Page 4032 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 2010
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The Climate Change Council will promote community and business engagement in climate change mitigation and adaptation and help inform the development of the next action plan under the territory’s climate change strategy, weathering the change.
In 2007, the climate change strategy, weathering the change, and the associated implementation plan, action plan 1 for 2007-2011, was released. With the establishment of the new greenhouse gas reduction targets in legislation and the new implementation plan, action plan 2 will be developed and released next year. The key focus of action plan 2 will be on the pathway and the specific actions to achieve the legislated targets.
The bill also provides for the establishment of voluntary sector agreements between the minister and organisations, individuals or specific sectors. Sector agreements will provide the basis for groups or individuals to demonstrate their serious intent and willingness to address climate change by reducing their emissions. A regulation created under this legislation will outline the following requirements for sector agreements. A sector agreement will need to be consistent with the objects of the bill and include specific requirements for reviewing and reporting on the operation of the agreement.
Sector agreements may set out the climate change objectives for a particular enterprise or industry or a particular sector of the territory’s economy. They will set out strategies to achieve objectives, including a reduction in energy use, improved energy efficiency or use of renewable energy. They will set out strategies to promote or support research and development and innovation in technologies or practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or to adapt to climate change. They will set out methods to measure or acknowledge successes in meeting any targets.
The overall intent of this bill is to engage the ACT community and business sector in the collaboration needed to achieve a sustainable carbon neutral territory. There are many sectors of the local economy that could choose to enter into these sector agreements I have just outlined. As minister, I will be inviting different business sectors, such as the commercial office sector, to enter into agreements to reduce their emissions to agreed targets as part of the territory’s overall emission reduction effort.
Actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will need to be as efficient and as effective as possible. The ACT government is already engaged heavily in improving energy efficiency and exploring options for increasing the uptake of low emission and renewable energy generation.
The ACT’s electricity feed-in tariff was introduced in March last year and continues to be one of the most successful initiatives of its type in the country. In addition, a large number of recipients of the ACT government’s one million community energy grants program has used this money to help purchase significant solar panel installations with capacities of around 10 kilowatts.
In 2009-10, the government provided funding of more than $19 million in programs and rebates to help consumers reduce their energy and water consumption and their waste generation. In addition, the government is providing $2.4 million on a matched
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