William Chan

What do you remember about your experience training as a Climate Reality Leader?

I did the Climate Reality training with Al Gore in Melbourne.

I remember just being part of a community that actually felt international. And I think that's really important in Australia because we're so geographically isolated. It is hard to know what's going on in the rest of the world. People don't just come and pop over on the way to somewhere else. So it is much harder to get that exposure, to feel connected, to feel networked. But the Climate Reality Leadership Corps allowed not only me to do that, but it just felt that I was part of something bigger than myself.

How would you kind of characterize the state of climate awareness and concern in Australia now?

It's heartbreaking knowing that everything that we learnt, everything that we discussed and shared during the training is happening right in front of my eyes.

At the same time, there has been some progress, like, for example, on First Nations Indigenous understanding on traditional knowledge to really tackle wildfires or bushfires, as we call them in Australia, or with needing to mitigate flooding.

But more generally, the policy has been slow, especially from the country level. What's exciting is seeing how local governments have responded. I mean, I'm biased, having been elected in office for Sydney, but just having worked with climate networks across the country with over 100 local governments, municipalities.

It's not only the wealthy capital cities. It's also regional councils, which have had to really bear the brunt of the climate crisis. And they've had to really innovate. How do we actually make sure that we not only survive but can be a place that is truly regenerative, but also have shared wealth, shared value, shared services so that we can be doing not just the planet bit but the people bit as well.

You’re the youngest ever member of the Sydney city council. What made you decide to get involved in politics?

I've never been interested in politics. I've always been disillusioned, and to be honest, I'm still disillusioned by politics and how it works.

Towards the end of 2019, I got asked by the lord mayor and the deputy lord mayor of Sydney. I had just submitted an affordable housing challenge for the city council.

I spent the whole one-hour coffee meeting discussing my ideas on how to solve the housing crisis. And at the end, I was asked if I wanted to become the next councilor for Sydney.

I didn't say yes or no.

I have an identical twin brother who is much more into politics than I am. So actually that night I called him and said, look, there's an opportunity that's come up. You should do this. You actually understand how our system works and then how to actually disrupt it. Well, for me, you know. I'm an architect.

Soon after, we had the Black Summer bushfires happen in the state. While it was on the coast in the far south, so quite a long way away from Sydney, we actually had to start wearing face masks. Because the air pollution was that bad that it actually started impacting people's health in the city center.

And I just realized that it was actually my generation that will bear all of these consequences and these impacts. And I've been asked, I've been tapped on the shoulder. That rarely happens.

And so I said yes. I knew it would be a huge sacrifice. But I also knew it was something I had to do.

You’ve worked on a lot of great projects with the city council. Is there one you’re most proud of?

I got to represent the lord mayor in Dubai for COP 28 a few years ago now and that was the first one that actually had our first-ever COP Mayor Summit, or Local Leaders Forum.

I remember the lord mayor of Sydney always talking about her time in Paris, during the Paris COP. Not because of the Paris Agreement. Yes, that was important. That was groundbreaking and historic for the world. But more so because as that was happening, hundreds of mayors gathered at Paris City Hall, which was an hour away from the COP venue. And as world leaders discussed what they should be doing, cities were having their own conversation.

You've been in this space for a long time. What keeps you getting out of bed in the morning?

Well, sometimes it is actually hard to get out of bed in the morning. I think it's important to kind of acknowledge the realities, and I think this is why it is called Climate Reality.

The community isn't one that doesn't understand what's going on. It’s a science and evidence-based community. It is one that also understands what is going on locally in terms of the perspectives of who we work with. Because in order to find the right solutions, to be able to share our stories and our lived experiences of climate change, we also need to understand the realities that other people face, especially in terms of our audience and broader society.

In politics, I got to see the very worst of humanity in some ways, but also the very best of our communities. So it's about being grounded. It's also about the small wins. You can still balance ambition but do so in a way where the community is brought along in that journey, where they can actually see transformation occur.

Architecture taught me that every decision becomes physical. Policies eventually become streets, homes, parks and neighborhoods that people live with for decades, and I think that's the biggest part that wakes me up and gets me out of the bed.

The kind of infrastructure, the built, but also the emotional, the softer side of why do people belong. And how do they build community in a way that is resilient and

can future-proof the tests and the challenges that will keep coming at us? I think that's the part where we need to be ready, and we need to be equipped. And if our community is part of that, that's how we can actually be the most resilient.