Policy Forum Pod

The ANU Grand Challenges competition offers up to $10 million to research that tackles the world’s most important and intractable problems. This year’s winners are working on what might just be the grandest challenge of all – how to decarbonise the world’s energy supply to prevent a climate catastrophe. On this week’s podcast, hosts Maya Bhandari and Bob Cotton hear from three members of the winning research team about their plan to help Australia deliver zero-carbon energy to the Asia-Pacific region. Topics discussed include how underwater sea cables could link Australia and Southeast Asia, why East Asian demand for hydrogen energy could reduce the power of the coal lobby, and what a multi-billion dollar renewable export industry would mean for the Australian economy. Emma Aisbett is a Senior Research Fellow at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods and an Adjunct Lecturer at Crawford School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on economic globalisation, environmental policy, developing countries,