Keynote Speakers

Mr James Griffin MP Minister for Environment and Heritage
Member for Manly

James Griffin is the Member for Manly in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and has represented Manly since April 2017. In December 2021, James was appointed Minister for Environment and Heritage in the Perrottet Government. The Minister is a conservationist, committed to protecting nature and rehabilitating ecosystems on the land and in the ocean. He wants to put Aboriginal land and ocean management techniques front and centre, and he’s committed to protecting and celebrating our heritage. Prior to being appointed a Minister, James was Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Veterans and Health. He was part of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning, and is the former Chair of the Legislation Review Committee. Outside work, running helps him stay sane, as do his wife Elissa and two young children, Ted and Grace.

Dr Eli Fenichel

Dr. Eli Fenichel is the Assistant Director for Natural Resource Economics and Accounting at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is on leave from Yale University where he is the Knobloch Family Professor of Natural Resource Economics. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has written extensively on valuing natural capital and on environmental-economic accounting. He co-led the High-Level Panel for the Sustainable Ocean Economy Blue Paper on Ocean Accounting and has advised the development of the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounts. He received his PhD from Michigan State University.
 

Martijn Wilder

Martijn is Founder and CEO of Pollination, a global climate change investment and advisory firm. He is recognised as a global leader in climate law and investment and has advised governments and companies on innovative climate finance investments including the World’s First REDD+ Green Bond. Martijn was Head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and finance practice for twenty years and played a key role with Australia’s clean energy finance institutions. He was previously Chair of the Australian Renewab le Energy Agency (ARENA), a former Founding Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), and he helped to establish and later Chair the Federal Government’s Low Carbon Australia finance body. He is currently Chair of the Governing Board of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) based in Vienna, President of WWF - Australia, Chair of the Victorian Government’s independent expert panel on Victoria’s 2035 Climate Change target, Adjunct Professor of International Climate Change Law at Australian National University, and a Senior Adviser to Serendipity Capital. He is also a Member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. Martijn was a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar and was awarded an Australian Honour (AM) for his contribution to climate change law and the environment. In 2018, Martijn was awarded the Financial Times Asia Pacific Legal Innovator of the Year.

Andrew Reeson

Dr Andrew Reeson aims to apply behavioural science with econometric modelling to address issues of national significance to Australia. After a mis-spent youth taking biology at Oxford he switched to economics in order to focus on some of the more challenging aspects of real-world problems. On joining CSIRO in 2004 he worked on the design and implementation of environmental policy tools, including market - based instruments addressing biodiversity conservation, salinity, water use efficiency and even feral camel control. In recent years he has shifted his focus to the digital economy, including modelling the potential impact of technology on employment (e.g. Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce) and future skills demand (e.g. The VET Era: Equipping Australia's Workforce for the Future Digital Economy). He is also researching how digital platforms should be designed and implemented to support efficient and equitable data sharing (e.g. Data Platforms for Smart Cities). Previously he has delivered a large scale  randomised controlled trials of behavioural economics insights (with over 160,000 participants in total), a paper modelling the impacts of information technology on Australian businesses and a high-profile analysis of superannuation behaviour.

John Finisdore

As lead for Point Advisory’s (an ERM company) natural capital services, John helps organisations maximize the returns from natural capital through strategic action on finance, biodiversity, ecosystem services, water, nature based solutions and supply chains. He is an expert in natural capital accounting, valuation, Science Based Targets for nature and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Previously, John led the World Resources Institute's Business & Ecosystem Services Project. He authored numerous publications, most recently, Time to Take Stock, that was published by the Capitals Coalition. Along with serving on leadership groups including SBTN Corporate Engagement Program and TNFD Forum, he has conducted over 100 natural capital assessments and accounting efforts for governments and corporations including Syngenta, John Deere, Plum Creek, Angico Eagle, KKR, Blackmores, Grupo Argos, Greif, UNSW, CSIRO and Wollondilly Shire Council.

