our low carbon future strategy

July 2009

Our Low Carbon FutureCity of Boroondara Strategy

Balwyn NorthKew East

Kew

Balwyn

CanterburySurrey Hills

MontAlbert

Camberwell

Glen Iris

Ashburton

Hawthorn

HawthornEast

July 2009

Prepared by

City of BoroondaraEnvironment & Sustainable Living Department360 Burwood RoadHawthorn 3122

In association with

Net Balance Management Group (with assistance from Marsden Jacob Associates)

AcknowledgementsCouncil would like to thank the following groups and individuals for their valued contribution to the preparation of the Strategy:

Michelle Justus and Robyn Leeson (from Net Balance •Management Group)

Nadja Wiedemann (from Marsden Jacob Associates)•

Members of Council's Sustainability Working Group, and the •project's internal reference group.

Community members that provided feedback during the •project’s consultation phase.

Our Low Carbon Future - City of Boroondara Strategy

Contents

City of Boroondara StrategyOur Low Carbon Future

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 1

2. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 2

3. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................. 3

3.1 International context ....................................................................................................................33.2 National context ...........................................................................................................................33.3 Local context ...............................................................................................................................4

4. VISION, PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES ..................................................................... 54.1 Vision ...........................................................................................................................................54.2 Principles .....................................................................................................................................54.3 Objectives ....................................................................................................................................5

5. BOROONDARA’S EMISSIONS INVENTORY .................................................................. 6

5.1 Corporate emissions....................................................................................................................65.2 Community emissions .................................................................................................................7

6. STRATEGIC TARGETS AND PRIORITY ACTION AREAS ................................................ 8

6.1 Targets .........................................................................................................................................86.2 Priority action areas .....................................................................................................................96.3 Estimated savings from early actions ........................................................................................106.4 Complementary actions .............................................................................................................12

7. ACTION PLAN ............................................................................................................ 137.1 Corporate action plan ................................................................................................................147.2 Community action plan ..............................................................................................................16

8. MONITORING AND REVIEW PLAN ............................................................................ 188.1 Review checkpoints ...................................................................................................................188.2 Annual monitoring program .......................................................................................................198.3 Three year monitoring program .................................................................................................19


Page intentionally blank

1

heading


Since 2001, the City of Boroondara has participated in the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP™) and CCP Plus programs. Council has been involved in reducing greenhouse gas emissions since the early 1990s. In this time Council has undertaken a wide range of initiatives to reduce corporate emissions, and as a result, has stabilised corporate emissions despite some expansion of facilities and services. While this is a notableachievement,inlightofaneweraofincreasedcommunityexpectations,andachangingscientificand political context, Council has committed to stepping up its action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2008 — 2013 Council PlanidentifiedtheneedtodevelopastrategythatleadstheCityofBoroondaratowards a carbon neutral future.

The work to develop a new strategic approach has been completed and provided in two documents:

Our Low Carbon Future - City of Boroondara Strategy• Our Low Carbon Future - Background Report. •

Thestrategyallowsflexibilityinitsapproachtoaccountfortherapidlychangingpoliticalandsocialcontextsurrounding climate change and greenhouse gas abatement, and the emergence of new technologies and practices.

The strategy’s vision is drawn from the ‘Vision theme 2: Managing a Sustainable Environment’ within Our Boroondara – Our City Our Future:

“By working together and changing practices in our natural and built environments, we can help create a sustainable City and future.”

Thefiveprinciples thatwill support this visionhavebeendeveloped toacknowledge themanybenefitsassociated with undertaking greenhouse reduction measures:

Leadership by Council with the community1. Assuming a moral obligation to act2. Pursuitofmultiplebenefitsanda“noregrets”approachtoaction3. Action prioritised by impact4. Equity in both strategy and action.5.

The City of Boroondara proposes two clear and ambitious targets in the strategy:

• Corporate target - To reduce Council’s corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 30 - 40% below 2007/08 levels by 2020. • Council’s community measures target - To support programs and projects with the community that achieveemissionreductionsof12,400tonnesCO2-einthefirstyear(2009/10)andanabatementtotalof at least 50,000 tonnes CO2-e by 2020.

The strategy also includes an action plan for the initial three-year period that clearly prioritises improving energyefficiencywithinCounciloperationsandamongstourcommunityandbusinesses.

