The ACT has reached a nation-leading milestone of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% on 1990 levels, in fact achieving a 45% reduction.
Minister for Emissions Reduction Shane Rattenbury said the major achievement demonstrated the ACT's leadership on climate change and shows what can be achieved with an ongoing and dedicated commitment to climate change action.
The achievement is outlined in the 2019-20 Minister's Annual Report under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction ACT 2010, which Minister Rattenbury tabled in the Legislative Assembly on 3 December 2020.
The ambitious target stemmed from the 2008 Parliamentary Agreement between the ACT Greens and ACT Labor, which committed the Government to legislating a greenhouse gas reduction target based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, set in 2007.
The ACT Government's climate change actions and targets evolved and were reinforced through successive Parliamentary Agreements between the two parties.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said that the ACT's achievements is a result of the innovative approach the ACT has taken to reduce emissions.
"Over the past decade, the ACT has demonstrated national leadership in preparing our community for climate change. We were the first Australian jurisdiction to shift to 100% renewable electricity, which was the most significant factor in meeting the 40% reduction target," Chief Minister Barr said.
"The ACT Government has an ambitious agenda to continue taking action on climate change by reducing emissions from the ACT's public transport and waste sectors as we work towards our zero net emissions target."
Minister for Energy, Water, and Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury, said the ACT had reached a fantastic milestone in the climate change challenge, and now planned to turn its focus to the challenging sectors of transport and fossil fuel gas.
"While we should all be proud of these achievements, we are still faced with confronting reminders that climate change is here and its impacts are growing. Having declared a climate emergency we need to get on with the job of cutting emissions and making our community, buildings and infrastructure more resilient to the unavoidable impacts of climate change," Minister Rattenbury said.
"Emissions from transport and fossil fuel gas are the next big challenge for the ACT. The Parliamentary and Governing Agreement between the Greens and Labor parties makes significant commitments in these areas, to phase out use of gas in the ACT, accelerate the uptake of zero-emissions vehicles and build a big battery in Canberra."
The report outlines significant achievements in tackling climate change during the last year. Key achievements include:
- meeting the 100% renewable electricity target
- reducing emissions by 45% from 1990 levels
- committing to an all-electric Canberra Hospital expansion
- releasing the ACT Climate Change Strategy 2019-25 and Canberra's Living Infrastructure Plan
- removing the requirement for gas connection in new suburbs
- upgrading energy efficiency of public housing and continuing the Solar for Low Income Program.
The report offers a snapshot of the ACT's emissions profile in 2019-20.
Transport emissions decreased by 11% during 2019-20 in contrast to the around 2% annual growth observed in previous years. This decrease is most likely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in early 2020 that reduced travel.
Transport continues to be the single largest source of emissions in the ACT, accounting for 57% of the total emissions in 2019-20. Fossil fuel gas accounted for 21% of total emissions - a 1.3% decrease from the previous year.
Further detail will be published in the ACT Greenhouse Gas Inventory for 2019-20 which will be released in the coming month.
The 2019-20 Minister's Annual Report under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction ACT 2010 is available upon request.
