We’ve made real progress on our Climate Action Plan in its first 16 months. As well as delivering and starting work on around 40 actions, we’ve reached our first milestone of becoming net-carbon neutral as an organisation.
How we got here
Since we started recording our greenhouse gas emissions in 2007–08, we have worked hard to reduce our environmental footprint. As a key target in our Climate Action Plan, we set an ambitious target of becoming net-carbon neutral by 2022.
Net-carbon neutral means our greenhouse gas emissions are equal to zero, through both reducing and offsetting all emissions we generate.
We achieved this by:
- improving the energy efficiency and ongoing sustainability of our buildings
- installing solar PV across our buildings and facilities to generate green energy on-site
- buying 100% renewable electricity for our facilities
- increasing the fuel efficiency of our vehicle fleet
- generating emissions offsets from our FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) program
- buying emissions offsets for the remaining gap.
Where to from here
While achieving net-carbon neutrality is important, offsetting our emissions is only a temporary solution. Our focus remains on reducing our actual carbon emissions – which means we eliminate greenhouse gas emissions altogether, without the need for offsets.
Our next key target in the Climate Action Plan is to achieve 90% actual emission reduction as a Council by 2030.
We will do this by:
- reducing the use of natural gas at our buildings and facilities
- switching most of our fleet to low-emission vehicles
- installing more solar PV, including path and park lighting as well as on buildings
- harvesting alternative water sources to maintain our parks and gardens
- planting additional street trees
- increasing the land we manage for biodiversity.
Tracking our progress
You can now track our progress on the Climate Action Plan through our new website. Find out where we’re up to on delivering specific actions, and view sustainability data (including greenhouse gas emissions) in real time.
The Boroondara Climate Action Plan website also gives you resources to help you become more sustainable at home.
See where we are at with our progress for yourself on our Climate Action Plan website.
Did you know?
As a Council, our emissions make up less than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions in Boroondara. The biggest opportunity to tackle emissions rests with you – our community.
If you’re ready to make a change, big or small, we can support you. Find out more on our Local sustainability page.