Women in Energy & Renewables Summit

14 October 2026

Women in Energy & Renewables Summit

Nevenka Codevelle - CEO

Bridging Ambition and Action

Thank you, and good morning, everyone.

I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present.

I extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.

Looking back

I have worked in the energy sector for more than 25 years.

In that time, a lot has changed.

There are more women in energy.

More women are leading organisations, business units and major projects.
And more women are working across the full breadth of the sector, from commercial and engineering roles to policy, people and project delivery.

And that is reflected in the program of speakers here today, many of whom I have worked with over my career.

Twenty-five years ago, a program like this would have looked quite different.

That change is worth recognising.

It matters to the women who can now see a much broader range of careers open to them.

And it matters to the quality of the work our industry does.

Over the same period, the energy system has become more complex and the task before us has become more difficult.

We need people with skills and judgement to work across disciplines.

We need people who will test assumptions, identify risks, and make sound decisions in difficult conditions.

Bringing more women into energy has added to that capability.

The industry is better for it.

But one of the lessons from the past 25 years is that progress doesn’t simply happen.

It comes from choices.

Choices made by boards and executives about recruitment, development, pay and flexibility.

And choices made by women who enter the sector, remain in it and put themselves forward.

Australia has set a high level of ambition for its energy transition.

Turning that ambition into infrastructure will depend on our people.

We cannot deliver the transition while drawing on only part of the available talent.

Inclusive by design

I’ve seen the value of deliberate choices at ASL.

For those who aren’t familiar with ASL, we’re an independent delivery partner for Australian governments, helping turn their energy policy objectives into built energy infrastructure.

We do this through tender delivery, system planning and advisory services to support investment.

Currently we serve as the Consumer Trustee in NSW, tender delivery partner for the Commonwealth’s Capacity Investment Scheme, Scheme Administrator in South Australia and we’re also undertaking preparatory work for the NEM Reform Electricity Services Entry Mechanism.

Essentially, ASL is a commercial, financial markets and system planning technical organisation helping bring forward energy infrastructure investment for the benefit of consumers around the country.

Even 15 or 20 years ago, you might have expected an organisation like ours to be dominated by men.

But ASL had an advantage.

Established only five years ago, we had the opportunity to build an organisation from the ground up and think carefully about what we wanted it to be.

From the outset, gender equality was part of how we thought about our governance, our leadership, and our workforce.

Our Board Charter aims for gender parity.

We have maintained that balance since ASL was established.

Today, five of our eight directors are women.

Our executive has been broadly balanced from the beginning.

We have had two chief executives. One man and one woman.

Our senior leadership team is evenly balanced.

And across ASL as a whole, we employ more women than men.

We have also achieved strong results on pay.

Our latest results show an average total remuneration gap of 4.9 per cent and a median gap of 2.8 per cent.

Our median base salary gap is minus 0.1 per cent. That represents virtual pay parity at the midpoint and places us well ahead of the energy industry benchmark.

We’re proud of those results.

But equality is about more than representation and pay.

It is also about whether people can build and sustain a career while managing the other responsibilities in their lives.

That is why we place real value on being a flexible workplace.

Our people can work remotely where their roles allow.

We accommodate family and caring responsibilities.

And we have a gender-neutral parental leave policy.

These arrangements are available across our workforce, and our parental leave is being taken up across genders.

For us, being inclusive by design means fair opportunity, fair pay, career development and the flexibility to remain and contribute.

None of this happened by accident. It reflects choices made when ASL was established and sustained as the organisation grew.

We’ve backed that commitment through our approach to recruitment, pay and development, and we look at the results to test whether it is working.

Equality has never been separate from building a strong organisation. It has been part of how we’ve built ASL from the beginning.

From our organisation to our work

The broader lesson is that gender equality can be achieved in commercial and technical organisations, including in sectors that have traditionally employed more men.

The same principle applies to the energy infrastructure projects we support. Greater participation needs to be considered when projects are planned, not after workforce decisions have already been made.

When we assess infrastructure projects in our NSW Roadmap tenders, we consider a range of criteria including:

Financial value, including whether the project represents good value for consumers and the energy system.

Deliverability, including how likely the project is to be built.

And social value and First Nations benefits, including the quality of the project’s engagement with the communities it will sit alongside.

Merit Criteria Four, or MC4, considers the additional social, economic and community benefits a project proposes to deliver.

It covers four areas.

Local supply-chain development.

Employment and workforce development.

First Nations participation.

And shared benefits for communities.

