This morning's tenuous link to industrial decarbonisation is about habits

By Max van Someren | 22 October 2026

This morning's tenuous link to industrial decarbonisation is about habits.

I've been coming to Adelaide for work since 2009 and I always pack my running shoes, on the off chance I can squeeze one in. Today it felt more important than usual. It's been a fairly slack week for exercise and I didn't want it to slide any further. So, a loop around the streets at dawn, past some rather lovely trees, and back in time for breakfast.

Here's the link. Earlier in the week I was at the Global Citizen NOW conference. It was a bit like hearing a motivational speaker. You come out convinced you'll exercise every day from now on. We heard, once again, about the enormous economic opportunity for Western Australia and for Australia as a whole if we get this right, and about how pressing the need to cut global emissions has become.

Today I'm at the HILT CRC annual conference with Bivios. This is the other half of the routine, where you actually turn up at the gym and the personal trainer explains how much work is involved. Costs, offtake, connections, technology risk and the long list of things that have to line up before a project can get off the drawing board. None of it is quick.

But the results do come if you keep at it. Most of the progress on industrial decarbonisation will be made by people who keep turning up to the hard conversations, particularly in the weeks when it would be easier not to.

You need both, I suspect. The pep talk gets you out of bed. The trainer gets you the results.

So, shoes on, and on with the habit. If you're at HILT CRC today, do come and say hello. I'll be the one walking slightly stiffly.