The strategy’s monitoring and review plan sets a number of review points when the relevance of various approaches and actions may be reconsidered. In this way, actions within the strategy can be either retired or expanded depending on changing Commonwealth and international frameworks.

1. Executive summary

heading

City of Boroondara Strategy

2

“Developments in mainstream scientific opinion on the relationship between emissions accumulations and climate outcomes…suggest that the world is moving towards high risks of dangerous climate change more rapidly than has generally been understood. This makes mitigation more urgent and more costly. At the same time, it makes the probable effects of unmitigated climate change more costly, for Australia and for the world”.1

The strategy outlines the City of Boroondara’s response to contributing to a safer climate future and sets a vision, principles and mid-term targets as a pathway towards the City of Boroondara’s low carbon future. The action plans detail key early actions towards achieving these targets.

The political and social context surrounding climate change and greenhouse gas abatement continues tochange.ThestrategybuildsinflexibilitytoallowCouncil to adapt to the changing external context. The strategy’s principles also intend to reflect themultiple social and economic benefits that manygreenhouse gas reduction measures provide — ensuring that Council takes a holistic and long-term approach.

Theapproachoutlinedinthefigurebelowhasbeenused to develop the vision, principles, targets and actions that are presented in this strategy.

The background report provides further information and rationale for the decisions and statements made in this strategy.

2. Introduction

1 Garnaut Climate Change Review: Interim Report to the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments of Australia, February 2008.

DEVELOPMENT OF THIS STRATEGY

Literature review

Establish vision and principles for carbon management

Scope and quantity carbon emissions

Set targets and objectives

Corporate Community

Develop action plan

Develop a monitoring and review plan

Model scenarios for the achievement of targets and objectives

Long term complementary actionsThree year corporate actionsFigure 1: Development of the Our Low Carbon Future – City of Boroondara Strategy

Our Low Carbon Future

3City of Boroondara Strategy


3.1 International context

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported that current global atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases far exceed the natural range of the last 650,000 years. As the concentration level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, so too do global average mean surface temperatures, resulting in some major shifts in climatic patterns and ecological conditions.

The IPCC states that in order to limit atmospheric carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) concentrations in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million (ppm), developed countries must reduce their emissions by between 25 - 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 - 95% by 2050. The report states that at a concentration of 450ppm, an average temperature rise of two degrees can be expected. Given that a rise in temperature beyond two degrees is likely to result in ‘dangerous climate change’ impacts, there is ongoing tension between what is considered achievable at the national and international political level, and what scale and speed of transformation may ultimately be required to deliver a safe climate future.

3.2 National context

The Australian Government ratified the KyotoProtocol in 2007. Under the treaty, Australia’s target is to restrict greenhouse gas emissions to 8% above 1990 levels during the 2008 - 12 commitment period. The Government has also set a longer term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% on 2000 levels by 2050.

During 2008, the Australian Government made a commitment to a 5 - 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (based on 2000 levels).

To support these targets, the Australian Government released its White Paper Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme: Australia’s Low Pollution Future in December 2008. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is a market-based, cap and trade

mechanism which puts a ‘price on carbon’ that is designed to flow through to an increase in thecosts of carbon intensive products and activities. It is intended that individuals and businesses will respond to this price signal and become more energy efficient and less carbon intensive in theirbehaviour and consumption choices.

In May 2009, the Australian Government announced further detail and some changes to its approach to emissionstradingandtargetsetting.Specifically:

The operation of the CPRS should commence in •July 2011, with enabling legislation tabled before Parliament in June 2009 Afixedcarbonpriceof$10pertonneatscheme•start up in 2011-2012 (compared to an original startpriceof$23)followedbyfullmarketpricingin the second year The adoption of a 25% reduction target by 2020 •based on 2000 levels will be activated if an international agreement is reached to stabilise emissions at 450ppm.

An important implication of the CPRS for individuals, businesses and councils is that many types of actions to reduce an individual’s or organisation’s emissions will no longer reduce overall emissions beyond the nationally adopted target.2 Under the current design of the scheme, the primary way that individuals could make an impact on Australia’s total emissions will be to purchase and ‘retire’ carbon permits created under the CPRS. Further information on how individual action will contribute under the proposed CPRS is expected later this year. This will include the release of a National Carbon Offsets Standard, intended to ensure greater certainty and credibility of any ‘carbon offsets’ purchased by individuals and businesses.

