CITY OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Municipal Profile
Population: 56,965 (3.4 million in the metropolitan area)
Budget: US$133 million
Land Area: 36.5 square kilometers
Environmental Expertise: sustainability, energy conservation, waste management, water conservation, recycling
Issue Addressed
Air Pollution, Climate Change
Key Management Concept
Buy-in, participation, and trust are critical in creating a community-wide strategy for emissions reductions, turning a vision into a roadmap with concrete actions.
Program Name
Zero Net Emissions by 2020 Strategy
Program Goals
Zero Net Emissions by 2020 focuses on achieving economic growth, environmental improvements, and social cohesion by shifting mainstream business investment in buildings, plants, and power generation over the next two decades. Through consultations with key stakeholders, a detailed action plan was developed with concrete sub-targets to support this overall goal.
Reduce energy use in buildings across Melbourne by 50%, with council reducing its own energy consumption by 30% by 2010.
Population: 56,965 (3.4 million in the metropolitan area)
Budget: US$133 million
Land Area: 36.5 square kilometers
Environmental Expertise: sustainability, energy conservation, waste management, water conservation, recycling
Issue Addressed
Air Pollution, Climate Change
Key Management Concept
Buy-in, participation, and trust are critical in creating a community-wide strategy for emissions reductions, turning a vision into a roadmap with concrete actions.
Program Name
Zero Net Emissions by 2020 Strategy
Program Goals
Zero Net Emissions by 2020 focuses on achieving economic growth, environmental improvements, and social cohesion by shifting mainstream business investment in buildings, plants, and power generation over the next two decades. Through consultations with key stakeholders, a detailed action plan was developed with concrete sub-targets to support this overall goal.
Reduce energy use in buildings across Melbourne by 50%, with council reducing its own energy consumption by 30% by 2010.
- Increase renewable energy supply in the city by 22% by 2020.
- Increase council's renewable energy use to 50% of consumption.
- Achieve a 50% improvement in the energy efficiency of non-renewable power across the municipality by 2020.
- Appropriate or sequester 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide across the municipality, with council sequestering up to 50% of its own emissions.
Program Abstract
The Zero Net Emissions by 2020 Strategy was born out of the realization that more ambitious goals were needed if global climate change was to be stabilized. The strategy aims to end Melbourne's contribution to global warming by the year 2020 while positioning the city as a center for productive, knowledge-based industries and maintaining a high quality of life and care for the environment.
The project was inspired by council's achievement under ICLEI's Cities for Climate Protection Campaign (CCP) and the national Greenhouse Challenge Programs, and a desire to participate more actively in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) Expert Group on New and Renewable Energy Technologies. The strategy contains three core approaches:
- leading edge building design;
- greening the power supply;
- sequestering residual emissions.
To tie these strategies together the City of Melbourne developed a green productivity profile, a carbon trading market, and the Centre for Greenhouse Expertise and Technology.
Early consultation was undertaken to better understand the barriers to both the development of green buildings and uptake of renewable energy. A steering committee was established with key stakeholder representation from government and non-government agencies, research organizations, business, industry, and professional bodies. A roundtable meeting of chief executive officers (CEOs) from across Melbourne was held to pitch the idea and approach.
Melbourne City Council's initial feasibility study, Working Toward Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emission by 2020, started in 2000. Once the study indicated that the proposed goal was technologically feasible and economically viable, work on the strategy began and was completed by mid-2002, with council adoption in October 2002. Alongside council adoption, the strategy also received the endorsement of many key stakeholders in Australia and overseas included the APEC Expert Group on New and Renewable Energy Technologies.
Since the strategy was finalized in October 2002, the following actions have been undertaken:
- production of a summary document and a printed version of the strategy;
- distribution of key documents to stakeholders;
- promotion of the strategy at conferences, forums, and through local media;
- drafting of approximately ten Memoranda of Understanding between the City of Melbourne and interested organizations outlining their commitment to undertake pivotal projects;
- 13 of 28 key actions from the strategy are underway.
Furthermore, support for the strategy is ever increasing. Key state and commonwealth agencies, developers, research organizations, industry groups, government stakeholders, and industry leaders have demonstrated their support for the objectives of the strategy.
Financing
The development of the strategy was funded by city council (US$65,000) with some support from a state government grant ($10,000). The total cost of implementing the strategy over the first five years is estimated at $1.09 million, with an additional $322,000 in commercial investments. The City of Melbourne will finance some of this through annual budget cycles, with the remainder financed through grants and co-funding arrangements with partners.
Staff
The development of the strategy was staffed one day a week by a project manager currently on staff, alongside a hired consultant who conducting market research and produced the initial strategy. The implementation of the strategy had one full-time staff member allocated to manage project implementation along with in-kind support from partner organizations.
Lessons Learned
Creating a strategy for emissions reduction is a beneficial way of turning a vision into a roadmap with concrete actions. When developing the strategy, there was a need to build trust amongst stakeholders, particularly in group situations where confidential information was shared and needed to be managed discretely. Once information flowed freely, it became difficult to put a cap on the incoming information and opportunities.
Through the stakeholder process, the City of Melbourne was able to engage CEOs and senior staff from a diverse range of organizations to help in the implementation of the strategy. Furthermore, by holding stakeholder consultations individuals felt engaged and were more supportive of future projects and willing to collaborate.
Key Publications
City of Melbourne. 2003. Zero Net Emissions by 2020: A Roadmap to a Climate Neutral City.
City of Melbourne. 2003. Zero Net Emissions by 2020: Summary Booklet.
Contact
John Tunney, Manager
Environmentally Sustainable Development Branch
City of Melbourne
GPO Box 1603M
Melbourne, Vic 3001, Australia
Tel: +61-03/9658-9658
Fax: +61-03/9650-3572
Email: johtun@melbourne.vic.gov.au
Website
www.melbourne.vic.gov.au
