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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-12-06 Daily Xml
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Carbon Neutral Adelaide

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:45): I seek leave to make an explanation prior to directing a question to the Minister for Environment on the subject of a carbon neutral Adelaide.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Last week, I asked the minister a question about the government's goal to have Adelaide be the world's first carbon neutral city. Given the fact that the goal is now to achieve it by 2025, I asked how that can be achieved when Melbourne has a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2020. Not unsurprisingly, the minister responded aggressively in the following terms:

…there is a degree of confusion in the mind of the Hon. Mr Lucas…he is not comparing apples with apples…

He goes on to say:

…and the promises and the ambitions are quite different. Melbourne's commitment, as I understand it, is just for the city council. It does not apply to the city itself, it does not apply to the government's involvement, it does not apply [to the] residents of the city of Melbourne, and it does not apply to businesses. It is just for the operations of the Melbourne city council or, however they style themselves.

He then went on to aggressively attack me in other unflattering terms.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Not unusual.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Not unusual. I refer the minister to the City of Melbourne's website and their most recent publication called 'Zero net emissions by 2020: a collaborative approach to the next four years of action'. In that, the City of Melbourne highlights, 'Council operations make up less than one per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions of the municipality.' It also notes on page 4, 'City of Melbourne became a certified carbon neutral organisation for the first time in 2011-12.' The City of Melbourne says that, in 2011-12, they, as an organisation—that is, the council, the city—became a carbon neutral organisation and were certified as such.

On page 4 of the document, in outlining their Zero Net Emissions by 2020 strategy for the City of Melbourne, they outline their targets. In summary, they list them under the following headings: council operations and leadership, commercial buildings and industry, residential buildings, stationary energy supply, transport and freight, and waste management. My question to the minister is: did the minister in his response to the council last Thursday mislead this council in relation to this issue, or did he just misunderstand the issue?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and clear interest in making Adelaide the world's first carbon neutral city. I am very pleased with that interest. There are a number of things that are different, that set Adelaide and Melbourne apart. First of all, Adelaide has a unique partnership in that the city and the state government both commit to an ambition to making Adelaide the world's first carbon neutral city.

We are also seeing the community and business joining with us in this ambition. For example, I am advised that the University of Adelaide, which has a significant presence in the CBD, has already agreed to reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency and continue to engage their staff and student community in sustainability. I am hopeful that many more institutions and businesses will sign up to the Carbon Neutral Adelaide partnership program, like the university. Adelaide has also been internationally recognised for its measuring and reporting of carbon emissions. The Carbon Disclosure Project ranked Adelaide in the top 10 of 308 cities in the world for its comprehensive and transparent climate change reporting.

Between 2007 and 2013, the city's emissions were approximately 20 per cent lower, I am advised, and during this time the city's population and commercial office floor space has also increased. In contrast, I am advised also that Melbourne's emissions in 2013 were up on the preceding year and are forecast to keep growing until 2020. Adelaide's, and indeed South Australia's, efforts are being recognised around the world. For example, a recent opinion piece in The New York Times on 30 November 2016 praised Adelaide by stating:

…the Australian city of Adelaide reduced its carbon emissions by 20 percent from 2007 to 2013, even as the population grew by 27 percent and the economy increased by 28 percent. The city experienced a boom in green jobs, the development of walkable neighborhoods powered by solar energy, the conversion of urban waste to compost and a revamped local food industry. The city also planted three million trees to absorb carbon dioxide.

That is The New York Times recognising the city of Adelaide and the state government's ambitions. Also, just for your interest, I am advised that senior executives from IKEA and apparently Siemens have praised Adelaide and South Australia in front of audiences, including business representatives, both in Paris and New York respectively. So, we are well placed amongst international counterparts to achieve the goal of making it the first carbon neutral city.

The advice that I have had from my agency is that indeed we are different. Melbourne is doing carbon neutral for the city itself, the operations of the City of Melbourne. I haven't looked at the document that the Hon. Mr Lucas has been referring to and quoting about targets. I will find someone in my agency who has that document and check those claims, whether the targets in that document actually match up to Melbourne's ambitions for its own emissions or whether they refer to something more broadly.

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