On Thursday, 16 May 2024, the Global Foundation convened a roundtable discussion focused on Australia’s national energy transition and sustainable infrastructure.

The roundtable was kindly hosted by Mr Jim Giannopoulos, newly appointed Global CEO of Foundation Partner GHD, and featured contributors including Dr Mark Cutifani CBE, Ms Sharan Burrow AC, Mr Mike Fitzpatrick AO, and Ms Kristy Graham.

Attendance was limited to Foundation members and invited guests, to encourage a frank exchange under the Chatham House rule.

Since its inception, the Global Foundation has maintained an active interest in Australia’s sustainable national development, always taking a longer-term view and in a global context. Occupying a massive continent that is blessed with abundant energy and resources endowments, for which it has successfully developed its domestic economy and proven to be a very effective global exporter, Australians have consequently enjoyed an enviable lifestyle. In turn, Australia has been generally regarded as a ‘good citizen’ in the world, a willing contributor to the global common good.

Building upon its decades of global engagement, the Foundation recently appointed a distinguished global steering committee, led by two distinguished Australians — global mining industry leader, Dr Mark Cutifani CBE, and global trade union leader, Ms Sharan Burrow AC, to help improve global governance for the future sustainability of the planet — including stronger cooperation to address climate change and conserve nature. A global program of dialogue and discussion is being launched, starting in Beijing, then Rome and on to other cities of the world, involving leadership from enlightened business, working with diverse sectors of society, to help converge agreement as to what might be the best way forward. This is what the Global Foundation does best — providing platforms for dialogue that help divergent views to align and to be encouraged to go on to reach agreement.

As with the world at large, Australia itself is confronting the same realities, including the overarching challenge of what constitutes sustainable prosperity while addressing the universal scourge that is climate change. The nation is facing a step-change, without precedent since wartime, in adjusting the fundamental elements that underpin its economy – its energy systems, its infrastructure and new and continuing opportunities for sustainable growth.

Feedback from the Foundation’s network of Australian supporters over these past months indicates a heightened level of concern that greater clarity and coherence about the national effort is required in order to bring about an effective transition, at such large scale and in a timely manner. These concerns transcend individual political, business and community interests. Everyone knows that major structural change is needed. However, the national destination is far from agreed and, consequently, various pathways to the future are being hotly contested, not necessarily leading to the most productive outcomes.

Given its previous and continuing programs of engagement and interaction on these topics globally and in Australia, the Foundation convened a roundtable discussion on Thursday 16 May 2024, hosted by the Chair and CEO of GHD, in Melbourne and online, involving a limited number of its supporters and affiliates, in order to gauge the national state of play and to assess what further contributions, if any, it might be able to make.