Nikola is experienced across a variety of campaign areas, and explains the sometimes dry debate around climate policy, energy subsidies and renewable regulations in an engaging, informative manner. He is also able to comment on the climate change and energy policies of the major political parties in Australia.
In 2015, Nikola led Greenpeace's global campaign to protect the Great Barrier Reef from coal mining, successfully persuading international banks, including Standard & Chartered, against financing Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine in Queensland. The campaign continues.
Prior to joining Greenpeace, Nikola was an academic specialising in ancient history and has lectured at the University of Oxford, the Australian National University, and Sydney University. An Australian national of Macedonian extraction, he holds a PhD from the University of Oxford, where he was a Clarendon Scholar, and a BA (Hons) from Macquarie University.
“I spent all this time trying to understand how these ancient civilisations rose and fell – the cause of their decline – and I realised I couldn’t do that in a detached way when our own civilisation is in danger,” he says. “Climate change means the global food and water supply will be disrupted, and the basic necessities of life will be under threat.”
“Climate change is the most serious threat facing the human race. The extent to which we take action will not only determine whether we can live on a peaceful and prosperous planet but also how our generation will be viewed by our children and grandchildren. We can’t let them down.”