Andrew Macintosh, Professor and Director of Research, The Australian National University (ANU) Law School

Professor Andrew Macintosh is a regulatory and environmental markets expert based at the ANU Law School, where he is Director of Research. He works on environmental policy design and evaluation, particularly the design and administration of environmental markets and certification schemes. He was Chair of the Australian Government’s Domestic Offsets Integrity Committee and Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee between 2013 - 2020, a member of the Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund Expert Reference Group in 2014, an Associate Member of the Climate Change Authority in 2015 - 2016, a member of the Expert Panel Examining Additional Sources of Low Cost Abatement (King Review) in 2019 - 2020, a member of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Expert Review Panel in 2019 - 2020, and is currently a member of the Queensland Government’s Native Vegetation Scientific Expert Panel and a program lead for the Australian Government’s Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package.  Between 2019 and early 2021, he also Chaired Accounting for Nature Ltd’s Standards & Accreditation Committee and prepared its accreditation standard for environmental accounts, the first of its kind in Australia. In 2020, he served as one of the three Commissioners on the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements (otherwise known as the ‘Bushfires Royal Commission’).

Dr Jing Yu, Associate Professor Finance

Dr Jing Yu is an Associate Professor in Finance. She has a PhD degree in Finance from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Jing has research interests in the areas of international finance, corporate finance, green finance and corporate sustainability. Her research articles have been published in various leading accounting and finance journals such as Review of Finance, Contemporary Accounting Research and Journal of Banking and Finance. She was also the chief investigator of UN INSPIRE Research Scheme's Green Lending research project in 2019/20. She holds the Rising Star Fellowship awarded by Sydney Business School in 2021/22. Jing is the Deputy Editor of Accounting & Finance journal and serves on the Editorial Board of Global Finance Journal.
 

Dr Sue Fyfe

Sue Fyfe is acting Branch Head for Environmental Science and Nature Based Solutions in the Biodiversity Markets, Economics and Environmental Science Division, Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. She leads the Commonwealth’s Environmental Economic Accounting program, national State of the Environment Reporting, the National Environmental Science Program, and national and international partnerships in Blue Carbon and nature - based solutions. Sue combines a PhD in biology and geosciences from the University of Wollongong with over 17 years public sector leadership experience, leading the strategic design, management and application of land and environmental science and data to government policy, programs and decision making. She has a passion for terrestrial and marine biodiversity and ecology, and for evidence - based policy built on accessible science data and information.

Carl Obst

Carl Obst is a Director at the Institute for Development of Environmental- Economic Accounting - IDEEA Group. Carl was the lead author and editor of the United Nation’s System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)– the international standard for government work on accounting for natural capital and encompassing accounting for ecosystem and biodiversity values. Further, Carl has been leading the development of sector level statistical concepts including methods for the measurement of sustainable tourism with the UN World Tourism Organization, and the design of the multiple capitals based evaluation framework for TEEBAgriFood. Prior to this work, Carl had a long career with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, including time at the OECD. His primary topics of research included productivity measurement, financial services measurement and the valuation of natural resources. His current work involves projects on natural capital accounting and sustainability measurement within the United Nations system, with the Capitals Coalition and with various companies and governments in Australia and internationally. Carl is a leading player in closing the gap between government and corporate approaches to natural capital accounting. This includes work as part of the Value Accounting Network, as an editor in the revision of the System of National Accounts, in developing guidance for the valuation of ecosystem services and in designing models for incorporating natural capital values in risk models.

Karel (Karl) Nolles

Karl has 30 years' experience in the energy and environmental finance sectors,variously as an academic, banker, industry executive and consultant. He was recently appointed as an Adjunct and Visiting Professor with the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (involving a consortium of leading Thai universities). Karl has previously held positions at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney, and was a visiting fellow with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic Science at George Mason University (Washington DC). He was a co-founder of the UNSW Centre for Energy & Environmental Markets. Outside of academia, Karl was a founding member of the Macquarie Bank / Macquarie Capital renewables & climate change team (2007 - 2013), Head of Strategy and Product for the Clean Energy Derivatives Corporation (2017 - 19), and Manager Electricity Reform with NT Power and Water (2019/2020).