3. Background

2 For further reading on this issue, visit the Voluntary Carbon Markets Association website (www.vcma.org.au)


4

3.3 Local context

For over a decade now, an increasing number of local governments across Australia have accepted the challenge of responding to climate change and taken early action to reducing their emissions. Many councils were supported in this action through participation in the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) Australia Program3 delivered by ICLEI Oceania.

In 2001, the City of Boroondara joined CCP Australia and developed its original Greenhouse Strategy. The 2001 strategy set goals to reduce greenhouse emissions by 20% (below 1996 levels) by 2010 for both ‘corporate’ (ie Council operations) and the ‘community’ (ie the whole of the municipality). Since that time, Council has implemented a wide range of actions to reduce corporate emissions and to influencecommunityemissions.

Other policies and strategies have been developed that support Council’s greenhouse reduction efforts, including: Environment Policy; Purchasing Policy; Waste Minimisation and Recycling Strategy 2003-2010; Integrated Transport Plan 2006; and Bicycle Plan 2007.

While Council is not on track to achieve the corporate goal set in 2001, its investment in action has stabilised corporate energy use and emissions despite ongoing expansion of Council services and facilities.

The Council’s impact on community’s emissions is moredifficulttotrack,andCouncilhassignificantlyless ability to directly reduce these emissions.

Despite Council’s incentives and support programs, such as the innovative Living for Our Future program delivered in partnership with Swinburne University, Boroondara’s community emissions have continued to rise. Indeed, average per capita carbon emissions in Boroondara are understood to be amongst the highest in the world4.

The 2008 - 2013 Council Plan identified theneedto develop an up-to-date and integrated strategy to guide the City of Boroondara’s actions towards a carbon neutral future.

A key outcome of this strategy has been to review progress against the original CCP goals and set new targets and objectives for 2020.

3 CCP Australia has been delivered by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – Oceania in partnership with the Australian Government. It supports a program management framework to measure emissions, set reduction goals, develop an action plan, implement, and then monitor and review progress.4 According to the Australian Conservation Foundation’s recent Consumption Atlas, the average Victorian is creating 19.7 tonnes of greenhouse pollution per year, and the average Boroondara resident 25 tonnes per year.

Figure 2: City of Boroondara




4.1 Vision

This strategy’s vision is drawn from the ‘Vision theme 2: Managing a Sustainable Environment’ within Our Boroondara – Our City Our Future:

“By working together and changing practices in our natural and built environments, we can help create a sustainable City and future.”

4.2 Principles

Five principles have been developed to reflectCouncil’s thinking, and guide the selection of the strategy’s targets and priority actions:

Principle 1: Leadership by Council with the communityThis principle supports Council’s leadership role and commitment to contributing to climate change mitigation efforts in accordance with world best practice.

Principle 2: Assuming a moral obligation to actThis principle recognises the moral obligation for Council and our society to ‘do its bit’ in response to the serious long-term threat that climate change poses to our economy, environment and way of life. This principle acknowledges that per capita emissions in Boroondara, Victoria and Australia are amongst the highest in the world. Council assumes an obligation to go beyond legislative requirements to help create a sustainable future.

Principle 3: Pursuit of multiple benefits and a ‘no regrets’ approach to actionCouncil acknowledges that there are often multiple benefitsassociatedwith reducingourgreenhousegas emissions. The ‘no regrets’ approach is one in which actions to reduce our greenhouse gas emissionscanalsobejustifiedonothereconomic,environmental or social grounds.

Principle 4: Action prioritised by impactThis principle supports actions being developed and prioritised according to their ability to affect change.

Principle 5: Equity in both strategy and actionThis principle supports both inter-generational and intra-generational equity. Council believes that the burden of climate change mitigation and its impacts should not be deferred to another generation (ie our grandchildren) nor fall unfairly among the current generation (for example, on lower income households within the municipality). This principle also supports an emphasis on directly reducing Council’s consumption and emissions in preference to purchasing offsets, which can be considered ‘buying’ a solution due to access to funding to do so.

