Go back to participant listing Greg Lavery Biography: Dr Greg Lavery is a manager in Origin Energy's Renewable Energy division. His background includes strategy consulting, engineering and a PhD on the subject of green buildings. Greg has worked in England, Hong Kong and Sweden. Greg's passion is delivering win-win solutions that increase company profitability while improving the environment and the community. Aspirations for Australia and Desired Means to Acheive Them In my lifetime I hope that Australia can achieve 2 things:
1. Our strengths as a nation Australia's mineral and land resources were largely the basis for Australia's wealth creation in the 19th and 20th centuries. Over the last two centuries, Australians have developed their own intrinsic strengths on which we can build future economic and social wealth creation. These strengths are innovation and creativity. We are not, for example, manufacturers, so we should not try to be - especially when this is a strength of many of our Asian neighbours. How can we create wealth from these strengths? We need to acknowledge them, grow and export them. Consider, for example, where creativity emerges. It starts with schooling, is enhanced in tertiary education and emerges in research, the workplace and in backyard sheds. We need to recognise this and ensure that these institutions are attuned to and supporting the emergence of innovation and creativity. Ideas are not sufficient. Their commercialisation, implementation, financing, and manufacturing are what create wealth. These are not our strengths so we must efficiently access them from nations for whom these are strengths. This is not new thinking* - it just needs to be addressed. I am fortunate to have a professional role that allows me to contribute to this - helping Australian innovation through the commercialisation phases and into the global market. 2. Avoiding Catastrophic Climate Change I worry that climate change will cause catastrophic changes to our world - displacement of populations, more frequent storm and flood events, extinction of species, disappearance of landscapes, and desertification. It has been estimated that emissions need to be cut by 60% by 2050 to stabilise emissions concentration levels in the atmosphere and I believe that we should now begin to address this because it is the responsibility of our generation. I believe that the solutions are threefold. First, the community must be educated to recognise that they are responsible for the emissions. Reduction in use, energy efficient appliances (and cars), purchasing Green Power, using solar hot water and electricity are all decisions that the individual can make to reduce climate change. Secondly, the innovation and creativity of Australians needs to be brought to bear on this matter and supported. Thirdly, it is the role of the government to act for the benefit of all Australians by applying a cost on greenhouse gas emissions to cover the costs resulting from the impacts of the emissions - which the market otherwise fails to acknowledge. It is proposed that a national emissions trading scheme would be a suitable market-based mechanism to do this. In my professional life I am working to commercialise low emission technologies and build business strategies that account for the risks of climate change and therefore chart a more sustainable course. * Eg Michael Porter, Competitive Advantage of Nations |