Greg Smith

Greg is an environmental economist with CSIRO Land and Water based in Hobart. Greg’s research specialises in integrated environment - economy modelling with expertise in the optimal design of ecosystem service schemes, identifying economically optimal spatial patterns of land use and the valuation of ecosystem services. Greg’s research covers a variety of domains including agriculture, forestry, climate change, outdoor recreation, renewable energy and catchment management. He has worked on web-based applications that provide information for government, businesses and communities in quantifying the benefits and value of land use and land management decisions. Greg is currently working on a project assessing opportunities and risks to the Australian forestry industry with a focus on natural capital accounting.

Dr Sue Ogilvy

Dr Sue Ogilvy leads the Farming for the Future program, a public interest research and change program that aims to provide, as a public good, the evidence base, tools and resources for the agricultural sector to understand the relationship between differences in natural capital and differences in benefits to farm businesses and farming families. By considering natural capital as a factor of agricultural productivity and profitability, Farming for the Future aims to expose the opportunity zone where benefits to farmers and better environmental performance of agricultural markets and supply chains co-exist to support a more financially prosperous, climate - resilient, and environmentally positive agricultural sector in Australia. Farming for the Future leverages Sue’s research over the past decade which has focused on adapting and extending financial accounting concepts and standards and developing practical and useful measurement methods to enable farmers and their advisors to include ecosystems (natural capital) as part of their asset base.

Dr Daniel Gregg

Daniel is an environmental and agricultural economist with a focus on behavioural theories and interventions, production analysis, supply chain innovation, and rural development. Daniel is the founder and principal of Heuris Pty. Ltd (www.heuris.com.au), founder and director of Intersection Traders Pty. Ltd.(www.intersectiontraders.com), founder and director of Dokeo Pty Ltd and an Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. He is also Vice President of the Australian - Indonesia Business Council (SA Chapter). Daniel has led and participated in various impact programs including a start - up wine production company focused on market access and incentivisation of sustainable agricultural practices in South Australia, a successful consulting company focused on public - good research and advocacy for sustainable and inclusive development programs, and leadership of a range of policy projects including for the OECD on resilient food supply chains and incorporation of environmental insights into productivity measures.

Professor Jeff Connor

Professor Connor received an MS (1988) and PhD (1995) from Oregon State University in environmental and resource economics. Jeff enjoys collaboration with local, and international government, NGOs to provide economic policy advice based on rigorous economics and respect for diverse value perspectives. Jeff worked as an economist and group leader at the Australian Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO) from 2001-2016 where he provided research and advise to the Murray Darling Basin Authority, natural resource management boards and state departments for water, agriculture and natural resource management in South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia and in Bangladesh, Indonesia, China. Jeff is currently leading projects and supervising PhD’s in areas including carbon and ecosystem co-benefit economics, northern and outback Australian carbon, water, environmental and cultural values and policy impact evaluation, social return on investment in Aboriginal led enterprise. He has authored extensively on water in the Murray - Darling Basin, water and carbon markets, land conservation auctions, land sector integrated assessment, agricultural, forestry, forest carbon offset, and ecosystem service economics, climate adaptation, and mitigation damage economics.

Michelle Young

Michelle Young is a social scientist, and Director of the Sustainable Farms Initiative, ANU, where she leads a team of interdisciplinary experts across the fields of ecology, environmental accounting, economics and mental health. In this role she has developed an innovative outreach program which meets the needs of both farmers and the natural resource management sector, to ensure that the ongoing research findings of ANU are effectively communicated. She has previously worked at the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the National Institute for Rural and Regional Australia (ANU), and the Bureau of Rural Sciences (now ABARES).
 

Dr Georgina Kelly

Georgina Kelly is Executive Director, Science, Economics and Insights Division, Department of Planning and Environment. Over the last three decades Georgina’s career has been focused on government environmental management and research agencies, including the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Authority, Sydney Water, Forestry Corporation NSW and the Department of Primary Industries (Agriculture) and Department of Planning and Environment. Georgina currently leads DPE’s Science, Economics and Insights Division, and provides leadership and direction to more than 300 staff in the delivery of environmental science and economic research to underpin the development of policy, implementation of environmental programs and environmental regulatory responsibilities. Using rigorous science and economics, the Division works to Understand NSW - Together and delivers impact and outcomes for the community and the environment. Georgina holds a PhD and Bachelor of Science (Hons) from Sydney University and a Graduate Diploma in Public Sector Management from Flinders University.

