City action to slash emissions

5 November 2009

Australia's capital cities have committed to slash greenhouse gas emissions in collaboration with other parties.

The commitment follows new findings that reveal the cities can lower greenhouse gas emissions by a collective 57 megatonnes (million tones) a year by 2020.

Equal to 41 per cent reductions on projected pollution figures if no action is taken nationally, the savings would mean cities would contribute significantly to meeting the Federal Government's emissions reduction targets which range from a low of five per cent to a high of 25 per cent over the next 20 years.

Emissions considered included those from commercial and retail floor areas, residential dwelling and different dwelling types, and residential transport. It excluded activities outside the direct control of city managers, such as freight, industry, food production and consumption.

The cities commitment coincides with the upcoming Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December.

The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore MP, and the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle have been invited to be Australia's delegates at the associated Climate Summit for Mayors organised by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the international Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI).

The actions cities will focus on, in collaboration with other parties, are drawn from:

1.      Residential and commercial building efficiency retrofits: All the capital cities support the CitySwitch program. Approximately a 40 per cent reduction in lighting electricity consumption by 2015 through the introduction of more efficient lighting technology; and a 10 per cent reduction in appliance electricity consumption through Minimum Energy Performance Standards by 2020.

2.      District combined cooling heat and power (CCHP): Use of natural gas to generate electricity and harvest waste heat for the thermal loads in approximately 11 per cent of residential dwellings and 13 per cent of non-residential buildings in urban core areas and 6 per cent of non-residential dwellings in non-core areas by 2020. (Due to the low greenhouse intensity of hydro-electricity in Tasmania, CCHP was not applied to buildings in Hobart).

3.      Waste to energy technology: Divert 50 per cent of the non-recycled residential and non-residential waste stream from landfill by 2015 to produce methane for electric generation.

4.      Street lighting efficiencies: Convert 100 per cent of the urban area's street lighting to high efficiency LED lighting by 2020.

5.      Transport improvements: Reduce emissions through improving public transport, encouraging the uptake of cycling, improving private vehicle fuel efficiency by approximately 50 per cent, and converting a proportion of vehicles to sustainable energy by 2020.

6.      Employee Density/Residential Density: Reduce the commercial floor area per employee by 20 per cent by 2020, thereby reducing the energy requirements to accommodate employment growth. Also, increase population density, moving people closer to services, and building urban areas.

7.      Renewable energy: Replacing 100 per cent of low density residential, 80 per cent of multi-unit and 30 per cent of commercial building hot water systems with solar hot water.  In addition, 25 per cent of the remaining electricity used by residents and businesses in the urban boundaries is generated from renewable energy.

Clover Moore MP, the Chair of CCCLM and Lord Mayor of Sydney, said Australian capital cities were responsible for generating some 125 megatonnes of Carbon Dioxide emissions in 2006- 23 per cent of the nation's total emissions.

Under a do nothing scenario, that figure is expected to rise to 140 megatonnes by 2020.

"We already know that cities are a major contributor to emissions, but equally provide a significant opportunity to avert dangerous climate change," Ms Moore said.

"This research shows that through a series of actions the cities can reduce emissions by 57 megatonnes a year over the next 10 years.

"57 megatonnes is a substantial and necessary contribution to helping limit the dangers from global warming rising by two degrees or more from pre-industrial levels.

 "CCCLM's commitment is ambitious, but we can achieve these targets if government and industry partner with us.

"The actions involve changing and improving our workplaces and homes and how we move around our cities.

 "If these bold commitments can encourage government and industry to follow suit, Australia will be well on the way to meeting sustainable targets."

Media contact: Graham Cassidy, Cato Counsel, 0419 202317, or Deborah Wilkinson, CCCLM, 62 85 1672

 Media Release_101 projects to green our cities (153KB) 

  Media Release_Cities to lower carbon footprint (131KB)

 See the CCCLM targets (352KB)

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/2030/thedirections/projects/EnviroPerfProj.asp