Deo Prasad’s career has been a testament to the transformative power of collaboration in the quest for a sustainable, low-carbon future. As the CEO of the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub, Prasad spearheads efforts that bring together government, industry, and research communities to accelerate decarbonisation and drive economic growth across New South Wales. His passion for sustainability was sparked early in life, having witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of environmental degradation on vulnerable populations, such as the Banaban people in Fiji. “My deep concern for displaced communities motivated me to pursue sustainability,” he says.
Under Prasad’s leadership, the Hub is playing a critical role in supporting innovative solutions that move us closer to net zero emissions by 2050. From renewable energy technologies to sustainable building practices, Prasad envisions a future where decarbonisation mitigates climate change as well as fosters economic growth and job creation.
The technology to reach net-zero carbon across most sectors already exists, but it’s not always accessible, affordable, or understood enough to be implemented.
But as he highlights, the path to achieving this vision is filled with challenges. “The technology to reach net zero carbon across most sectors already exists, but it’s not always accessible, affordable, or understood enough to be implemented,” he explains. However, his optimism remains unshaken, as he works tirelessly to break down barriers and help build a greener, more resilient future.
Can you share a bit about your background and journey thus far? What initially drew you to this field, and what are some of the highlights of your work so far?
Deo Prasad: I am a Scientia Professor and CEO of the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub, hosted by UNSW. This Hub creates opportunities for industry, government, and research collaborations to deliver economic impact, emissions reductions, and capacity building in NSW to support the NSW government’s ambitions for a greener future and to meet its legislated emission reduction targets. Ten of the larger NSW universities are partners in this Hub, providing us with a high-quality understanding of the pipelines of TRL3+ innovations.
Prior to this, I led the CRC for Low Carbon Living, which delivered once-in-a-generation opportunities for the built environment sector in emission reductions and capacity building. After my undergraduate graduation, I worked on an infrastructure project to support the relocation of the Banaban people to a new island in Fiji because their islands had been mined for phosphate, sold for profit. My deep concern for a large number of displaced people who seemed socially, economically, culturally, and environmentally devastated motivated me to undertake further studies in sustainability. Since then, I have built a significant body of work through academia, consulting, and collaborating with national and international organizations in the field, including the UNEP.
What are the most promising innovations or strategies you’ve seen for achieving net-zero by 2050 while also driving economic growth?
Deo Prasad: Much of the technology, knowledge, and evidence to achieve net-zero carbon across most sectors already exists. However, these solutions are either not available, accessible, affordable, or well understood enough to be implemented globally. There are high-quality exemplars in all sectors that demonstrate these solutions, and on a whole-of-life basis, they are very affordable. Sometimes, political ideologies hinder progress.
For example, net-zero carbon new buildings can be delivered today by simply improving efficiencies at the design stage, including the choice of the lowest embodied carbon materials through upfront design decisions, onsite generation, and offsite purchase of renewable energy. This is a simplified version, but it is also largely understood. Technologies like photovoltaics have been a major part of future energy generation, both onsite and offsite. Unfortunately, Australia did not fully benefit from its world-leading IP creation, and the economic success has helped other countries.
The mindset has always been one of ‘doing less harm.’ What we need to focus on more seriously is ‘doing more good.’
With advanced manufacturing, we hope that ‘Future Made in Australia’ will be well supported, and that new and emerging technologies, including PowerFuels, other renewable energies, and storage, will be locally manufactured. The main ambition of the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub is to enable the realization of this opportunity. As we move toward this future, we must also ensure that the electricity grid has the intelligence to manage intermittency, and new AI-based technologies will support this. No single technology is likely to be a ‘silver bullet’ solution, so a well-integrated energy system (demand and supply sides), including efficiency, needs to be explored and supported.
With your focus on sustainability in the built environment, what are the key barriers and opportunities for reducing carbon emissions in this sector?