Gillian Mayne

Gillian is the Director of Natural Capital Strategy & Investment in Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science. She has been with the Department since January 2020, delivering the Land Restoration Fund and the Natural Capital Program, working across all areas of natural capital markets and investments including the carbon market, Reef Credits and the Queensland Natural Capital Fund. Prior to joining the LRF in January 2020, Gillian worked as a property economist and valuer, advising and delivering asset portfolio strategies, projects and programs for government and the private sector.


 

Nick Butcher

Nick Butcher is Board Chair of Australian Wildlife Conservancy, the largest private not for profit owner and manager of land for conservation in Australia, with its mission the effective conservation of all Australian native animal species and their habitats. Nick spent 25 years in investment banking at Macquarie Group, holding various senior management positions in Australia and offshore including Global Co - Head of its Infrastructure and Energy Group. He has broad banking experience in institutional and corporate investment across a range of real asset classes, corporate acquisitions, and project finance. He has a lifelong passion for the environment and its conservation and is involved in a range of environmental causes in Australia and internationally. He is a member of the National Council of World Wildlife Fund US and the BirdLife International Advisory Group. He has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce(Finance) from the University of New South Wales.

Karin van Selm

Karin van Selm has a role leading Rabobank’s Wholesale Food & Agri client teams for Europe and Africa. With over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry across a variety of customer facing and leadership roles, she believes firmly in the importance of strong customer relationships built on trust, respect and advocating for their success. Engaging with the customer, creating value for both the customer and the bank, leading relationship teams and bringing an exceptional depth of Food and Agri knowledge in relation to Sustainability, Innovation, global F&A research and banking solutions and tailored products is what Rabobank stands for. She is also passionate about feeding the world sustainably, and how the food and agri value chain can adapt to produce more with less. At Rabobank, together with their clients, partners and colleagues, they want to contribute to the four dimensions of food security: increasing the availability of food, improving access to food, promoting balanced nutrition and increasing stability.

Warwick Ragg

Warwick Ragg was raised on a farm in the NSW Southern Highlands and has almost 30 years experience in rural and regional advocacy. Prior to joining NFF Warwick had been working in the Commonwealth Government in stakeholder engagement roles and had previously spent a decade with NSW Farmers' Association and a further decade as chief executive of Australian Forest Growers.

Katie McRobert

Katie McRobert is an editorial, communications and project management specialist. Prior to joining AFI, Katie worked as the global Content and Community Manager for Rabobank’s Global Farmers program and as the National Editor for the FarmOnline agricultural news service. Katie has an MBA with Distinction from Griffith University (specialising in Sustainable Business), participated in the 2020 Global Business Challenge finals and won the Most Innovative Business Project Award at the 2020 MBA Australasia Graduate Management Awards. Katie also participated in the inaugural National Farmers’ Federation 2030 Leadership Program.

Niall Blair

Niall is a former Minister for Primary Industries, former Minister for Trade and Industry, and former Minister for Regional Water. Niall is also a food sustainability and circular economy specialist with more than twenty years’ experience working with Government agencies and private companies to apply circular economy solutions and realise natural capital opportunities. An accomplished Chairman and non-executive director with demonstrated financial accountability and corporate governance experience with a strong background in risk management, safety, quality and environmental management system development and auditing.

Barry Irvin AM

Barry has experience in the dairy industry and has been chair of Bega Cheese Limited since 2000. He was also chair of Giant Steps Melbourne and director of Tatura Milk Industries. Mr Irvin was awarded the NAB Agribusiness Leader of the Year and the Rabobank Leadership Award. In 2008 he was awarded a Member of the Order or Australia for contributions to children with disability and the Australia dairy industry.

Ben van Delden

Ben has specialised in providing audit, accounting, innovation and business growth services to public and private organisations operating in agribusiness, consumer and industrial markets, transport and logistics, entertainment, media and real estate. Ben is a chartered accountant and has worked on various client assignments in markets across Australia, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and South America.