4.3 Objectives

The principles are complemented by a set of core objectives that reflect the combination of benefitsbeing sought through implementation of this strategy. These are to:

reduce Council’s own greenhouse gas 1. emissions reduce aggregate emissions for Australia2. reduce the impact of increasing energy prices on 3. Council’s budget reduce the impact of increasing energy prices on 4. vulnerable sectors of the community support the Australian Government to introduce 5. more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets increase local energy security through investment 6. in renewable energy sources.

Together with the principles, the objectives help guide the selection of strategic actions (Section 6.2) and complementary approaches (Section 6.4).

4. Vision, principles and objectives

heading


6

5.1 Corporate emissions

The City of Boroondara’s most recent corporate emissions inventory includes emissions from energy used in all Council operated and owned buildings, street lighting, Council fleet, refrigerant leakage,taxi and air travel5.

Corporate emissions for 2007-08,are presented in Table 1 andFigure 3 below, are classified by thesource of the emissions.

The emissions resulting from Council’s corporate operations totalled 26,837 tonnes CO2-e in 2007-08. The purchase of electricity for Council’s buildings is the largest contributor to corporate emissions (45%). The purchase of electricity for street lighting was also a large contributor (28%), while the purchase of gasforbuildingsandvehiclefueladdedsignificantquantities.

Table 1 – Corporate greenhouse gas emissions by source 2007-08

Source CO2-e (tonnes)

Buildings: electricity 12,242Street lighting: electricity 7,424Buildings: gas 2,839Vehicles: fuel 2,217Other Scope 3 emissions 6 1,787Refrigerant leakage (estimate only) 297Air travel 26Taxi 5Total 26,837

Based on this inventory, the highest priority areas for action to reduce corporate emissions are buildings and street lighting.

5. Boroondara’s emissions inventory

5 Emissions arising from Council’s own organic waste to landfill (eg. food waste from council offices) are not currently tracked separately and so have not been included in Council’s previous or most recent corporate inventories – all emissions from municipal waste are reported within the community emissions inventory (See Section 5.2). Council’s potential compliance obligations under the CPRS as it relates to landfill management will be addressed outside of this strategy in the short- to medium-term. 6 Refers to the emissions associated with the transportation, distribution, line losses, extraction, production and transmission of purchased electricity and natural gas.

Figure 3 – Corporate greenhouse gas emissions 2007-08

Buildings: Electricity

45%

Refrigerant Leakage

1%

Buildings: Gas11%

Vehicles: Fuel8%

Other Scope 3 Emissions7%Air Travel

<1%Taxi<1%

Streetlighting: Electricity

28%

Other Scope 3 emissions

Air travel

Taxi

Vehicles: fuel

Buildings: gas

Refrigerant leakage

Streetlighting: electricity

Buildings: electricity


heading



5.2 Community emissions

The community emissions inventory aims to estimate the total emissions arising from activities within the Boroondara municipality. The community inventory is based on a combination of Council data (for waste emissions) and default data (for residential, commercial, industrial and transport emissions) provided by ICLEI — Oceania as part of Council’s participation in the CCP Australia program. The data provided by ICLEI is based on 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data and reflects theBoroondara community’s proportionate share of Australia’s total emissions.

AsreflectedinTable2andFigure4,totalcommunityemissions are estimated at 1,762,694 tonnes CO2-e. The residential sector contributes the greatest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions (37%) followed by the commercial sector (32%) and transportation (26%). The waste and industrial sector emissions contributed 4% and 1% respectively.

Sector CO2 -e (tonnes)Residential (2006) 678,302Commercial (2006) 558,293Transportation (2006) 454,160Waste (2007-08) 62,545Industrial (2006) 9,665Total 1,761,694

Based on this inventory, the highest priority areas for action to reduce community emissions are in the residential and commercial sectors, followed by transportation. Waste is also an important action area given Council’s role in municipal waste management.

Residential37%

Waste 4%

Transportation26%

Industrial1%

Commercial32%

Figure 4 - Community greenhouse gas emissions by sector

Table 2 – Community greenhouse gas emissions by sector

heading


8

6.1 Targets

The City of Boroondara has proposed two targets for Our Low Carbon Future Strategy. The targets will become performance indicators for Council to track progress against and report on over time:

• Corporate target - To reduce Council’s corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 30-40% below 2007-08 levels by 2020.

