The Australia Sustainability Conference and Exhibition was an inaugural event held 8 and 9 November 2012 in Sydney, organised by REED Exhibitions, to highlight the growing opportunities and challenges in sustainability in Australia.

The conference was a partner with the BPN Sustainability Awards for 2012, which were announced November 8. http://bpn.com.au/news/sustainability-awards-royal-childre

The conference focused entirely on business, government and civil society learnings across a range of sectors including building and construction, business strategy, energy and technology, water and waste, transport and logistics.

Over the two-days more than 150 leaders and media within business, government and sustainability gathered to listen to four in-depth keynote talks and remarks, participate in 15 panel sessions and, meet over 30 exhibitors.

Below are two sessions that fielded strong interest from the building and construction sector:

Panel Case Study: Barangaroo Development, Thursday 8 November

An honest appraisal of the challenges and opportunities of a carbon neutral, sustainable development project were discussed by Anita Mitchell, General Manager, Barangaroo South for Lend Lease.

To keep the development in line with global best practice, Lend Lease stretched themselves, through a range of commercial deals over a long gestation period.

Tony Watson, Sustainability Manager for Barangaroo reminded businesses of the importance of resilience during large-scale projects, “You still don't give up on the various aspirations, ensure that you keep your mind on the big stuff that is still there.”

Managing risk was also a significant part of the panel discussion with Tim Elgood for ARUP pressing that risk can be mitigated, and targets and achievements met through simple checks and stakeholder engagement.

Looking to the future, Lend Lease hopes that if Australia becomes 100% renewable energy, that the funds saved can be used for other initiatives, such as social programs.

 

Building a Resilient Country Through Corporate Ingenuity, Thursday 8 November

Identifying emerging mega trends was the key focus for this panel session, with Maria Atkinson, Immediate Past Global Head of Sustainability for Lend Lease leading the charge with the recognising of social relationships and the role it will play in Australia’s future.

Ms Atkinson elaborated with the difference between ingenuity and innovation, and how this was a trend that was affecting business leadership. Further more, there was a call for authentic leadership, a drive for talent and collaboration as the new way of doing business in Australia.

Pooran Desai, Co-founder of BioRegional UK also noted the mega trend of collaboration, but said the biggest mega trend is the rapid growth of change that is seen globally. Organisations and businesses need to be collaborative rather than competitive in their approach.

The panel also highlighted that environmentalists are not anti-economics, in fact, there is a drive for a very healthy economy, but it is complex and must rise from intellect and ingenuity.

This session also heard from Dr Stephan Hajkowicz, Leader – CSIRO Futures and was moderated by Andrew Petersen, CEO for Sustainability Business Australia.

For further details on other panel sessions, speaker and exhibition interview opportunities go to:

 

Day One: www.australiansustainability.com.au/en/conference/day-one/

Day Two: www.australiansustainability.com.au/en/conference/day-two/

Exhibitors: www.australiansustainability.com.au/en/for-visitors/exhibitor-directory/#