As the chairman of Viva Energy, Robert Hill appears to wear a very different hat to the various sustainability focused roles he has had since leaving Federal Parliament in 2006. But Viva Energy, which operates the Geelong refinery, is treading its own path to sustainability which includes a vision to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions.
The company has also announced plans to create Australia’s first publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling station in Geelong as a forerunner to a potential network of stations supporting heavy vehicle transport between Melbourne and Brisbane.
The issue of decoupling economic growth from carbon growth echoes those that then Senator Hill faced as Environment Minister in the Howard Government. Senator Hill drove Australia’s first international obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. He subsequently introduced Australia’s first Renewable Energy Targets. As an ABC podcast exploring “The legacy of our first decisions on climate change” explained, Australia had initially flagged that it would not be entering into the Kyoto Protocol.
Entering into force in 2005, the protocol operationalizes the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gases emissions in accordance with agreed individual targets. Australia’s commitment was a reduction from expected growth to plus 8 per cent off a baseline of 1990 emissions.
Prof Hill, now an Adjunct Professor in Sustainability and independent chairman of the CRC for Low Carbon Living, says negotiations to include an `Àustralia clause’ in the protocol recognising the role land clearance played in the country’s unique carbon profile were quite right.
“I am a proud Australian in saying that since then we have committed to three separate targets,” Prof Hill says.
“We have delivered on the first two and we are going to deliver on the third.”
At the Technology and Innovation Summit in Geelong, Prof. Hill will chair a discussion on new and emerging energy sources and reaching Net Zero emissions.
Innovations to be explored include revolutionary developments in battery technology, the rapidly evolving world of hydrogen and the future of green energy.
