The world’s first commercially-available course on how electricity businesses can adapt to change has been launched in Australia.
The first commercially-available course in the world on the topic of adapting to the changing climate will be held throughout June 2009.
Climate change is becoming more pressing for electricity transmission and distribution companies due to increased frequency and severity of wind storms, heat waves and floods, the organizers say.
The new course entitled ‘Climate Change Adaptation for Transmission and Distribution Organisations – Understanding the impact of climate change and developing an adaptation strategy for your organisation’ will be offered for the first time to Australian and Asia-Pacific companies on 25 – 26 June 2009 at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management in Sydney.
The course has several unique features. Firstly the course is focused on the business impacts of weather and climate change impacts, rather than the science. The course is focused around identifying practical, justifiable and evidence-based adaptation measures that advance the organisation’s corporate objectives.
The course identifies the key business practices and processes that are most affected by climate change which include asset management and design, corporate strategy, risk management, environmental management, and health and safety.
A key course objective is to produce an outline of a climate change adaptation plan for their organisation.
Also, the course is aimed specifically at the electricity transmission and distribution sector which faces unique adaptation issues due to their supply constraints.
The course was developed with support from Australian associations, Energy Networks Australia and Engineers Australia, and funding from the Department of Climate Change.
The course was written by Athol Yates, Australian Security Research Centre and Professor Priyan Mendis, University of Melbourne.
To register, visit the website here.