Hopeful Leadership Now Briefing #2

Article

5 Aug

AUGUST 2020

Welcome to the Hopeful Leadership Now Briefing for August 2020. Melbourne has just been placed under Stage 4 COVID lockdown. The dystopian reality of compulsory masks and 8pm curfews is beginning to settle in for us here as we drift between feelings of community and solidarity, and isolation and despair. It is now that we need hopeful news more than ever; tangible examples of the world we are striving for. Luckily, there is plenty of it to share this month:

The Australian subscription toilet paper company Who Gives a Crap made their largest ever donation to water and sanitation charities. The panic buying of toilet paper at the start of the pandemic led to an unprecedented surge in demand and subsequently a record donation of $5.85m.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) says Australia is in the midst of what is likely to be the world’s fastest energy transition. And their just-released Integrated System Plan (ISP) makes it clear that “coal will be replaced by renewables because the cost of wind and solar technology have already plunged in recent years and will continue to fall, and together with battery storage and pumped hydro, and other forms of dispatchable generation, they clearly offer the cheapest and obvious replacement.” Simon Holmes á Court provides further analysis on the AEMO ISP here.
Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) released their Million Jobs Plan which is a framework to restore the economy through practical projects that modernise our industry, re-skill our workforce and deliver a bright, secure and sustainable economic future. In other renewables news, Sun Cable just received major project status by the Federal Government, another milestone for this ambitious project to connect a massive solar farm in the NT to Singapore through an undersea cable.
Denmark has just passed legislation that comes incredibly close to making climate change, or at least the lack of effort to stop it, illegal. After a petition was signed by tens of thousands of Danes in early 2019, climate change became the most significant issue at the June 2019 election. The winning coalition of progressive parties immediately began work on a comprehensive climate change law, which then passed with almost unanimous parliamentary support. There are a number of key aspects to this legislation, but perhaps the most significant is the need for the government to seek a majority approval of its climate change action every year. If majority approval isn’t achieved, the government may need to step down.
Work continues at the ground-breaking sustainable housing development The Cape, at Cape Paterson in South Gippsland. In the first in a series of features on the Green Recovery, the Guardian takes a look at how sustainable construction, as demonstrated by The Cape, can be a big part of our economic recovery.
The BCorporation movement has just launched a free online course with Torrens University Australia. This course is designed to deepen your understanding of the Certified B Corporation (B Corp) movement. It outlines the benefits of certification and provides an overview of the certification process. A wonderful introduction to the principles and tangible tools of business for a better world.
A group of the world’s richest individuals are calling on governments to raise taxes on them and other members of the world’s elite, in order to help pay for the mammoth recovery effort required after COVID-19. The letter calls on governments “to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently.”
This month our friend Jess Scully (Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney) is publishing her book Glimpses of Utopia. Whilst it can be hard to feel positive or excited about the future in the face of climate change and global pandemics, Jess argues that “all over the world, people are refusing the business-as-usual mindset and putting humans back into the civic equation, reimagining work and care, finance and government, urban planning and communication, to make them better and fairer for all.” This is a timely book; a pragmatic call for hope and optimism.
Here at SGA we are excited about our upcoming Next Economy programs in August, with Carol Sanford on Regenerative Business, and Lydia Fairhall on Conscious Leadership. Carol has also just published an essay with us on the seven pillars for fostering effective alignment and strategic execution in organisations.