JOBS NEWS: Deloitte claims its ESG team is now the largest in the country, after luring Kat Sayers from EY where she worked for just seven months.
Kat Sayers joined Deloitte this month as a director in climate and sustainability focusing on ESG reporting and advisory, part of a team the firm claims is the largest in the country.
In April the company which claims world’s largest professional services network announced a US$1 billion (A$1.57b) expansion in its global sustainability and climate practice. Its target operations for clients include strategies for sustainability in operations; tax, disclosure, and regulatory requirements, and decarbonisation of organisations and value chains.
This comes as Australian Securities and Investments Commission recently ranked the quality of the firm’s audit work as among the worst of the major accounting firms.
Sayers was a good catch. She led the French certification company Bureau Veritas Group’s supply chain and sustainability team for a year and its environmental practice for two years before that, and has also notched up environmental consulting at the health and safety, property and environmental risk solutions company Greencap previously.
Deloitte’s climate and sustainability team now numbers more than 40 partners and more than 200 staff across the firm.
Adam Powick, Deloitte Australia chief executive officer told The Fifth Estate in a written response to questions that the global company was keen to use their reach and influence to move the needle on decarbonisation.
It encourages businesses to see climate action not as a cost, but as an $890 billion opportunity for growth in Australia.
A report released in July 2022 called All Systems Go, commissioned by National Australia Bank, made the comparison that the scale of investment to deliver a net zero economy by 2050 was a scale akin to that of the Industrial Revolution, but in half the time.
“Deloitte Australia recognises we have the capability and responsibility to influence and support our clients as they turn their net zero ambitions into action,” he said.
“To meet this challenge, we have built a dedicated, multi-disciplinary climate and sustainability practice, enabling us to invest and bring the best of our firm to support climate transformation for our clients and the nation.”
In its own operations, the firm has reduced emissions by around 27,000 tonnes a year after switching to renewables and through other actions, and is acquiring around 2000 hectares of land in Victoria and New South Wales to sequester carbon and enhance biodiversity corridors, subject to Clean Energy Regulator approval.
Dave McCarthy, Deloitte Australia climate and sustainability executive sponsor, said that the firm’s top 50 clients alone make up about 25 per cent of Australia’s emissions.
“We can, and we must, lead these clients on an unprecedented climate transformation,” he said.
“Climate change is the defining issue of our time and right now, we all stand at a climate crossroad.
“Deloitte has a clear-eyed view to a resilient and sustainable future for Australia and we also know what business, government and communities must do by 2030 to secure it. This is urgent – what we do in the next eight years will determine our climate future.
“That might sound scary, but it makes us resolute.”
Dr Kerry Schott appointed to chair of CMI board
The Carbon Market Institute has announced Dr Kerry Schott as the new chair of its board.
From November 2, she will replace Elisa de Wit, partner and global head of carbon markets at Norton Rose Fulbright.
Dr Schott has a huge professional track record. She previously chair of the Energy Security board from 2018-2021, is former managing director of Sydney Water and will continue on in her current role of chair of NSW Net Zero Emissions and the Clean Economy board.
She has also held senior roles with Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust and Whitlam Turnbull and has been a visiting professor at Oxford and Princeton Universities, senior NSW Treasury official, chair of the Environmental Protection Authority, director of NBN, chair of Moorebank Intermodal Company, adviser to the Reserve Bank of Australia and Trade Practices Commissioner.
Since 2011, the independent and non-partisan industry body for climate change and business has helped businesses take advantage of opportunities in carbon markets, through initiatives such as the Australian Carbon Industry Code of Code of Conduct. It currently has 150 corporate members.
“Australia is entering potentially the most constructive climate policy development phase in over a decade,” Dr Schott said.
“There are crucial reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism and Australian carbon crediting framework, as well as significant transitions needing to be well managed in energy, transport and agriculture. Internationally, historic integrity and carbon market rules are being established under the UNFCCC and through important initiatives in voluntary market governance.
“It is vital all organisations participate in this journey and to ensure continual improvement and accountability in their climate action. This means taking responsibility for emissions now through credible decarbonisation strategies first and foremost, but also through investments in high-integrity, verified emission reduction and removal activities. Where possible these credited activities should also drive Indigenous, environmental and other co-benefits.”
Dr. Schott and Mrs De Wit are panellists at the Annual Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit, 25 and-26 October.
In other jobs news…
Renewable energy expert and UNSW renewable energy law teaching fellow Paul Curnow has retired as partner from Anhurst after 25 years in private practice. In a few weeks he will join the management team at Akaysha Energy as director of strategy and general counsel.
“In 1989, my last year of high school, I penned a school magazine article about the growing IPCC concerns around global warming, and through university I focused heavily on environmental and international law subjects where I felt I could make a real impact,” he said in a statement.
“But back then I could never have imagined the opportunities I would have that helped me to build a legal career entirely committed to climate change and clean energy.
“I’m a big believer in the important role that law plays in the energy transition and reaching net zero… Finance and good policy are of course key, but let’s also reflect on and be thankful for the critical role that lawyers play in the physical transformation of our energy systems.”
He is leaving global chief executive Paul Jenkins and firm partner Lee MacDonald at the helm of the team at Anhurst.
He will be joining the leadership team at Akaysha Energy of Nick Carter, Tony Fullelove, Andrew Wegman, Nick Finch, Pan Galanis and Feri Hamori in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, Mark Shakeshaft has started a new position as the business development manager of property at solar Power Purchase Agreement provider in Australia and New Zealand, Green Peak Energy.
He has a storied career in solar, having previously worked at SolarHub, Energy Matters, ENESOL Australia, Kyocera Solar and more.
Jack Qian is joining landscape architecture studio Arcadia in its Melbourne office, as principal. He will work alongside principal Nelson Gomes, bringing over 15 years of design leadership experience in Australia and China across all sectors.