NELA National Conference 2015

Simon Duffy, EPS Director of Planning and Law, attended the National Environmental Law Association (NELA) National Conference held at the Pullman Hotel, Sydney in Nov 2015. The conference focus was, ‘Planning, Climate & Environmental Law: Where to from Here?’. Topics of discussion included:

• Renewable energy;
• Governance;
• Cumulative impacts;
• Biodiversity offsets; and
• Planning reform.

According to Simon, one of the most topical and provoking sessions of the day was presented by John Conner, CEO of The Climate Institute, titled ‘What will the Paris Climate Agreement Mean for Australia?’. This presentation discussed the outcomes, and predicted the impacts of, the 2015 Paris United Nations Climate Change Conference. The 2015 Paris Conference delivered the world’s first binding treaty under which all nations, developed and developing, agreed to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. One of the key take-home messages from this presentation was that a successful agreement in Paris is just a step, not an endpoint. The agreement will provide a framework to reinforce global trends toward net zero emissions.

With this in mind, EPS is excited more than ever to continue working on projects in the renewable energy sector and assisting Australia meet its obligations under international conventions and agreements, such as the recent Paris Agreement.