Page 3786 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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Climate change is likely to threaten water supply in the ACT through reduced rainfall and runoff into the ACT’s Cotter and Googong catchments. Water resources are likely to be further stressed due to projected population growth and changes in supply for irrigation, cities and industry and environmental flows. These events will place added strain on emergency services, health services and our critical infrastructure, let alone the personal and financial loss to communities and the financial cost on governments.
Cities are the major consumers of electricity and fuel and generate up to 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. It is here that we can make our biggest advances in reducing our emissions, while at the same time addressing the critical economic, social and environmental consequences of climate change.
The ACT government knows we will need to adapt and become more resilient into the future and is actively pursuing opportunities to reduce our emissions across the city. We are doing this through energy efficiency measures, the procurement of renewable energy and more efficient forms of transport.
The 2003 Canberra bushfire was the catalyst for the ACT government to take major steps to increase our resilience through measures including higher construction standards for buildings on the urban edge, a larger and more reliable drinking water supply, better emergency management and communication systems and greater community engagement to empower residents to prepare for emergencies.
The ACT has established greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets: a 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 and zero net emissions carbon neutrality by 2060. The majority of the emissions reductions out to 2020 will be formed by wind and solar renewable energy. The ACT is committed to generate 90 per cent of Canberra’s electricity from renewable resources by 2020. Amongst the many renewable energy projects having been undertaken in the ACT, a standout example is the Royalla solar farm, which was commissioned in late August 2014 and officially opened by Minister Corbell on 3 September 2014. On completion, this solar farm will be the largest installation of its kind in Australia.
Additionally, in November 2013 the ACT government passed the climate change and greenhouse gas reduction renewable energy targets determination 2013, providing for a 90 per cent renewable energy target, and on 17 April 2014 a request for proposals for a reverse auction for feed-in tariff entitlements for wind-generating capacity was released by the ACT government.
The government has established a bold and comprehensive strategy to make the ACT a more economic, social and environmentally sustainable city. The ACT planning strategy establishes how the ACT will develop into the future to meet the aspirations of the people and the environment, social and economic challenges. Canberra will be a city that makes it easier for people to make sustainable living choices, a city where everyone can take advantage of its network of centres, open spaces and modes of travel to enjoy a sense of wellbeing and to participate in a vibrant civic and cultural life, a city at the centre of an innovative, prosperous region that has established a clean economy.
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