When I first applied to the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, my focus was largely personal, on gaining experience for a future in international organisations like the UN. I never expected to find myself at the heart of a pivotal bilateral conversation on energy transition. Now, I see my future as part of a broader movement to build a more sustainable world.
To understand the country I’d call home for 10 months, I first travelled across Australia by coach, staying in eco-lodges and listening to stories of its First Peoples. On K’gari, I learned of the Badjala people, whose ethos of responsibility and reciprocity shaped one of the oldest sustainable cultures on Earth. Their three lores are simple but profound: what is good for the land must come first; do not take what is not yours; and if you have plenty, you must share. These values fostered peace and balance for 60,000 years, until colonisation brought destruction. The contrast between Indigenous sustainability and extractive colonialism has stayed with me since.
That awareness shaped my placement. Given the choice to work in our infrastructure, defence, or energy transition projects, I chose energy, and spent five months supporting the delivery of the Energy Transition and Investment Catalyst (ABETIC), a major UK–Australia conference. Across four days, we convened leaders from government, industry, and academia to map the path to clean energy. I curated guest lists, co-drafted the programme, and attended in person, with the final event hosted at Sizewell C nuclear site in the UK.
Under Chatham House Rule, I can’t share many specifics, but the conversations were bold and solution-focused. We discussed how clean energy is not just ethical policy but common-sense economics: capable of reducing inequality, alleviating poverty, and driving inclusive growth. Topics ranged from carbon capture, hydrogen, solar, and wind, to decarbonising billions in assets and entire supply chains, and how AI and data centres are reshaping energy demand — a demand only green power should fulfil.
Notable contributors included bp, Great British Energy, The Crown Estate, National Grid, EDF, Fortescue, Rio Tinto, Octopus, and many more. One moment that stayed with me was hearing from 19-year-old Will Shackel — a long-time youth advocate whose presence helped reframe Australia’s nuclear debate in a deeply sceptical landscape.
ABETIC embodied SDGs 7, 9, and 17, while also advancing goals 8 and 10. More personally, it transformed how I live. I now walk to work, take Sydney’s 100% renewably powered trains, limit consumption, and offset flights through CO2llaborate. Because sustainability isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about equity, intention, and care.
Smart, inclusive environmental thinking isn’t new. It’s as old as the Badjala. It’s a common-sense attitude to our planet that we do not need to look far to find. their lores and the UN’s 17 goals — blueprints for a society that can last another 60,000 years — are right in front of us, if we choose to listen.
CO2labborate: https://ba.chooose.today/
The Badjala people: https://parks.desi.qld.gov.au/parks/kgari-fraser/about/butchulla
See my recent posts on ABETIC: linkedin.com/company/australian-british-chamber-of-commerce
