Episode 3: Greening Cities – reducing emissions

A graphic showing a stylised cityscape and people.

Episode summary

Greater Cities is a podcast series about the future of cities. Each episode will challenge listeners to look at the big issues facing our cities, with insights from leading thinkers from Australia and around the world.

This episode talks about sustainable cities – the pressing need to adapt to our changing climate and how reducing emissions is critical to our future. Australian and international experts discuss the roadmap to net zero emissions and highlight innovative case studies that are already reducing our cities’ impacts.

Episode details

This episode was produced by the Greater Cities Commission, in partnership with The Business of Cities.

Podcast timeline

[00:00] Welcome and introduction.

[02:00] Learning from First Nations Peoples: belonging to Country.  

[04:08] Moving our cities to net zero.

[12:52] Shifting to renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions.

[17:00] The key industries for achieving net zero.

[24:03] Net Zero and transport.  

[32:33] Conclusion and preview of future episodes.

Guests in order of appearance
  • Profession Peter Newman, environmental scientist, author, and Professor of Sustainability at Curtain University (Australia)
  • Meg McDonald, Environment Commissioner of the Greater Cities Commission (Australia)
  • Craig Kerslake, Managing Director of Nguluway DesignInc (Australia)
  • Greg Clark, Chair of Connected Places Catapult (England)
  • Dr Tim Moonen, Managing Director of The Business of Cities (United Kingdom)  
  • Matt Haggman, Executive Vice President, Opportunity Miami at The Beacon Council (USA)
  • Margo Delafoulhouze, Cities Systems Lead at Climateworks Centre (Australia)
  • Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce (United Kingdom)
  • Lex Brans, Head of Housing and Special Projects in Greater Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
  • Øyvind Såtvedt, Managing Director of the Oslo Region Alliance (Norway)
  • Celine Gipoulon, Director of Strategy at Métropole du Grand Paris (France) 
About the Greater Cities Commission

The Greater Cities Commission is driving Australia’s first global city region – the Six Cities Region in New South Wales.  Our role is to coordinate and align the planning that will shape the future of our region, accelerate the delivery of key innovation districts and lead discussion on major city-shaping issues.

About The Business of Cities

The Business of Cities is an urban intelligence firm that provides insights, strategy and benchmarking to over 100 global cities, companies and institutions, including more than 10 Australian cities and state governments. Over the last 15 years it has partnered and produced collaborative thought leadership on the future of cities and metropolises for organisations including the OECD, UN Habitat, UCLG, JLL, World Bank, ULI and Brookings Institution.

References and resources
Download the episode 3 transcript (PDF, 184.52 KB)