Deo Prasad: Historically, the professions have only focused on the designed (operational) life of buildings, so the emphasis in all codes and design practices has been on demand minimization. It is now accepted that a ‘whole-of-life and whole-of-building’ approach is needed, considering where the inputs into construction come from, including transportation, processing, and use, as well as deconstruction, reuse, and recycling for the next life. This approach, often referred to as circularity, provides huge opportunities for decarbonization, including in the supply chains. Recycled metals and glass have much lower embodied carbon, and concrete products now have substitutes, like various strands of geopolymer.
One key barrier to the wider adoption of sustainable practices is entrenched practices, especially among professionals, developers, and financiers. One key lever for change is the National Construction Code, which has accepted the principle of a trajectory approach to net-zero carbon but is very slow to use it to drive change. Continued support for rebates for technologies like solar is still important. There are also other factors at play, such as the rate at which the electricity grid is decarbonizing. It has nationally reached around 40% renewables (mainly rooftop solar), but in states like South Australia, it is often double that.
A ‘whole-of-life’ approach considers everything—from sourcing and transportation to reuse and recycling—ensuring every stage of construction supports a sustainable future.
How do you balance decarbonization goals with nature-positive outcomes, particularly in urban and infrastructure development?
Deo Prasad: The Sustainable Development Goals, with all their metrics, are quite broad, and the built environment can contribute to many of these goals. Indicators on water, waste, energy, carbon, biodiversity, and others have been in the line of sight of professionals. However, there are very few exemplars successfully addressing all of these in any measurable way. There are excellent tools like GreenStar and NABERS, which do a great job of providing benchmarks, targets, and standards. New indicators keep evolving, and the pressures of dealing with climate change have accelerated the focus on decarbonization.
We also need to understand indicators like resilience (to urban heat, high winds, and rains, including flooding, etc.), which are also evidently caused by climate change. However, the mindset has always been one of ‘doing less harm.’ What we need to focus on more seriously is ‘doing more good,’ which in itself addresses issues of decarbonization (carbon positive).
When we start focusing on nature-positive outcomes, people may limit the focus to biodiversity only – how can we improve biodiversity outcomes at the site, precinct, or city levels? By expanding the meaning of nature-positive, we can include factors like water-positive, energy-positive, and carbon-positive outcomes. There is compatibility in all these terms, and they all support the ambitions for a healthy future for the planet and its creatures.
When thinking about scalable solutions for nature and climate impact, what role do you believe technology and data play? Could you share examples where technology has amplified the impact of sustainability efforts?
Deo Prasad: Technologies and data are essential for improving climate and nature outcomes. Photovoltaics, for example, have already been scaled, and AgriSolar is now finding a great intersection between technology and farming through co-existence. Additionally, waste-to-product innovations are having a significant impact on nature by reducing harm, while also presenting a decarbonization opportunity.
As we reflect on the progress and challenges of this past year, what is one moment, achievement, or insight that gives you the most hope for a sustainable, net-zero, and nature-positive future?
Deo Prasad: We have had yet another year of local to global dialogues and actions in light of a sustainable, net-zero, and nature-positive future. It often feels like a few steps forward and then some steps back. COP29 was highly anticipated but ended up as a disappointment, with countries reluctant to commit or trying to exclude themselves. The IPCC report continues to provide scientific evidence, and the latest shows the inevitability of keeping within the 1.5°C target.
On a positive note, many high-quality reports and roadmaps highlight the path to a net-zero carbon future, which is affordable for most. The World Nature Positive Conference in Sydney also brought knowledge sharing to the table, emphasizing the urgency of national and international action. Among other developments, the NSW government has legislated a 50% reduction by 2030 and 70% by 2035 (compared to a 2005 baseline), which is a very responsible action and sets the benchmark for others (leadership in action).
Knowing how nations, communities, and people behave, action is expected to be slower than imagined. Governments and ideologies often hinder rapid progress. Nevertheless, I still feel that all the local to global discussions and some actions represent a move forward, though not fast enough.
Read this story and more features in the January 2025 issue of Impact Leadership – a digital magazine for leaders inspiring sustainability, net zero and impact. Access all magazines here.
