Carbon Neutral Adelaide

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:02): I seek leave to make a brief explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for Environment on the subject of Carbon Neutral Adelaide.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Since the weekend, the Premier and the minister have made a number of statements publicly about Adelaide being the world's first carbon neutral city, based upon the release of the document to which the minister has referred in parliament this week.

In the Budget and Finance Committee on 2 November this year, the chief executive officer of the minister's department, Ms Sandy Pitcher, gave evidence in relation to various claims to be the world's first carbon neutral city. In summary, Ms Pitcher conceded that there are a number of cities making the particular claim, and she was then asked to provide evidence of the ones that were to be most competitive in time terms with Adelaide.

Ms Pitcher indicated Copenhagen had nominated a target dated 2024, but then went on to say that, when you scan the whole world, probably our only risk competitor might well be Melbourne, and they are looking at the end of 2019. So, Melbourne has already established a target, according to the CEO of the minister's own department, that they will be carbon neutral by 2019.

My question to the minister is: given the claim from the minister and the Premier that the target is, and I quote from the document: 'Adelaide will be the world's first carbon neutral city', and given Ms Pitcher's evidence to the Budget and Finance Committee, does the minister accept that if this target promise is to be achieved, the target date for Adelaide to be the world's first carbon neutral city will need to be no later than 2018?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for his most important question, which gives me an opportunity once again to spruik the leadership of the Adelaide City Council and the state government working together to embrace this very ambitious goal. The state and the Adelaide City Council are committed to creating a vibrant and sustainable city that attracts the best and the brightest to live in the city, but also creates our city as a showcase for clean technology and renewables.

We have committed to an ambition to make Adelaide the world's first carbon neutral city. The state government is working with the Adelaide City Council on delivery of this initiative, and on 29 November of this year, the government of South Australia and the Adelaide City Council formalised their partnership through the signing of a sector agreement under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007. On the same day, a shared vision for Carbon Neutral Adelaide was released. This document will be underpinned by the action plan, to be collaboratively developed in 2016.

In November of 2015, the Adelaide City Council released its Carbon Neutral Strategy 2015-2025, which outlines a target to have their own operations being carbon neutral by 2020 and a target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025, with an aspiration for Adelaide to be the world's first carbon neutral city. We have also released the foundation report by pitt&sherry for Carbon Neutral Adelaide, which scopes the carbon neutral commitment.

In 2012-13, the City of Adelaide generated nearly one million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, I am advised, from electricity and gas consumption, transport and waste. Stationary energy and transport were the primary sources of carbon emissions, contributing 60 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. Waste that was disposed off to landfill generated 5 per cent of the city's emissions.

The new approach will concentrate on realising the economic opportunity of the transition to a low carbon economy whilst focusing government funding on unlocking investment in South Australia. This will differentiate Adelaide from other Australian capitals and could also help to make Adelaide much more attractive to business. On 2 September of this year, Adelaide was selected to launch a new battery storage product, in part because of this initiative and because of our state's commitment to growing the renewables industry.

The Carbon Neutral Adelaide initiative is designed to drive further emissions reductions, increase the demand for renewable energy, build the state's green industries, increase resource efficiency, improve waste management, and facilitate the transition to cleaner transport modes. The City of Adelaide will be used as a testing platform for the rollout of successful mitigation initiatives across the state. Achieving significant emissions reductions will require innovative solutions and will provide opportunities for the deployment of new low carbon technologies.

Consultation on Carbon Neutral Adelaide was undertaken as part of the development of a new Climate Change Strategy for South Australia. Consultation occurred with key stakeholders such as the Adelaide City Council, the property sector, the transport sector, the Premier's Climate Change Council, the broader community and relevant government agencies. A workshop was held earlier this year, jointly hosted with the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Mr Martin Haese.

The members of the Premier's Climate Change Council and state government and Adelaide City Council executives used the opportunity to unite and discuss the way forward for Carbon Neutral Adelaide. Workshops organised by the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, involving government agencies and including the Adelaide City Council, research institutions and members of the Premier's Climate Change Council, have explored innovation and pathways and research opportunities to achieve the Carbon Neutral Adelaide vision that we both share.

In our early work, we have identified four key pathways to achieve this goal: increasing renewable energy; increasing energy efficiency in the built environment, which will be helped along, I might say, hugely by the legislation that was passed in this chamber today (the building upgrade finance legislation—we thank the chamber for their support for that legislation and look forward to its passage through the lower house); reducing emissions from the transport sector; and developing iconic offset projects in South Australia. Appropriate greenhouse gas accounting and reporting will also be important in achieving this commitment.

To support the Carbon Neutral Adelaide initiative, the state government has provided $150,000 funding for the Adelaide City Council's sustainable city incentives scheme to provide incentive payments to building owners and tenants, including businesses, residents, schools, community and sporting organisations, who want to install solar PV, solar hot water systems, energy storage and energy efficiency solutions, electric vehicle charging controllers, and, of course, rainwater tanks. These are important goals that we are uniting on and working on together. It is important that we take community and business and residents along with us in this ambitious target.

Yes, it is a race. Yes, a number of cities around the world have entered the race and made claims about when they're going to get there. Melbourne's claim, I understand, is that they'll become carbon neutral by 2020; Copenhagen by 2025. Whether you say it's the end of the year 2019 or the end of the year 2024, regardless, they are their ambitions; we want to beat them. Why wouldn't you, if you're a South Australian, want to beat Melbourne, even if it's only by one day?