A year of unforeseen challenges and unexpected opportunities
It can't be denied that 2020 was a hard year. The global pandemic took the world by surprise with devastating effects. Around the globe, many lives were tragically lost, others upended and changed forever. Economies have strained under the pressure of enforced closures and lockdowns, governments have struggled to manage the crisis and continued uncertainty has marred visions of the future.
Yet, amid changed working conditions, postponed initiatives, cancelled travel and endless Zoom meetings, the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) continued to drive positive change. Last year, we completed 212 projects spanning a diversity of sectors, among them the first large-scale survey of renewable energy employment in Australia, a seven-year investigation into the effects of contaminated sites on people’s health and wellbeing, and a deep-dive into plastics recycling in the Asia-Pacific. See our featured projects of 2020 to read about these and more.
The year saw the launch of two major initiatives ISF is partnering on. The Reliable Affordable Clean Energy for 2030 (or RACE for 2030) Cooperative Research Centre began operations in March. The Australian Government has invested $68.5 million in the centre, which aims to grow Australian energy technology businesses, improve clean energy uptake, while at the same time tackling the grid stability challenges facing new energy technologies, with long-term benefits for all Australians.
In October, we launched the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence, a joint initiative of ISF, the Australian Industry Group and Cox Inall Communications. The centre, which received $1 million in seed funding under the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund, provides mentoring and best practice guidance to businesses and facilitates industry linkages to support national industry-led schemes.
We also ensured that the important conversations around sustainability continued by presenting a series of engaging online events and a new #UTS4Climate podcast. Nine candidates graduated with PhDs from our graduate research program in 2020, while another 52 future change-makers continued in their study despite the year’s disruptions.
In 2021, we at ISF aim to take the lessons from last year and apply them to our ongoing work of forming rich partnerships to find sustainability solutions.
I hope you enjoy exploring ISF’s work and achievements from the past year.
Stuart White, ISF Director
