Securing Sustainable Energy Supplies in Europe and Australia: Policy-Makers, Business, Scientists, NGOs on Energy and the Environmental Challenge

27-28 November 2008 - Monash University Prato Centre, Italy

A Conference of the Monash European and EU Centre, the Monash Sustainability Institute, the Centre for Green Chemistry and School of Applied Sciences and Engineering, the Faculty of Business and Economics (Monash University, Melbourne), the Australian National University (Canberra), the Machiavelli Centre (CIMA), University of Florence, the Institute for European Studies (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium), the Centre for Environmental Law, University of Amsterdam and the Delegation of the European Commission to Australia.

To find reliable, diverse, affordable, publicly acceptable and safe ways to supply energy, while minimising climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, is the number one priority and challenge for governments and private enterprise alike in the 21st century.

Securing sustainable energy supply has become a key priority in the European Union and is a growing concern in Australia. The diversity of responses to this problem in each of these jurisdictions offers rich opportunities for cross-learning, for example in relation to emissions trading, investment in climate change solutions, shared experience in managing the economic risks of adapting to climate change, and the opportunities presented by the Clean Development Mechanisms and Joint Implementation instruments in the Kyoto Protocol.

The purpose of this interdisciplinary conference is to provide a forum for academics, policy-makers, business representatives and environmental groups to explore, debate and compare the different approaches and experiences in securing energy supplies in Europe and Australia, with a view to facilitating the development of sustainable government and business strategy in both jurisdictions. In particular, the conference will focus on the interplay between policy-makers, scientists, business and environmental groups in securing sustainable energy supplies in the European Union and Australia.