Adam Zaborszczyk Email Address

Senior Sustainability Officer Sustainable Energy

The City of Melbourne manages more than 500 hectares of open space. This represents almost 15 per cent of the total area of the City of Melbourne. To meet the needs of the growing and changing residential and worker population and to respond to issues such as climate change, we have prepared our first draft Open Space Strategy for the entire municipality. Our first Open Space Strategy provides the overarching framework and strategic direction for open space planning in the City of Melbourne for the next 15 years. A key objective of the strategy is to plan Melbourne’s open space network to be within easy walking distance to the community, particularly in areas of forecasted population growth. What kinds of issues does the strategy address? The strategy provides direction on these key issues: the unprecedented demand for open space as Melbourne’s population continues to grow climate change â€" a decade of drought, water restrictions and extreme weather and the predicted impacts of climate change provide additional challenges in the management of parks and reserves and the role they can play in climate change adaptation ensuring open spaces can provide for and adapt to differing needs and uses. This includes providing people with the opportunity to connect with nature.

I am an innovative thinker who builds partnerships to solve complex problems. I have recently led the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project – pioneering Australian corporate power purchasing agreements to drive new investment in large scale renewable energy projects. The MREP partnership, with 14 diverse customer partners, has resulted in the construction of the Crowlands Wind Farm. I'm currently advising other local governments on renewable energy purchasing strategies and keeping an eye out for complex problems that need solving in Australia and Indonesia. My career has focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction. I've worked across all three levels of government – including as policy advisor in the Federal Parliament on energy, fuels and transport; and developing regulation concerning environmental performance standards in buildings in the ACT Planning and Land Authority. In recent years I have focused on developing creative solutions to challenging problems; particularly those that require the private and public sectors to work together in new ways. At the City of Melbourne I have been involved in establishing the City’s various energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives aimed at commercial, residential and municipal buildings. These have included the Smart Blocks initiative, 1200 Buildings, district energy systems and residential solar programs.