• Council’s community measures target - To support community programs and projects that achieve emissions reductions of 12,400 tonnesCO2-einthefirstyear(2009-10)andan abatement total of at least 50,000 tonnes CO2-e by 2020.

The community measures target is an ‘abatement target’ based on potential emissions savings from Council’s priority community actions. It assumes successful ‘take-up’ of the priority actions by a certain number of households each year (for example, 500 households per year switch to solar water heaters in thefirstthreeyears,then250householdsperyearto 2020).

Additionally, Council proposes an aspirational ‘community goal’ for our municipality to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2006 levels by 2020. Council acknowledges that it has some influence over greenhouse gas emissionsgenerated by residents and businesses in the municipality, though there are many contributing factors over which Council has little direct control. Achieving a 30% reduction in the community’s emissions will require strong structural and policy commitment from all levels of government and a wide cross-section of our residents and businesses. Council will contribute to this goal through advocacy to the Victorian and Australian governments, implementation of projects in priority action areas (see Section 6.2), broader community education for sustainability, and continuously improving practices in our natural and built environment.

6. Strategic targets and priority action areas




6.2 Priority action areas

The highest priority action areas are based on analysis of the two emissions inventories (see Section 5), an assessment of potential actions against the principles and objectives as well as their likely contribution towards meeting the targets. Table 3 summarises the highest priority action areas and the types of actions that rate most highly.

Table 3 – Highest priority action areas and related actions

Priority action areas

Type of action

CorporateBuildings Energyefficiencyopportunities,inparticular:

co-generation plants for leisure and aquatic facilities•continued integration of Ecologically Sustainable Design (ESD) principles •and technologies across Council’s buildings and facilities (ie maintenance, refurbishments, and new buildings). In adopting this strategy, Council resolved that, where possible, all new Council buildings and major refurbishment projects be of 5 star equivalent standard7. Note: potential costs and savings from this action not yet calculated.

Street lighting Energyefficiencyimprovements,inparticular:replacementofMV80lampswithmoreefficienttwinT5lamps.•

Fleet Fleetefficiencyimprovements,inparticular:smallerfleetcarswith‘bestinclass’fuelefficiency.•

CommunityResidential Promotionandincentivestodriveuptakeofresidentialenergyefficiency

opportunities, in particular:

replacementofinefficientwaterheaterswithsolar(gasboosted)waterheaters•replacementoflightglobesandshowerheadswithmoreefficienttypes• installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems.•

Commercial Promotionandincentivestodriveuptakeofcommercialenergyefficiencyopportunities, in particular:

retrofitofexistingcommercialbuildings.•

7 The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has not released Green Star rating tools or certification directly applicable to Councils’ building types (ie municipal offices, leisure centres, libraries etc). As an alternative, Council is likely to establish an Ecologically Sustainable Design (ESD) policy to express its expectations relating to the environmental performance of Council buildings.

Corporate emissions estimate of savings

16.10t

26.80t

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

2007/08

Buildings (cogen)

Street lighting

Fleet

Savingsgap *

2020targetrange

CorporateEm

ission

sin

tCO2e('0

00)

40% reduction

30% reduction

Current emissions Emissions savings Savings gap Emissions target

Figure 5 note: Estimate of emissions savings from cogeneration power (at Ashburton Pool & Leisure Centre) was completed by Enman Pty Ltd (environmental engineers). Estimates of emissions savings from street lighting and fleet actions were completed by Marsden Jacob Associates (independent consultants).

Corporate emissions - estimate of savings

Figure 5 - Contribution of key 3 year actions towards corporate target


10

Substantial additional actions (such as purchase of GreenPower, CPRS permits and/or credible offsets) maybeprioritisedoncethestatusoftheseactionsismadeclearinthefinalnationalemissionstradinglegislation and National Carbon Offset Standard. The Council’s monitoring and review plan (see Section 8) provides triggers to review the external context and identify and assess new opportunities on an ongoing basis.

6.3 Estimated savings from early actions

ByimplementingthepriorityactionsoutlinedinTable3,itispossibletoachievesignificantemissionssavingsthat will contribute to the achievement of the City of Boroondara’s 2020 targets. However, implementing these actions alone will not achieve the targets.

The initial three-year action plan (Section 7) goes into some detail on actions prioritised for early implementation, and where possible, the emissions savings from these actions has been estimated.

