Could you tell us a bit about your significant successes in your role?

I joined Yara in September 2021, with the goal of progressing the development of Project Yuri, one of the world’s first industrial-scale renewable hydrogen and ammonia projects. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to jump straight in and lead the legal negotiations on Yara’s side, working across multiple teams and time zones to finalise the key project agreements. We navigated and resolved various complex matters including project execution, hydrogen offtake, Aboriginal cultural heritage, tenure and access, and environmental approvals. Project Yuri has received incredible support from the WA and Australian governments, and construction is scheduled to commence in late 2022.

In April 2022, I was promoted to the head of the legal function for Yara Pilbara and appointed company secretary for various Australian subsidiaries. I have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the boards of directors, management team, and throughout the business. In particular, it is very rewarding to see the high level of engagement and interest among non-legal staff in the legal training sessions that I have organised on topical issues such as new workplace health and safety laws, psychological safety in the workplace, and legal professional privilege in incident investigations.

What is the biggest risk to your industry or organisation and how are you contributing to prepare your organisation for this?

Climate change is the world’s most urgent and significant risk to human life, so decarbonisation is the one of the greatest challenges for every industry and organisation on the planet. Yara is one of the largest producers of nitrogen-based fertilisers which are critical for global food security, but also responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions due to the industry’s current reliance on natural gas. I am proud of my involvement in the company’s progress towards its net zero targets, particularly Project Yuri which will use a solar-powered electrolyser (rather than natural gas) to produce green hydrogen, which will be fed into Yara Pilbara’s plant to produce green ammonia. I also assist with Yara’s other decarbonisation initiatives such as carbon capture and storage opportunities.