scientific advisor to the UN on sustainable development. She was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as one of the 15 members of the Independent Group of Scientists, tasked with writing the 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy – flagship publication of the C40 initiative. She also co-leads a working group on sub-national SDG implementation in the Earth System Governance Network. She advises governments and industries in Australia and internationally on processes of strategic planning for sustainable development. Shirin has an interdisciplinary background with a PhD in Sociology (Monash University – Australia), a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering (Delft University of Technology – the Netherlands) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (the University of Tehran – Iran). Prior to her academic career, she worked in large water and wastewater infrastructure projects across Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, Shirin was recognised as one of the top 25 young scientists in the world in the field of sustainable development and received the international Green Talents award.

Mark Boulet
Environment Portfolio Lead
BehaviourWorks Australia

Dr Boulet is the lead of the BehaviourWorks AustraliaEnvironment Portfolio, looking after a team of researchers that apply behavioural science principles to issues such as circular economy and responsible consumption, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, and natural disaster response. As Senior Research Fellow, Mark has worked on a wide spectrum of environmental projects for government and community sector organisations including the Victorian Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA), the NSW Office of Energy and Climate Change (OECC), and the New Zealand Ministry of Environment. He has led our long running focus on household food waste through partnerships with OzHarvest, NSW EPA and Stop Food Waste Australia, developing state-based and national food waste behaviour change campaigns. Mark's Phd research at Monash University developed a multi-level framework of household food waste and consumer behaviour. He also has a Masters of Environmental Science from Monash and his undergraduate studies were at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University.

for any additional information please contact MSDI-NetZeroAcademy@monash.edu