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TURN UP ACTION TO TURN DOWN EMISSIONS
Independent research has supported the strong emphasis that capital cities have placed on short-term actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A briefing paper prepared by the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) on behalf of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors (CCCLM) ahead of the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen confirms cities are crucial to achieving sizeable carbon emissions abatement over the next decade.
The analysis by ISF, part of the University of Technology Sydney, supported the CCCLM adopting the simple principle of reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions from within its boundaries each year from 2010; and in urging the Federal Government to adopt this principle for Australia as a whole.
It says in reversing emissions growth in the short-term, cities can act as a catalyst for long-term measures and planning.
The eight capital cities making up CCCLM have committed to slashing greenhouse gas emissions, in collaboration with other parties, by a collective 57 million tonnes a year by 2020 through a suite of actions.
This level of abatement is equal to a 41 per cent reduction on projected pollution figures if no action is taken nationally.
City of Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore MP, the Chair of CCCLM, said the ISF analysis added to the argument for Federal Government engagement with cities for actionson stemming global warming.
“The capital cities have the runs on the board in reducing greenhouse gas emissions – but we have to do a lot more,” Ms Moore said.
“Setting ambitious emissions abatement targets for 2020 and 2030 is not enough. Our first priority should be to stop emissions rising and start reducing them, not in 2020 but in 2010. Partnerships with the Federal Government and the community are necessary to achieve such outcomes.”
Capital cities are proposing the Commonwealth Government help them reduce emissions more effectively in the short and long-term, by:
1. Adopting tough annual national emissions targets;
2. Allowing voluntary actions to contribute to reducing emissions targets under the Federal Government’s proposed
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme;
3. Supporting aggressive energy efficiency measures;
4. Banning new carbon intensive power stations.
Clover Moore MP, and the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle have been invited to be Australia’s delegates at the Copenhagen-based Climate Summit for Mayors organised by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the international Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI).
“We will be advocating strongly in Copenhagen for decisive action by world leaders,” Ms Moore added.
The short-term actions cities will focus on, in collaboration with other parties, are drawn from:
1. Residential and commercial building efficiency retrofits
2. District combined cooling heat and power (CCHP)
3. Waste to energy technology
4. Street lighting efficiencies
5. Transport improvements
6. Employee Density/Residential Density
7. Renewable energy
The ISF briefing paper argues that the current international concentration on medium to long-term commitments created the risk of communities becoming cynical about such targets when scientists were warning that action was also urgently needed in the short-term.
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