Australia’s greening cities: Adelaide leads
Australia’s greenest city: Adelaide pulls ahead of Sydney and Melbourne, Guardian, Annie Kane, 12 Feb 16 Across the nation, city councils are tackling climate change at a grassroots level, with green buildings, electric transport and ambitious emissions targets. “……Last year, Adelaide city council and the government of South Australia announced that they were working in partnership to make the state capital the “world’s first carbon neutral city” (or at least by 2025). According to a spokesman, Adelaide City Council allocates 1% of total rates to its Climate Change Action Initiatives Fund annually. In 2015/16 this is $932,000.
An action plan is in the works for later this year, but it is hoped the program will bring $10bn of low-carbon investment to the state and eradicate nearly a million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
The state has also committed to match-fund the city’s incentives scheme so that all building owners and tenants installing energy-efficient devices could claim back some of the costs, ranging from $120 for energy-monitoring systems to $5000 for solar panels and energy storage systems.
“One of the things I noticed while in Paris at COP21 in December 2015, was the uniqueness of the partnership we have here in Adelaide between the city council and the state government,” says Adelaide’s lord mayor, Martin Haese.
“Effective collaboration between the city and the state is essential for real progress.”
Indeed, with the federal government still to announce details of how it will meet its COP21 commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 26 to 28% of 2005 levels by 2030, any work that can come from a state or local level is welcome.
Sydney’s lord mayor, Clover Moore, says: “As we know, the time for action on climate change is now. In the face of inaction from the federal government, we’re calling on other Australian cities to pick up our plan and help us get on with the job of tackling climate change.” http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/12/australias-greenest-city-adelaide-pulls-ahead-of-sydney-and-melbourne
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