have misjudged the man) – is a staunch conservationist who, along with Dan Ilic of podcast A Rational Fear is driving climate conversations at all opportunities, the Global Smart Energy Summit included. Meantime for his part Mike Cannon-Brookes, because he can, has invested billions of dollars in sustainability initiatives and large projects that make a difference. He’s also in the lucky position (his words) that when he speaks his mind people, and that includes politicians, listen and learn about opportunities and his material vision of the future. Blessed not just with ample financial resources but courage of conviction, he said: “The curse of people in technology is that we see what will happen ten, twenty years down the track, we live in a world of constant disruption. And the nexus of science and technology economics is a really important point to communicate. Coal, he said, “operates on 1980 economics”. In three short years the tech billionaire has become pivotal to the renewables-led environment, and warns that Australia stands at enormous risk of being overlooked by the international investment community. This, despite housing the finance and talent, engineering project management, electricians, all the expertise and resources required and the need to get people back to work in massive numbers in the COVID-impacted world. “If we are not clever we will be left out of the extraordinary global opportunity ahead of us,” he said. “We cannot turn up with a technology roadmap in a year’s time at COP26 and expect any respect on the international stage when it comes to climate emissions.”
He reinforced his deep belief in modular technologies including solar panels and batteries that can scale up and “will always win once they reach the point of scale as it makes them cheaper. “Economics drives things, if we fully understood this we would not build any more fossil fuel plants because in 20 years it won’t makes sense.” Ending the Summit on a positive note, Cannon-Brookes commented on the “awesome” work of the states in advancing renewables saying Australia is generally moving in the right directions, however federally controlled aspects need to be fast tracked along with transmission and infrastructure developments. All Global Smart Energy Summit sessions can be heard and seen in full at www.smartenergy.org.au
References Netflix Kiss the Ground Bill McKibben New Yorker weekly column Marian Wilkinson The Carbon Club Dan Ilic Podcasts A Rational Fear Malcolm Turnbull autobiography A Bigger Picture Warwick McKibbin regular commentator on ABC The Smart Energy Council acknowledges the generous support of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation for the Global Smart Energy Summit.