The contribution that these early corporate actions should make towards achieving the 2020 corporate target is illustrated in Figure 5.

* The ‘savings gap’ in Figure 5 is the gap between the emissions savings achieved by implementing the initial three-year action plan and the emissions target range of 30–40% reduction by 2020. To close this gapCouncilwill need tocontinue identifyingand implementingnewefficiencyopportunitiesacross itsoperations.


Community emissions estimate of savings

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

2009/2010

2010/2011

2011/2012

2012/2013

2013/2014

2014/2015

2015/2016

2016/2017

2017/2018

2018/2019

2019/2020

Light bulbs Showerheads Solar water heaters Solar PV Savings gap

Yr 1 target - 12,400 tonnes saved

2020 target - 50,000 tonnes saved

Community emissions - estimate of savings

Figure 6 - Contribution of key actions towards Council’s community measures target



Overtime,Councilwillreviewprogresstowardsthetarget,andassessthecostsandbenefitsofinvestinginnewopportunitiesagainstthepurchaseofcarbonpermitsorothercertifiedoffsets.

To work towards Council’s community measures target for 2020, Council will be aiming to achieve substantial abatement from the prioritised community actions (Section 7.1). An estimate of the contribution these actions might make towards the 2020 target is illustrated in Figure 6.

Ultimately, the number of residents that take-up the various energy saving actions options over the comingyearsisuncertain.Inanycase,thereremainsasignificant‘savingsgap’forCounciltoachieveitscommunity target of 50,000 tonnes of CO2-e abatement by 2020. Over time, Council will need to identify and implement further complementary (and where possible, measurable) actions.

Figure 6 note: Estimates of emissions savings possible through supporting residential take-up of efficient light bulbs, showerheads, solar water heaters and solar PVs has been completed by Marsden Jacob Associates (independent consultants).


12

6.4 Complementary actions

While the initial action plans focus on the highest priorityactions(generallywherecostsandbenefitshave been estimated), the strategy also incorporates a range of complementary actions. These actions build upon Council’s existing environmental and sustainability efforts, and are consistent with the strategy’s vision, principles and objectives. Where possible, the impact of these actions towards achieving the strategy’s targets will be monitored and measured over time. Such complementary actions include (but are not limited to):

Contribution to local government advocacy •relating to: the national emissions trading scheme or alternative (in particular, the need for strengthened national targets, and recognition of additional individual mitigation action); support for energy efficiency andrenewable energy technologies and practices; and removal of subsidies with perverse environmental outcomeseg.FringeBenefitsTax for cars etc.

Continued advocacy for ongoing improvements •to relevant Victorian and Australian policies, regulations and incentives (for example, minimum sustainability requirements in building codes, minimum energy performance standards and labelling for electrical goods, planning permit conditions and incentives etc). Review of Council policies, financial and•business plans, and internal processes to embed an ongoing commitment to energy efficiency and sustainable practice andoutcomes.

Increasing sustainability activities across •Council, through:

the high-level Sustainability Working ◦Groupinter-departmental‘GreenOfficeTeam’ ◦environmental purchasing (supported ◦through membership of the ECO-Buy green purchasing program)encouraging staff travel and commute ◦via carpooling, biking, walking and public transport

biodiversity plantings and vegetation ◦maintenance on Council and public land.

Promoting greater community understanding •of climate change (both its causes and likely impacts), and engagement in being part of the solution (by living, working and travelling more sustainably etc) through:

the proposed eco living centre as a ◦sustainability learning and community engagement hubthe GreenHouse Project: A project ◦supported by Sustainability Victoria in 2009-10 aiming to conduct energy audits in 1000 households across the City of Boroondarapromoting take-up of Victorian and ◦Australian Government grants and rebates for residents and businesses (for example, home insulation, green loans etc)increasing provision of walking and biking ◦paths and infrastructuresupport for the ‘Walking School Bus’ ◦programsupport for community and kitchen gardens, ◦composting and worm farming.




This section outlines a preliminary plan for both corporate and community actions in the initial three years of the strategy implementation (2009-10 to 2011-12). As demonstrated by Figures 5 and 6 in Section 6.2, the contributions of these key actions toCouncil’sachievementofitstargetsissignificant,although not complete. Therefore, these action plans will be reviewed and updated as opportunities present themselves.

