Impact X returns as marquee event of Climate Action Week Sydney

SYDNEY, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia's largest climate and nature summit Impact X returns for its fourth year as a marquee event of Climate Action Week Sydney, with 500+ attendees and 50+ speakers from across the globe converging on Sydney's Town Hall today.

This year's theme of "Towards a Climate Positive Future: Delivering Net Zero and Beyond" comes as record-breaking heatwaves and extreme weather events increase worldwide in a world warming beyond 1.5°C, including Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Critically, this year's will also strongly focus on the integration of indigenous and Pacific knowledge systems.

This includes kicking off with a panel featuring Dr Anne Poelina (Nyikina Warrwa Woman), Tui Shortland (Director, Te Kopu Pacific Indigenous & Local Knowledge Centre), and other First Nations leaders.

It will also be co-MCed by Susan Moylan-Coombs, Founding Director of the Gaimaragal Group, alongside Jeremy Liddle, Managing Director of Third Hemisphere.

Susan Moylan-Coombs will outline how indigenous knowledge systems represent untapped resources, given approaches such as the circular economy are actually age-old indigenous practices that could have been implemented hundreds of years ago.

Notable other speakers include keynotes from Clover Moore (Lord Mayor of Sydney), Matt Kean (Chair, Climate Change Authority), Johan Rockstrom (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), Dermot O'Gorman (CEO, WWF Australia), and Katie Kiss (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner).

Speakers focussed on the business community in particular include Kate Dundas, Executive Director at the UN Global Compact, Martijn Wilder AM, Chair of the National Reconstruction Fund, and Michael Battaglia, Mission Lead Towards Net Zero at CSIRO.

There will also be a special session featuring Keith Tuffley and Kat Bruce on their Ocean Science Expedition where they undertook a single-season crossing of the arctic Northwest Passage to raise awareness of  the six planetary tipping points in the arctic.

Event co-founder and director, Tony Gourlay, believes these conversations couldn't be more urgent, as record-breaking heatwaves and extreme weather events worldwide provide a sobering preview of challenges in a world warming beyond 1.5°C.

Tony Gourlay, Co-founder and Director of Impact X said: "People from across all areas of society - whether in business, government, investment, or otherwise - are encouraged to attend this landmark event that promises to deliver debate, discussion, and lots of big ideas to accelerate investment and collaboration across sectors, borders, and all levels of society."

Tim Ferraro, Director APAC at Land Life, said:: "Regardless of what is happening with the US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, it's all systems go in Australia from the perspective of nature restoration. If the US is scaling down, we've got other countries scaling up. It's providing an opportunity to drive more international capital to restoration work closer to home. Global firms are still getting on with the job - we see large companies putting out very large tenders for nature-based restoration carbon offsets, with a big demand for high integrity projects."

Michael Battaglia, Mission Lead Towards Net Zero at CSIRO, said: "Impact X will be again an important coming together.  We are now well into the net zero transition and some things are going well and some bits are proving hard.  But it is when things are hard and complex that we need to come together and learn from each other, and look at new ways to solve the hard problems."

The Impact X Summit will be held at Sydney Town Hall on March 11, 2025, with tickets available here.

Impact X is Australia's global climate conference organiser, bringing together industry, government, investors, and other stakeholders to catalyse solutions to climate change, restore the natural environment, and create the sustainable systems of the future. With its Impact X Summits, the company supports the growth and scaling of climate investment, technologies, and net zero innovation.

Third Hemisphere is a leading APAC-based PR and investment agency specialising in technology, finance, sustainability and climate, for innovators, leaders and investors who are breaking new ground and changing the world. Our mission is to help clients lead the conversation to create impact and become category leaders, through strategic and integrated communications across tier-1 news media, social, and digital channels. This drives commercial outcomes with their investors, customers, partners, talent, and governments. We also create and implement investment strategies and investor comms that drive the success of fast-growth technology ventures. Third Hemisphere was awarded 2024 Mumbrella PR Agency of the year, the 2023 Mumbrella Boutique Agency of the Year and 2023 SABRE Best Financial Services Campaign. Founder and Managing Director, Hannah Moreno, has also been awarded Mumbrella's 2023 PR Professional of the Year, shortlisted for Mumbrella's 2024 PR Leader of the Year, and was also finalist for 2023 PR Agency Head of the Year at the PR Asia Awards and the 2021 Women in Finance Awards.