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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-12-01 Daily Xml
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Climate Change

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:23): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement on the subject of South Australia leading action to tackle global warming.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: This year is set to beat 2014 as the hottest year on record, and the experts are predicting that next year will beat 2015 as the hottest year on record once again. We have no choice other than to take global warming seriously and to act on it, but what we do have a choice about is how and at what pace we act, and South Australia has chosen to lead. We want to take full advantage of the enormous potential in transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

On Sunday 29 November, the Premier and I released South Australia's new Climate Change Strategy. It is the result of an unprecedented level of engagement with business, community, researchers and scientists, including the advice provided by our expert panel made up of Dr John Hewson, Dr Frank Jotzo and Ms Anna Skarbek.

At the heart of the strategy is our target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. We will do this by growing renewable energy, encouraging innovation and the application of low-carbon technologies. Many of these initiatives will be showcased as part of our Carbon Neutral Adelaide strategy, which is underpinned by the sector agreement that the Premier and the Lord Mayor signed on Sunday 29 November.

This will include encouraging energy efficiency and renewable energy in the built environment, incentivising the use of electric and low-emission vehicles and applying smart technology for lighting and managing the flow of traffic and pedestrians. This type of innovation will not only help us achieve a carbon-neutral Adelaide and net zero emissions but, importantly, it will generate investment and jobs in these new sectors.

We know this is the case because many of the world's biggest companies are investing in low-carbon technologies. For example, two of Australia's largest companies, AGL and Origin, have joined thousands of the world's big businesses and investors alike, including IKEA, Nike and Goldman Sachs in the 'We Mean Business' initiative to address global warming, and it is this economic potential of transitioning to low-carbon economies that will be a big feature of the COP21 meeting in Paris.

In addition to politicians and policymakers, business representatives and investors will also be there, and both the Premier and I will be telling them loud and clear that, if they want to innovate and perfect the low-carbon technologies of the future necessary to halt global warming, they need look no further than South Australia, because this government is acting to prepare existing industries and drive growth in the clean tech sector by taking solid action against global warming.

We are acting in concert with South Australians, over 6,000 of whom marched for climate action on Sunday and the 75 per cent of whom, according to the Sunday Mail survey, who want more renewable energy. No other state is doing more than we are to lead a fair transition to a low-carbon future, and we will realise the economic opportunities as a result. I table the South Australia Climate Change Strategy 2015-2050.

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