COP31: Monash University expert commentary
Monash University
Monash University experts are available to discuss issues relating to COP31 (9 - 20 November).
COP31 is the largest global climate conference with an anticipated attendance of over 80,000 delegates and approximately 140 heads of state from around the world.
Find out more about Monash at COP31, and read our catalogue of COP expert opinion and analysis.
Energy, resources and systems
Professor Le Hai Vu, Department Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- Sustainable mobility / city planning (in the face of climate changes)
- EV uptake (considerations, infrastructure needs) in the context of transport decarbonisation
Associate Professor Roger Dargaville, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- Energy systems and transition pathways to high penetration renewables
- Energy storage technologies (batteries, pumped hydro) and electric vehicle integration
- Hydrogen pathways, especially use in industrial processes e.g. ammonia and green steel
- Energy transition in developing countries, e.g. Indonesia and India
Associate Professor Stuart Walsh, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- Hydrogen
- Green ammonia
- Green steel
- Green iron
- Critical minerals
Professor Behrooz Bahrani Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering
Contact details: +613 9903 4840 or [email protected]
Read more of Dr Bahrani’s commentary
- Integration of renewable energy into electricity grids
- Power-system stability in renewable-dominated grids
- Grid-forming inverters and advanced control technologies
- Technical challenges in connecting large-scale wind, solar and battery storage
The following can be attributed to Associate Professor Bahrani:
“The energy transition is not simply about building more wind and solar farms. We must also ensure that electricity grids can accommodate these resources reliably and at scale. As conventional power stations retire, the technologies and approaches we use to maintain grid stability need to evolve.
“Without modernising our grids, renewable energy projects risk delays, operational restrictions and reduced performance. The technology to address many of these challenges is emerging, but deployment needs to accelerate. COP31 should focus not only on setting ambitious renewable energy targets, but also on ensuring our electricity systems are technically ready to deliver them.”
Building and urban responses
Professor Graham Currie, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- How can Australia achieve its Net Zero emissions target through transport and electric vehicle uptake?
The following can be attributed to Professor Currie:
“Transport represents Australia's single biggest area of greenhouse emissions growth. Leaders will need to unite, offer guidance and set global standards so that countries like Australia that are lagging behind can address this issue.
“Electric car uptake is critical to Australia achieving a 2050 Net Zero target. Yet Australia has amongst the world’s worst uptake of electric vehicles; 10.6 per cent of new car sales are electric (as at September 2023) compared to a 14 per cent global average (2022) 22.9 per cent in the United Kingdom and 87.8 per cent in Norway.
“COP31 needs to give Australia a gigantic kick in the pants when it comes to electric vehicle uptake.”
Climate change and food
Dr Liza Barbour, Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
Read more of Dr Barbour’s commentary
- Food and the climate: how sustainable is your diet?
- The carbon impact of veganism: is it always best to choose a vegan option?
- Urban food policies for a sustainable future
- How are governments supporting sustainable food systems around the world?
The following can be attributed to Dr Barbour:
“As the race to protect our finite planetary resources continues, individuals are urgently searching for ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
“Vegetarianism and veganism has gained popularity amongst those living in high-income countries; however, these eating patterns will not guarantee a reduction in environmental damage. Many alternatives to animal-derived foods are ultra-processed, in particular meat alternatives. Ultra-processed foods are often over-packaged and have undergone a number of resource-intensive processes during their production.
“To eat an environmentally sustainable diet, it is recommended to avoid excessive consumption of food beyond your nutritional requirement, eat less discretionary foods, which are often nutrient-poor, energy-dense and highly processed and packaged; and eat more plant-based foods, ensuring that these foods are sourced locally, in season and from a supply chain that favours sustainable production practices.”
Climate change communication
Dr Lucy Richardson, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Monash Climate Communication Hub
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- The unique psychology of climate change and its impact on communication
- Effective communication is critical for just and equitable climate action
- Why Net Zero by 2050 sends the wrong message
The following can be attributed to Dr Richardson:
“Climate change’s many complexities and its global scale make it a unique issue. This means our psychological responses to it are also complex and unlike our responses to other global or environmental issues. Effectively communicating about climate change requires consideration of both intended and unintended consequences in people's responses to our messages and the effects these can have on global action.
“The rapid transition away from fossil fuels that is needed to address climate change requires significant social and infrastructural changes that will affect many lives and livelihoods. The people need to be part of the process in designing how these changes are implemented if we are to avoid creating new social, economic and environmental problems with our climate solutions.
“The distance many people have from where the components of our infrastructural transitions are happening means we aren’t necessarily aware of the implications of those actions on those communities. It’s not just about where energy farms are located, but also all the steps in the process: from the mines to the factories and the construction. Justice is more than just addressing climate change. It’s about informed decision making and community inclusion in the what, where and how of implementation.
