Australia's Political Trim Tab - Ep162: Simon Holmes à Court
Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change
English - May 08, 2024 17:00 - 55 minutes - 50.6 MBEntrepreneurship Business Technology green climate action clean energy sustainability climate change energy renewable energy climate environment technology Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Up this week is Simon Holmes à Court, the Australian investor and philanthropist with a passion for using data to change the world.
In 2022, the federal elections in Australia delivered an upset, as around a third of the electorate turned their back on the established parties and voted in seven new independent MPs taking the total to 10. Simon was responsible for a crowdfunding initiative - Climate 200 - that supported 23 candidates in all, pledging to act on climate, political integrity and gender discrimination. He remains very involved in the challenge of pivoting Australia from a fossil fuel based economy to a clean energy superpower.
Simon is an energy analyst, clean-tech investor, climate philanthropist, and director of the Smart Energy Council and the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network. He was co-founder of the Australian Wind Alliance and inaugural chair of the Melbourne Energy Institute’s Advisory Board. He is a respected commentator on the economic, political and engineering aspects of Australia’s energy transition.
Links: Simon's 2022 book The Big Teal: https://publishing.monash.edu/product/the-big-teal/
Simon's ABC interview on the success of Climate 200 in the wake of the 2022 elections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Mhz6b7cg4
Simon's 2021 talk - Independents and Climate - The Hope to End the Lost Decade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN_-1eLbLL8
Simon's 2018 op-ed which triggered his expulsion from Kooyong 200: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/09/why-liddell-is-likely-to-close-in-2022-and-why-you-shouldnt-care
The Superpower Institute, working for Australian leadership in the transition: https://www.superpowerinstitute.com.au/