Wednesday 29 June 2022 – 15:30 – 17:00 AEST
MC: Professor Hugh Possingham
Panellists: Prof Brendan Mackey, Assoc. Prof. Rowena Maguire, Prof John Quiggin, Prof Andrew Macintosh
The Queensland Decarbonisation Forum 2022 will bring together experts from academia, governments, and industries to accelerate Queensland’s efforts to achieve its renewable energy and emission reduction targets and establish Queensland as the national leader in low-carbon industries, technologies, policies, programs, and practices. The aim is to leverage the scientific, technological, organisational, and convening capabilities of Queensland universities in support of accelerated action to transition Queensland to a prosperous zero-net emissions economy.
Biographies:
Professor Hugh Possingham – Queensland Chief Scientist, Department of Environment and Science
Professor Hugh Possingham became Queensland Chief Scientist in September 2020. He is a conservation scientist and mathematician who has held positions in the university, public and not-for profit sectors. He is a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He completed his PhD at Oxford University in 1987 as a Rhodes Scholar. After postdocs at Stanford and Australian National University he became the inaugural Professor and Chair of Environmental Sciences at The University of Adelaide in 1995. His 20 year career at The University of Queensland includes periods as Australian Research Council Professorial, Federation and Laureate Fellows and directorship of a Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. He has supervised over 200 honours students, doctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows. In 2016 he became the Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organisation operating in 79 countries. According to the Web of Science he has published >650 peer-reviewed publications, >30 in Nature and Science; Google scholar h-index >130.
Prof Don Butler is an ecologist and biogeographer working to improve landscape management through evidence-based policy, regulation, and market-based incentives. Don worked for many years inside the Queensland Government on biodiversity information and its application to land management issues such as tree clearing policy and regulation. He has been closely involved in the development of carbon farming in Australia since 2011, including as inaugural Chief Scientist in Queensland’s Land Restoration Fund where he developed standards for verification of co-benefits from carbon projects. Don is currently supporting the Commonwealth Government’s development of biodiversity stewardship initiatives for Australian agriculture, including delivery of environmental planting programs for carbon and biodiversity, and Australia’s farm biodiversity certification scheme
Dr Rowena Maguire, School of Law at QUT
Dr Rowena Maguire is an Associate Professor in the School of Law at QUT and the Program Leader of the Environmental and Social Governance Research Group at QUT. Rowena’s research interests, publications and projects focus on climate and environmental regulation with a particular focus on the forest and agricultural sectors informed by feminist and regulatory theory. Rowena is currently working on two research programs: one stream focuses on climate and disaster governance and examines the structural injustices arising in the implementation of the Paris Agreement funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Centre for Justice, QUT. The second programme of work focuses on the social and environmental issues associated with the fashion industry with projects funded by the Cotton Research Development Corporation, Australian Retailers Association and the Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment.
Professor Brendan Mackey, Director, Climate Action Beacon, Griffith University
Prof Brendan Mackey is Director of the Climate Action Beacon at Griffith University. The Beacon is working with government agencies through the Queensland Climate Ready Initiative which is identifying climate-related risks and how these can be incorporated into their enterprise risk management frameworks. Brendan was a Coordinating Lead Author for the recently released IPCC 6th Assessment Report. He currently serves on the Queensland Government’s Timber Advisory Panel. Brendan has published extensively in the fields of ecosystem-based mitigation and adaptation, forest carbon, ecosystem service valuation and related policy issues.
Professor John Quiggin, School of Economics, University of Queensland
John Quiggin is a Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland. He is a prominent research economist and commentator on Australian and international economic policy. He has produced over 2,000 publications, including seven books and over 300 refereed journal articles, in fields including decision theory, environmental economics and industrial organization. He is an active contributor to Australian public debate in a wide range of traditional and social media.