“When people are faced with goals set in the future, our general tendency is to delay acting until the due date is near. This makes focusing on a 2050 net zero target problematic, as it may not prompt the transition actions that are needed right now. Interim 2030 targets are a good step at addressing this, but need to be sufficiently ambitious if they are to ensure changes in time.”
Climate change and health
Professor Karin Leder, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
Read more of Professor Leder's commentary
- Floods and health impacts: why do we need to be concerned?
- Looking forward: which infections are we at risk of this summer?
- Managing acute climate events
- The importance of resilient, sustainable healthcare systems.
The following can be attributed to Professor Leder:
“Recent extreme weather events globally have included record-breaking heatwaves, earthquakes, severe floods and wildfires. Closer to home, bushfires and floods have had a major impact on communities over recent years.
"Flooding predisposes to a range of health impacts, including an increase in infectious disease risks. Early on, there are risks of gastrointestinal illness if poorly refrigerated or contaminated foods are eaten or contaminated water is consumed. Contact with contaminated floodwaters can also lead to skin and wound infections. Disease risks associated with animal sources are also increased, such as leptospirosis. Exposure to mould inhalation can lead to respiratory symptoms.
"When significant flooding occurs, there is heightened mosquito breeding, with associated increased risks of mosquito-borne illnesses such as Ross River Virus, Barmah Forest Virus, and Japanese encephalitis (JE), which emerged in southern parts of Australia for the first time in 2022 and 2023. Bite avoidance through clothing, insect repellents, insecticides and screens, as well as limiting mosquito breeding through drainage of containers and debris removal, are important. Vaccination against JE for residents of high-risk areas is also recommended.
"Extreme weather events including fires and floods are also associated with significant psychological distress from loss of homes and livelihoods, which can lead to long-lasting mental health effects. They can also cause difficulties accessing medications, can have major impacts on staffing in hospitals and clinics, and can disrupt health and other services. The health sector represents over 5 per cent of the national carbon emissions, and climate change poses a large threat to the already overcrowded and stressed healthcare system. These interrelated factors must urgently be addressed by limiting low value clinical care and improving sustainability in the healthcare sector."
Professor Angie Bone, Planetary Health
Contact details: +613 9903 4840 or [email protected]
- Climate change and human health – risks and opportunities
- Sustainable and resilient health systems
- Relevance of health at COP31
The following can be attributed to Associate Professor Bone:
“The climate crisis is a health crisis – climate change is already affecting the physical and mental health of millions across the world, through extreme weather events, loss of lives and livelihoods, deteriorating air, soil and water quality, and the disruption of services on which our health depends. Safeguarding people's physical and mental health should be front and centre of national responses to climate change.
"People that have done the least to cause climate change bear the brunt of its impacts, including serious harm to their physical and mental health. High income countries must take the greatest responsibility for reducing their own emissions and supporting lower-income countries to develop sustainable and resilient economies.
"The COP31 focus on health should help make visible the reasons we must increase our ambition on emissions reduction and avoid catastrophic levels of global heating. It should also raise our game on helping people and essential services, including healthcare facilities, adapt to the climate change that is already locked in.”
Associate Professor Zerina Lokmic-Tomkins, Maternal and Child Health Climate Adaptation and Resilience Network, School of Nursing and Midwifery
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
Read more of Associate Professor Lokmic-Tomkins’ commentary
- Impacts of climate change on maternal and child health
- Environmentally sustainable digital health
The following can be attributed to Associate Professor Lokmic-Tomkins:
“Climate change affects health in ways that are often gradual and easy to overlook, and its effects are not shared evenly. Communities with fewer resources to adapt tend to experience the greatest impacts. For pregnant women, newborns and young children, the research shows a consistent association between higher temperatures in pregnancy and outcomes such as preterm birth, which is why maternal and child health deserves careful attention in these discussions.
“COP31 is an opportunity to bring health more fully into climate adaptation planning. National and international policy provides important direction, but its value ultimately depends on how well it translates to local settings, to the health services, workforce and communities who will put it into practice. Involving communities early, and drawing on the experience of health professionals, helps ensure that adaptation efforts are relevant and sustainable. Those policies need to find a way to local levels where they can make the most impact.
Reducing emissions from healthcare remains an important goal. Alongside this, we need to consider how health services can continue to provide safe care during extreme weather, and how models of care might evolve as conditions change. Digital health has a role to play here, provided it is designed with its own environmental sustainability in mind.
Preparing the current and future health workforce for climate-uncertain futures needs to continue, but at a more systemic level and faster pace. Clinicians and students benefit from understanding how climate affects health and what they can do in practice, and the public benefits from clear, accessible information. These are complex challenges that no single discipline can address alone. Progress is most likely when silos are broken and we work together.”
Science, tech and the next generation
Professor Bernd Meyer, Department of Data Science and AI, Faculty of Information Technology
Contact details: +61 3 9903 4840 or [email protected]
Read more of Professor Meyer’s commentary
- Technology to support preservation of biodiversity
For more COP31 opinion and analysis, visit Monash Lens.