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Council targets

Greenhouse gas targets

Most of our electricity now comes from renewable energy. This has been an important factor in reducing our own emissions. Compared to our baseline year in 2007–08, we’ve reduced emissions by more than 80%. One of the best and most cost-effective ways for us to keep reducing our energy use is by continuing to improve our facilities that use renewable electricity. However, these actions won’t be enough to achieve our new emissions targets. We’ll continue to invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy and other local projects and programs that reduce our energy use and emissions.

We have set a target to be carbon-neutral by 2022. We’ll achieve this by investing in greenhouse gas offsets that can be measured and proven. We have set this goal for one year after the adoption of our Climate Action Plan. This will give us enough time to work out the best way to achieve it. As we keep improving our own operations, we won’t need to buy as many offsets. This is because our level of emissions will shrink as we use less greenhouse gases.

Our greenhouse gas targets align with 4 objectives:

  1. Reduce energy use and pollution.
  2. Prioritise cleaner energy alternatives.
  3. Look for cost-effective approaches.
  4. Look for options that invest locally and offer lasting benefits for Boroondara.

When we set our targets, we thought about:

  • what we can achieve
  • objectives that’ll continue to push us to do better.

We may not hit every target, but we’ll do more if we have the opportunity. We’ll review our targets as part of an update to the Climate Action Plan in 5 years or sooner if required.

Key targets

We will:

  • be carbon-neutral by 2022
  • reduce our actual emissions by 90% by 2030 (compared to our baseline year in 2007–08)
  • reduce our actual emissions by 100% by 2040 (compared to our baseline year in 2007–08).

Supporting measures

  • install more 1MW (megawatt) solar PV (energy captured from solar panels)
  • collect 65ML (mega litres) of water from alternative sources per year
  • increase the number of street trees from 66,000 to 80,000
  • reduce the number of Council buildings that use gas by 50%
  • increase the land managed for biodiversity from 51 hectares to 61 hectares
  • make sure our vehicle fleet is 90% electric (or other low emissions options).