As part of its commitment to accelerate the participation of women in Australia’s energy transition, AEMO has become a signatory to Equal by 30 global initiative.
The initiative, which has nearly 200 signatories, aims to increase female participation in the sector and close the gender gap by 2030.
AEMO CEO, Daniel Westerman, said the challenge of building all the new generation, new storage and new transmission that will be needed to transition our grids, will require thousands of additional skilled workers.
He said that if AEMO, and the broader industry, is to attract the people it needs to tackle these challenges, we can no longer recruit talent from just 50 per cent of the population.
“We need all Australians regardless of gender, race or beliefs to have a pathway to the energy industry,” he said.
“And we need to create a diverse workplace where people bring their own perspectives to work to help us tackle these tough challenges.”
This announcement is a coordinated approach across the three market bodies, with the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) also becoming signatories of this important campaign.
“At AEMO, we strive to be an inclusive organisation where our diversity represents the communities that we serve, and everyone has a strong sense of belonging, irrespective of cultural background, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, carer status or disability,” Mr Westerman said.
“AEMO is proud that since 2021, we’ve increased our overall female representation from 32% to 40%, hitting our 2025 target early.”
Australian Equality Initiative Ambassador, Nicola Falcon, said that in the energy sector, the gender mix is still nowhere near representative of the underlying population.
“We must inspire the next generation of women leaders in Australia’s clean energy industry on our journey to support the once-in-a-generation energy transition.”
For more information on the Equal by 30 campaign, please visit www.equalby30.org
ENDS