Dr Gillian Sparkes was honoured to deliver the opening address at the Energy Evaluation Asia Pacific Conference #EEAP2019 in Bangkok on 30 October 2019.
In her address: ‘Transformative evaluation: State of the Environment reporting framed by the UN SDGs’, Dr Sparkes discussed the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for State of the Environment reporting for Victoria and how the state is transforming its environmental reporting frameworks. “If you evaluate from the point of view of one issue - that’s good for that issue - but you need to look at things from the point of view of all - and the system in its entirety,” she said.
Dr Sparkes told delegates: "I am proud to say that Victoria is taking the lead on applying the SDGs for environmental reporting. Implementing the SDGs makes sense as it is the internationally agreed framework for sustainable development. In practical terms, framing our evaluative processes in this way, as Victoria responds to pressures such as climate change impacts and population growth, is prudent. This is the first attempt by government at a State level in Australia, to measure the environment against the SDG framework.
Standardised reporting is powerful for government agencies because when we understand and can more readily compare outcomes, we can better leverage our effort and allocate scarce resources to solve problems. Using an SDG target-based framework and localising indicators, enables State level reporting to be scaled up to develop a national approach or localised to the regional, ecosystem or precinct level."
Dr Sparkes also discussed how the independent Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability office is moving beyond traditional methods to achieve high-quality, real-time data for decision making. This enables an assessment of synergies and trade-offs to make timely recommendations to government to improve social and environmental outcomes, support sustainable growth and achieve climate action targets. Dr Sparkes also briefed the audience on the progress of the state’s first digital twin project at Fisherman’s Bend.
Dr Sparkes was joined in opening the conference by Prasert Sinsukprasert, Inspector General, Ministry of Energy, Thailand and Jon Respati, Chairman, Indonesian Energy Efficiency and Conservation.
View Dr Sparkes' presenation via Slideshare here.