In the third episode of Navigating to Net Zero, host Rebecca Darst talks with Caroline Morris, KCOM’s Head of Wellbeing, Health, Safety, and Sustainability, and Louisa Harris-Baxter, Vocus’s Head of ESG, about how the companies are balancing increased demand for their services with their decarbonisation goals.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Why data centres have earned a reputation as the “bad boy of emissions” for technology and telecom companies and what can be done about it
- The strategies KCOM is using to cut emissions in the short term, such as its One Network Project, and what level of reduction the company hopes to achieve
- The use of innovative network infrastructure at Vocus to provide services to Australia’s remote areas and what renewable technology the company is testing to reduce emissions in those areas
- Vocus’s net zero strategy and the incorporation of managing emissions not just on land, but from under the sea as well
In our second episode, host Rebecca Darst talks with David Tobin, Beauparc's Circular Economy and Sustainability Director, about the various commercial opportunities they see in waste, and the value of going from refuse to reuse.
David Tobin explains how:
- The founder took one waste collection vehicle and turned it into a leader in industrial repurposing and recycling that today manages four million metric tons of material.
- The company is taking discarded wood from demolished houses and discarded furniture and making new products out of it. Beauparc is focused on resource recovery, repurposing materials to create resalable materials rather than paying to dispose of them.
- Despite the company’s circular economy focus and innovative efforts to reuse and recycle, the process generates significant emissions, which makes this industry’s journey to net zero so challenging.
- BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone) is the new NIMBY. Everyone knows we need waste processing, but nobody wants it near them.
© 2023 Macquarie Group Limited
In our first episode, Ben Way, Group Head of Macquarie Asset Management, and Mark Dooley, Global Head of Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group (GIG), join host Rebecca Darst to discuss the climate imperative, how Macquarie is driving practical climate solutions across its global business, and the role of GIG accelerating the energy transition.
Hear them explain how:
- geopolitical and macroeconomic events during the past year have affected net zero projections and planning; the effects of climate change seem to be happening faster than predicted; and what it takes to make short-term adjustments
- the firm is working with portfolio companies to measure and verify their baseline emissions, identify abatement measures, and mobilise capital and resources
- by investing responsibly and following the firm’s purpose statement, Macquarie Asset Management is driving practical climate solutions and GIG is playing a role in accelerating the energy transition
- the work is not easy and it is important to share the scale and complexity of the journey, as the series shares insights from the people on the ground who are leading the charge despite varied challenges posed by the industries and regions in which they operate.
© 2023 Macquarie Group Limited
