The Canberrans: Sophia Hamblin Wang

Posted on 16 October, 2020

She is a young Canberra woman who has found herself thrust into global environmental leadership positions.

Sophia Hamblin Wang has represented Australia at the first-ever UN Youth Climate Summit in New York and was chosen as one of 50 young people invited from around the world to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year.

Sophia says her connection to the environment began as a child, living a nomadic existence around Australia with her mum, aunty and grandfather, and based for several years in an 800-person fishing village in Far North Queensland.

Now she heads up Mineral Carbonation International, a Canberra-based technology platform that transforms CO₂ into building materials and other valuable industrial products.

In this episode, Sophia explains why she left academia to head a company on the front line of combatting climate change and how it is actually possible to suck carbon emissions out of the atmosphere and turn them into useable materials, such as cement and plasterboard.

She also provides insights into the level of polarisations she encounters at international forums where both Donald Trump and Greta Thunberg are present and how this year presented a turning point for action on climate change.

The Canberrans is a collaboration between Newcast Studios, Lonsdale Street Studio, Salon Canberra and HerCanberra.

If you want to sit back and hear the full interview in our podcast series go here.