Climate Integrity Summit 2023
Will Australia’s climate targets have integrity? Are we set for a green investment boom or greenwash?
The Australia Institute’s Climate Integrity Summit 2023 featured leading experts in economics, ecology, policy and governance, along with key parliamentarians and journalists, discussing the ethics, economics and risks of fraudulent net-zero claims, overreliance on carbon offsets and policy that serves the fossil fuel industry rather than the climate.
We need to ensure Australia’s emissions reduction policies can and do legitimately reduce emissions.
Speeches and Panel Recordings
Opening Remarks | Dr Richard Denniss
“There’s probably no greater test of our integrity as individuals, or as communities, than climate action.”
The dangers of overreliance on carbon offsets | Dr Bill Hare
“Australia had developed a reputation for questionable integrity, one which the Albanese Government has well and truly begun to put behind us. However, the government’s proposed approach to offsetting under the Safeguard Mechanism risks winding this situation back.”
What is Climate Integrity? | Polly Hemming
“Australia’s biggest polluters have set net zero targets while telling shareholders their fossil fuel production is increasing. We have been given the exhausting and impossible task of deciphering whether the claims made by industry, banks and governments are consistent with their actions. Climate integrity is the antidote to Australia’s state-sponsored greenwash.”
Climate integrity as a function of democratic integrity | Panel discussion
Featuring:
- The Hon Anthony Whealy KC, Former Judge of the NSW Court of Appeal, Chair of the National Integrity Committee
- Dr Monique Ryan MP, Independent Member for Kooyong
- Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre
Who pays the price for Australia’s greenwashing? | Panel discussion
Featuring:
- Dr Sophie Scamps MP, Independent Member for Mackellar
- Stephen Long, Senior Reporter Investigations, Business Reporting Team, ABC
- Pamela Avusi, Program Coordinator, Forcert Ltd
Rinsing the greenwash out of Australian politics | Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
“When Australians cast their votes, they put their trust in politics. They want to believe that the parliament they elected will act on the issues they care about. When people in this place do not act on these issues with integrity, it puts this trust at risk.”
What does climate integrity look like in practice? | Panel discussion
Featuring:
- Professor Allan Fels AO, Former Chair, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- Professor Andrew Macintosh, Environmental law and policy expert at the College of Law, Australian National University
- Kylie Charlton, Managing Director, Australian Impact Investments
What does climate integrity look like in practice? | Professor Allan Fels AO
“Greenwashing claims abound these days,” says Allan Fels. But who is responsible for checking them for integrity?
Australia must lead the world on climate integrity | Senator David Pocock
“People are looking to politicians for leadership. People are looking to politicians for more ambition. We must make the case for bolder action – bolder action for Australians today and bolder action for future generations.”
CLIMATE INTEGRITY SUMMIT 2023 – PROGRAM
Speakers included:
- The Hon Anthony Whealy KC, Former judge of the NSW Court of Appeal
- Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Australian Greens Spokesperson for the Environment & Biodiversity
- Senator David Pocock, independent Senator for the ACT
- Dr Sophie Scamps MP, independent Member for Mackellar
- Dr Monique Ryan MP – Federal Member for Kooyong
- Professor Allan Fels, Former Chair, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- Professor Andrew Macintosh, environmental law and policy expert at ANU College of Law
- Dr Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics and member of UN High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities
- Polly Hemming, Senior Researcher and Acting Climate & Energy Program Director, The Australia Institute
- Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre
- Karrina Nolan, CEO, Original Power
- Pamela Avusi, Program Coordinator at Forcert, an NGO based in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
- Kylie Charlton, Managing Director, Australian Impact Investments
- Dr Richard Denniss, Executive Director, the Australia Institute
We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing…Government or private sector commitments to net-zero cannot be a mere public relations exercise
When
(ended on )
Where
Parliament House
Parliament Drive
Canberra, ACT 2600