As we are quickly approaching the winter solstice and the end of another financial year, we'll provide you a quick update on the things that are happening at MECLA.
Looking back at the first half of this (can you believe we are almost halfway through 2024?), it's fair to say that it's been another busy year for all of us. And we are grateful for everyone that has offered their in-kind and financial support to MECLA over the past six months and moving into the next financial year.
So let's dive in and find out what is happening!
MECLA Briefing on ASBEC's Issues Paper on Upfront Embodied Carbon Project
Wednesday, 19 June 2024, 10:30 - 11:30am AEST - online
The first output for this project is an issues paper that lays out how the built environment contributes to Australia’s carbon emissions and why we need to focus on upfront embodied carbon now. Based on research findings from Australia and abroad, it highlights the issues that need to be addressed to successfully tackle embodied carbon and to achieve Australia’s commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
ASBEC seeks feedback on whether the issues paper has captured the most important and time-critical issues to ensure that the Comprehensive Policy Framework (to be released later this year) captures stakeholder perspectives and informs final recommendations. The issues, challenges and solutions identified are not definite policy directions, but ideas to stimulate feedback and gather input from stakeholders.
This webinar equips you to respond effectively to ASBEC's public consultation on the Issues Paper, which will be launching on 14 June. Deadline for submissions is 26 July 2024.
Presenters include:
Alison Scotland, Executive Director, Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council
Concrete Decarbonisation Forum: Innovate and Implement!
Friday, 28 June 2024, 10:00am - 2:30pm AEST, UNSW Sydney
Join us for a day filled with presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities focused on reducing carbon emissions in the concrete industry. Learn from experts, share your ideas, and collaborate on innovative solutions to make concrete production more sustainable.
The Concrete Decarbonisation Forum aims to facilitate collaboration among stakeholders in the development and adoption of low-carbon concrete, from researchers to policymakers and industry leaders. Through round table discussions, we identify challenges such as technological barriers, regulatory hurdles, and market acceptance, sharing innovative solutions and best practices to overcome them.
Networking and knowledge exchange are integral, providing a space for professionals to connect, exchange ideas, and stay updated on developments in the field. Ultimately, our goal is to accelerate the implementation of low-carbon concrete, contributing to a more sustainable and resilient future.
As outlined in our last newsletter, MELCA is continuing to secure funding for its activities beyond the end of this financial year. We reached out to our industry membership over the past month and would like to thank those organisations that have already pledged a financial contribution.
If your organisation is keen to make a financial contribution towards MECLA for the next financial year, please reach out to Kathy Verheyen to discuss.
If you wanted to read more about past MECLA funding, you can check out our Annual Review 2023, where we provide information about past funding amounts and spending.
Our Spotlight event on Designing out Carbon was attended by over 350 participants from industry, academia and government last week. Not only was this event very well attended, we also have a full range of resources available for you from this event.
On our website, you can
re-watch the entire event
catch up on the individual speaker presentations and
study the event's Q&A on our website.
Speakers included:
Dr Dominique Hes, Chair of Greenfleet: AIA Embodied Carbon Toolkit and Curriculum
Filomena Beshara, Sustainability Manager at Built: How to write a Building Disassembly Plan
Paul Reidy, Partner at fitzpatrick + partners: Making the Invisible visible
Paul Stoller, Director at Atelier Ten: On Designing out Carbon
Tom Petty, Co-Founder at CarbonTrace: Designing low-carbon at scale
If you are part of any of these working groups but haven't got an invite in your calendar yet, or you are keen to participate in any of these working groups, please reach out to us here.
Climate Resk workshops for MECLA members
Expressions of Interest by 21 June 2024
Achieving our climate goals and getting there faster relies heavily on people’s knowledge and understanding of the issue at hand. In order to tackle this knowledge gap challenge, a workshop was created specifically to educate people in a fun and engaging format: the Climate Fresk.
This 3-hours workshop is a hands-on, science-based training which will provide participants a “big picture” understanding of Climate Change and empower them to take action. Would you like to discover this great educational tool and see how it could benefit your organisation to accelerate its transition? We are planning a workshop in July depending on the demand.
If you are interested in finding out more please send an expression of interest by 21 June to Jonathan at jonathan.handschuh@vsl.com.
Griffith University survey on "Roadmap for Lowering Embodied Carbon Emissions in the Built Environment sector"
Griffith University is currently conducting a project entitled Developing a Roadmap for Lowering Embodied Emissions of Built Assets: Public Sector Lens. This SBEnrc supported project aims to develop a roadmap consisting of prioritised and scaffolded strategies for lowering embodied emissions in the built asset sector. If you have interest in embodied carbon reduction initiatives in the broader construction industry, we invite you to participate in this questionnaire survey.
The questionnaire survey is estimated to take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
You can find out more about MECLA by going to our website, by signing up to our newsletter or following us on LinkedIn to stay updated on future events and developments.
As always, email us with any questions and enquiries at info@mecla.org.au.
MECLA is funded through a mixture of industry and government commitments. We would like to thank all 80 industry organisations, plus the NSW and SA Government that have already made a contribution to support MECLA going national.
MECLA c/o Climate-KIC Australia, University of Technology Sydney, Building 10, Level 10, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
.jpg?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=ASBEC%20briefing%20(3).jpg)
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=MECLA%20News%20(1).png)
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=Managed%20By%20(1).png)