Enterprise sustainability at Convention 2014

Australia’s largest engineering event, Convention 2014, will include a half-day forum on enterprise sustainability. Organised by Engineers Australia, the convention will run from 24-28 November at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the Business Enterprise Sustainability Forum to be held on 27 November from 1-6 pm.

Facilitated by corporate and sustainability adviser Sam Mostyn, the forum will feature debate on the role of economic sustainability and its impact on the environment and the economy. It will also explore the future of city designs, doing more with less and funding for city redevelopments.

Forum panellist David Singleton, chairman of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia, says that while the climate change debate has centred around politics and climate change science, the discussion needs to go beyond that and include enterprise sustainability.

“Very quickly we have become involved in this climate change discussion, which has grown increasingly polarised, and sustainability has become mixed up with all of that,” he said.

“But there are many other aspects to operating in our world and ensuring that we are going to be around in 20, 30, 40 years’ time that go to the heart of how businesses operate.”

Other speakers will include Cate Harris, Sustainability General Manager, Lend Lease; Dr Raphael Arndt, Chief Investment Officer, The Future Fund; Geoff Dutaillis, Group Head of Sustainability, Lend Lease; Romilly Madew, CEO, Green Building Council of Australia; and Michael Hanna, Head of Australian Infrastructure, Australia, IFM Investors.

The forum includes four panel sessions with a high degree of audience interaction, including:

• The future of place: The concepts behind place making and the future of city design.
• Doing more with less: The challenge of production in a world of diminishing natural resources.
• Smart cities and infrastructure: The availability and quality of knowledge, communication and social infrastructure (intellectual capital and social capital).
• Funding the development and redevelopment of cities: How to prepare ‘investor-ready cities’ and how to pay for them.

Convention 2014 attendees may also be interested in the Practical Responses to Climate Change Conference (PRCC), which will be held as part of the event from 25-27 November.

To register for the convention, visit www.convention2014.org.au. Discount registrations are available to members of Engineers Australia.