Page 970 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 29 March 2011
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of our electricity has been generated locally. Despite recent growth in renewable power production, the majority of electricity in the national grid is sourced from the burning of fossil fuels. Nationally, in 2007-08 less than seven per cent was from renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind and solar.
While our government’s feed-in tariff policies are expected to increase our local renewable energy share up to 20 per cent over the next 10 years, the territory will remain dependent on electricity imports for the foreseeable future. The ACT government has been a strong supporter of the national renewable energy targets, but our own commitments to addressing climate change demand that we go further.
In 2007-08, the ACT’s net greenhouse gas emissions totalled 4.18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, excluding emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry. In May 2009, the ACT government announced a goal of zero net greenhouse gas emissions for the ACT by 2060 and enacted the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010, which sets ambitious targets of 40 per cent less than 1990 emissions at 2020 and 80 per cent less than 1990 emissions at 2050.
The act also sets an average per person target to peak by 2013, recognising that a priority challenge for the ACT is to halt the growth in per capita and total emissions as soon as possible. The actions we take to mitigate greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change are no less than a revolution. People will see a change in the way we do many things—in fact most things—especially in the sorts of jobs that underpin our economic and social wellbeing.
The government recognises and accepts that climate change adaption presents inherent problems and challenges of resource scarcity, including peak oil. When formulating and implementing policies to ensure a sustainable future for our city, the government gives due consideration to a range of factors critical to achieving sustainability, including peak oil.
The ACT government is currently in the process of developing a draft weathering the change action plan 2 to consult with the community on different pathway options for achieving the legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets. Draft action plan 2 will focus on greenhouse gas mitigation, ACT government carbon neutrality, community engagement, adaptation measures and monitoring and reporting. The final action plan 2 will be released this year.
Our transport policies are offering Canberrans more transport options and opportunities. The sustainable transport plan aims to increase the percentage of people walking, cycling and using public transport to work from 13 per cent in 2001, to 20 per cent in 2011, and to 30 per cent in 2026. According to the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University, Peter Newman, a new transport world is emerging based on electronic transport—electric trains, electric buses and private electric vehicles. He believes that this is occurring for several reasons, including that oil—the very basis of our transport economy—is fast running out.
The ACT is actively working to facilitate the rollout of an electric vehicle network, which will further support our transition to a clean economy. So far ActewAGL has
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