Advisory Board

ZEB has a strong Advisory Panel of experts in various fields who we draw on to support our work.

Robert has been actively involved in range of environmental issues for the last 40 years. He has a Bachelor of Economics Degree (Syd) majoring in Accounting and Commercial Law and Certificates in Personal Investment Management and Real Estate.

His Current positions include: Director, Enova Community Energy Ltd and Enova Community Ltd; Director, Pingala Co-operative Ltd; Director, Earth Trust; Director, Social Habitat Housing Ltd; Vice President, Permaculture College Australia; Patron, Rainforest Rescue.

James Sturch is a renewable energy professional with over 25 years experience. He has a Degree in Industrial Design and is a graduate in photovoltaics from UNSW. He sits on EL-042 and EL-054 Standards Australia committees, is co-chair of the CEC’s Distributed Energy Directorate, and chair of the Energy Storage and National Construction Code working groups.
A member of the Distributed Energy Leadership Forum, he is also a founding mentor in the Women in Renewables program. A South Australian DEM Dynamic Exports Committee and SAPN DER Integration committee member, he also contributes to industry via multiple other stakeholder panels for DER and VPP’s development.
James is Technical Director for SolarEdge. With a passion for renewable energy, he is committed to a transition to a lower carbon future.

Amanda Cahill is the Director of the Centre for Social Change in Brisbane and Founding Chair of the Next Economy, http://nexteconomy.com.au/  an organisation that supports the emergence of more resilient, socially just and ecologically viable local economies. Originally trained as an anthropologist, Amanda has been working on community development projects across Asia-Pacific region and Australia for over 20 years. She is a founding partner of the Zero Emissions Byron project, and is on the steering committee of the New Economy Network of Australia. Amanda has a PhD in Human Geography and has an adjunct position at the University of Queensland.

John Taberner was a Partner and then a Consultant at Herbert Smith Freehills for more than 40 years practising environmental law. He advised government and non-government clients on large transactions, including large-scale urban infrastructure projects and land-decontamination projects, and on major environmental litigation. He also worked with clients on climate change issues including ‘carbon costs pass-through’, carbon capture and storage, joint venture structuring, registration and reporting obligations, and ‘carbon credit’ acquisitions. Now retired from legal practice and living in Possum Creek in the Byron Shire, John is Deputy Chair of Enova Community Energy Limited.

Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop
Until 2010, Gerard worked as a Principal Scientist with the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Resources Management, leading a team of scientists using satellite imagery to monitor vegetation, deforestation and ground cover.
With a Bachelor of Surveying (First Class Honours) from University of Queensland, Gerard has lectured at UQ and the University of Canberra.  Early in his career, he worked for Australian Federal Government, with the team mapping the Great Barrier Reef for its World Heritage listing.
Following 38 years in remote sensing science, Gerard is now engaged in communicating environmental issues such as deforestation, climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. He writes investigative articles and reports for the World Preservation Foundation and co-authored the Beyond Zero Emissions Land Use Plan. He has presented papers at national Australian conferences, the Climate Summit 2010, at side programs of the UN climate talks COP16 in Cancun and COP17 in Durban, at civil society climate programs, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Nik Midlam is Manager of Carbon Strategy at the City of Sydney, having worked in a sustainability capacity since 2002. He was involved in developing, and now delivering on ambitious targets outlined in Sustainable Sydney 2030.
Now living with his family outside Mullumbimby, Nik’s was a board member of ZEB until recently and now sits on the ZEB Advisory board bringing skills in emissions monitoring, reporting and understanding in deep emissions reduction priorities which will be needed for achieving the ambitions for Byron Shire to be net zero emissions by 2025.

Craig Johnston is the Founder and CEO of Redgum Projects, a local Byron Bay Sustainability and Climate Change consulting business. He works with corporations and individuals on strategy and project management relating to energy efficiency, climate change, renewable energy and sustainable investment.

He is also Director of Coolamon Energy, which in 2020 was awarded a $3.5m grant from NSW Government Regional Community Energy Fund (RCEF) for the Byron Bay Solar Farm plus Storage Facility a 5MW solar farm and battery storage facility. Craig was previously a Director in Sustainability and Climate Change team at Pricewaterhouse Coopers Australia, a Commercial Development Manager in the Global Energy Solutions team at Johnson Controls and an Associate Director at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Before this Craig worked in the IT and Financial Services industries in Sydney and London. He is a former ZEB board member.

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of The Driven. A journalist for 35 years, Giles is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, a former ZEB board member, and a Byron local and EV enthusiast.