Proponents need to understand the places where they plan to operate and provide credible plans, partnerships and measures to deliver commitments that respond to local needs.

In the workforce area, which can include employment, apprenticeships, training, regional workforce development, and opportunities for groups that remain under-represented – which includes women in trades and women in non-traditional roles.

We do this because social value should be part of how projects are planned and delivered.

It shouldn’t be an add-on consideration at the end.

Projects are built in places.

They draw on local workforces and supply chains and affect communities throughout their operating lives.

Commitments based on local priorities can build local capability and support better delivery.

Projects with credible workforce and community commitments are better placed to build trust, manage delivery risks and maintain support over time.

We have also started collecting specific information on women’s representation within the workforce commitments made in tender bids.

For projects awarded Long-Term Energy Service Agreements in NSW Tenders 6 and 7, proponents committed to women making up 16 per cent of the total project workforce.

That is above the 15 per cent minimum requirement for under-represented groups in the NSW Renewable Energy Sector Board Plan.

Sixteen per cent is a start.

But there is clearly more work to do.

A commitment in a tender response only matters if it becomes a job, a skill or a lasting career.

That requires proponents and their partners to follow through. It also requires measurement, so we can see what is working and what needs to improve.

Beyond individual tender rounds, we’re helping project teams improve how they plan and deliver social value.

This week, we’ve released a significant update to our open-access Social Value Toolkit. It provides practical guidance to help project teams plan, deliver and measure social value.

We’re also improving how we measure community, social and First Nations outcomes.

Better evidence will help us see whether commitments are producing real benefits and improve future tenders and guidance.

The principle is the same. If we want different workforce and community outcomes, they need to be built into projects from the beginning.

The capability to deliver

This matters because we have reached the hard part of the energy transition.

Delivery.

Governments have set the policy direction.

Industry now needs to finance and build generation, storage and transmission while maintaining reliable and affordable energy.

The amount of work ahead is significant.

Two-thirds of Australia’s remaining coal generation capacity is projected to retire by 2035. At the same time, demand is expected to increase.

Replacing that capacity calls for engineers, electricians, market specialists, and construction workers.

It also calls for lawyers, economists, financiers, planners, policy specialists, and people who work with communities.

It calls for people who understand environmental and First Nations matters.

And it calls for people who can bring those fields together and exercise good judgement when the choices are difficult.

Our constraint isn’t ambition. It is whether we have the capability to deliver.

Jobs and Skills Australia found that increasing women’s participation is key to building the workforce the energy transition will need.

Its Clean Energy Capacity Study puts the point plainly. The clean energy sector cannot grow at the scale required without the participation of half of Australia’s population.

That is the so what.

Women’s participation is not an issue sitting to one side of the transition.

Every woman who enters the sector adds to the available pool of skill.

Every woman who stays helps us retain experience.

And every woman who advances into leadership helps shape the system we are building.

The transition needs to work for the people funding it and living alongside it.

Australians expect reliable and affordable energy.

Communities hosting infrastructure expect to be heard and to see fair benefits.

First Nations peoples expect meaningful participation and respect for their continuing connection to Country.

Public confidence cannot be taken for granted.

We need professional expertise to design, finance and build the infrastructure.

We also need different lived experiences to understand how our decisions will affect the people and places the transition is meant to serve.

People with different experience ask different questions.

They identify different risks.

And they test assumptions that might otherwise go unchallenged.

Bringing those perspectives together helps us make better decisions and build greater trust in them.

We need that breadth because the choices ahead of us are difficult.

They affect how quickly infrastructure is built.

They affect what consumers pay.

They affect communities and regions.

And they will shape Australia’s energy system for decades.

Staying intentional

When I compare the industry today with the one I entered more than 25 years ago, I see real progress.

There are more women in the room.

There are more women shaping decisions.

And there are more women leading organisations and projects.

The energy sector has gained from our skill and judgement.

But progress isn’t permanent.

Without continued attention, it can stall or go backwards.

So, we need to remain deliberate. Employers need to provide fair opportunities to enter, develop and lead, and the flexibility that allows people to stay. Projects need to turn workforce commitments into real career paths, particularly in the regions where much of the new infrastructure will be built.

My own experience is that energy offers a career of real interest and consequence.

The problems are difficult, the work keeps changing, and what we do impacts every household, business and community in Australia.

Change has come from deliberate choices.

Australia has set the ambition for its energy transition.

We need to remain deliberate about retaining the gains and continue to build and support the inclusive workforce we need to deliver on our ambition.

Thank you.