Spotlight on: Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB)
Q & A with Arek Sinanian, PB’s Technical Executive for Climate Change
Tell us a little bit about your company.
Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) is one of the world's leading planning, sustainability, environment and infrastructure firms. Our services include strategic consulting, environmental studies, design, construction management, and project and program management. Our work spans transport, energy, water, resources, industry, urban development and defence projects.
In Australia and New Zealand, we have a 2500-strong team which offers technical expertise and local knowledge, supported by PB’s international network.
Sustainability is a focus in everything PB does for our clients, communities and the environment. We seek the most sustainable solutions for every project, and help clients to develop new responses to global problems such as climate change.
These are the main reasons I joined PB. Because of the wide range of skills and capabilities of the company, I can respond to the numerous challenges of addressing climate change.
What do you do for Parsons Brinckerhoff?
My title is Australia-Pacific Technical Executive for Climate Change. What this means is that my role spans all aspects of business development and services delivery, mentoring of young professionals, and developing our technical expertise in this expanding and rapidly changing field. In climate change work it is necessary to consider the sometimes conflicting requirements of economics, science, engineering and politics.
I’m also involved in work for the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] as a member of the Joint Implementation Accreditation Panel. I’m very grateful for PB’s support that allows me to be part of international action on climate change. The world has to change and we, its citizens, have to work out how we need to change, how fast and where we need to end up. I welcome the challenge of contributing nationally and internationally to these fundamental issues.
Why did PB decide to join the Clean Energy Council?
The Clean Energy Council is part of the essential advocacy which is assisting [and will continue to assist] Australia’s movement towards sustainable energy options and develop our skills and capacity to effectively and efficiently respond to climate change.
What opportunities do you see for your company in the clean energy area?
PB will continue to be a major player in the renewable energy, energy efficiency and related infrastructure development fields. We understand our clients are under great pressure to simultaneously increase their output, improve their production efficiency and exceed their environmental scorecard. PB’s niche is to offer conventional power generation expertise combined with our skills in clean energy technologies.
What positive initiatives has your company introduced/planned to be more sustainable?
PB is a carbon-neutral company. We aim to practice what we preach in terms of low carbon transport for staff, encouraging active transport, energy efficiency [in operations as well as the choice of office buildings], waste recycling and supply chain of consumables. We have a climate change policy, report annually on our sustainability measures and have ‘green teams’ in each of our offices.
What are some of the challenges for your company in advancing your clean energy interests?
We want to be a leader in advising governments and private industry in planning, designing and delivering a sustainable energy future. This year Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) celebrates 125 years and since our early days we have played a significant role in some of the world’s most innovative energy projects – our challenges include maintaining this growth, developing our talented people and keeping them engaged.
Which person in the renewable energy or environmental space would you most like to have around for dinner and why?
I would like to invite political leaders from Labour, the Coalition and the Greens along with scientific and renewable energy experts to a workshop before dinner to discuss the main issues, costs and benefits of moving towards a cleaner world.
I’d like Australia to lead the world in climate change response. But we still need to convince the political leaders that we are capable and willing to move towards a low-carbon economy and one which, much like the IT revolution, will provide a lot more jobs in the future than we might ever lose in the short term. Then we can all have some dinner to celebrate!
