Tributes are pouring in for Chloe Munro AO, the founding chair and chief executive of the Clean Energy Regulator, who died on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.
Munro led the Regulator from its establishment in 2012 until 2017, overseeing both the introduction and demise of the carbon price scheme, as well as major changes to the Renewable Energy Target scheme.
She did so while dealing with a 2013 diagnosis of breast cancer and subsequent treatment.
In a message to personnel, current Regulator chair and chief executive David Parker said staff were "all heirs and beneficiaries of the very stable platform she created".
"It's an incredible legacy and we owe her a great debt of gratitude," Parker said, describing Munro as "our first and forever champion".
Munro's activities after leaving the Regulator included joining the board of environmental markets company GreenCollar.
GreenCollar chair Grant King, on behalf of the company, said the board was grieved by her passing.
"She brought wisdom, governance, experience and calm humanity to our company," he said, describing her as a "leader and change maker" in renewable energy, climate change, water management and economic reform.
"Chloe made us all better at our jobs," he said.
Elisa de Wit, head of the climate practice of Norton Rose Fulbright, said Munro was "a passionate, warm-hearted and colourful personality – the last time I saw Chloe earlier this year she had on extremely bright pink glasses!".
"She provided a wonderful contribution to the carbon and energy sector within Australia," de Wit said. "She is a great loss to the sector as she still had much to give."
Carbon Market Institute chief executive John Connor said Munro had provided "outstanding leadership through the tumult of Australian carbon politics with grace, humour and foresight".
"Chloe helped establish world-class markets for deployment of renewable energy, carbon farming and other carbon reduction crediting."
Connor's predecessor as CMI chief executive, Peter Castellas said "her impact was profound".
"At a time when there was a tumultuous policy environment, she elevated and valued the role of the carbon market and created an enduring legacy."
Munro mentored many women and men, and Pollination Group partner Megan Flynn described her as "steadfast, generous, motivating and a guiding presence in many of our professional lives".
"One of Chloe's biggest strengths was that because she was so genuine and open, she made leadership on climate change so much more accessible for others," Flynn said.
"I revere how she maintained her groundedness, bravery and impact orientation even through the trials of her illness over many years."
Pollination Group's co-founder, Martijn Wilder, described Munro as "a great leader, always positive, incredibly genuine, who made an amazing contribution to action on climate change".
Raphael Wood, founder and managing director of Market Advisory Group, said Munro "was patient, courageous, fiercely intelligent, and a wonderful mentor to those of us lucky enough to have worked with her".
"I hear her guiding whisper in my ear almost every day while continuing the work we started almost 10 years ago in building these markets. Her handprints will forever be cast in the foundations of environmental markets in Australia."