7. Action plan


14

Prin

cipl

es a

nd

obje

ctiv

es

addr

esse

d*

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2,

3, 4

Obj

ectiv

es: 1

, 2, 3

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2,

3, 4

Obj

ectiv

es: 1

, 2,

3, 6

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2, 3

Obj

ectiv

es: 1

, 2, 3

Res

pons

ible

de

part

men

t(s)

Eng

inee

ring

andTraffic(w

ith

supp

ort f

rom

E

nviro

nmen

t an

d S

usta

inab

le

Livi

ng)

Pro

ject

s an

d S

trate

gy

Leis

ure

and

Cul

ture

Fina

ncia

l S

ervi

ces

Add

ition

albenefits/im

pacts

Otherbenefits(iesocial,

envi

ronm

enta

l, ec

onom

ic,

gove

rnan

ce)

Up

to d

ate

audi

t of s

treet

lig

hts

and

impr

oved

cos

t m

anag

emen

t.

Sup

ports

Cou

ncil’s

Pub

lic

Ligh

ting

Pol

icy.

Stro

ng p

oten

tial t

o ex

tend

to

Bor

oond

ara

Spo

rts C

ompl

ex

and

othe

r aqu

atic

cen

tres.

Dem

onst

rate

s le

ader

ship

to

the

Ash

burto

n an

d B

oroo

ndar

a co

mm

uniti

es, a

s w

ell a

s to

lo

cal g

over

nmen

t and

aqu

atic

fa

cilit

ies

sect

or a

cros

s Vi

ctor

ia.

Impr

oved

ene

rgy

secu

rity

and

oper

atin

g sp

end

on e

nerg

y.

Impr

oved

air

qual

ity.

Impr

oved

sta

ff aw

aren

ess

of

vehicleefficiencyandsavings.

Sup

ports

mar

ket f

or in

crea

sing

ly

efficientcars.

Estim

ated

gr

eenh

ouse

sa

ving

s (tC

O2e

)

16,8

00 (o

ver 1

0 ye

ars)

1,24

7 (p

er a

nnum

)

1 to

1.5

tonn

es p

er

car /

pa

Estim

atedfinancialimpacts

Cos

t sav

ings

$500,000to

$600,000pa

$170,000pa

Fuel

sav

ings

between$350

to$1100per

pass

enge

r car

/p

a

$450to$600

per u

tility

/pa

Cap

ital c

ost

NP

V o

f cap

ital

cost

ove

r 10

years:$2.5

mill

ion

($943,000per

year

)

$1,029,000

Cos

ts a

re n

ot

significantly

diffe

rent

to

curr

ent c

osts

.

Tim

efra

me

Pla

nnin

g in

20

09/1

0

Impl

emen

t ov

er 3

yea

rs

(201

0/20

11 to

20

12/2

013)

Pla

nnin

g an

d im

plem

enta

tion

over

2 y

ears

.

Ong

oing

via

re

plac

emen

t ev

ery

2 ye

ars

Des

crip

tion

Rep

lace

7,3

70

MV

80 la

mps

with

moreefficient

Twin

T5

lam

ps.

Inst

all a

235

kW

coge

nera

tion

plan

t at

the

Ash

burto

n P

ool a

nd

Rec

reat

ion

Cen

tre

(APA

RC

)7 with

a

conn

ectio

n to

th

e C

raig

Fam

ily

Cen

tre.

Tran

sitio

n to

sm

alle

r and

mor

e efficientvehicles

eg h

ybrid

veh

icle

s,

and

6 cy

linde

r to

4 cy

linde

r.

Prio

rity

actio

n ar

ea

Stre

et

light

ing

Bui

ldin

gs

Vehi

cle

fleet7.1

Cor

pora

te a

ctio

n p

lan

7 Esti

mated

finan

cial im

pacts

and g

reen

hous

e sav

ings f

or th

is ac

tion h

ave b

een d

evelo

ped b

y Cou

ncil w

ith as

sistan

ce fr

om E

nman

Pty

Ltd.

* The

exten

t to w

hich t

hese

actio

ns w

ill ad

dres

s obje

ctive

2 (to

redu

ce ag

greg

ate em

ission

s for

Aus

tralia

) is de

pend

ent o

n the

detai

ls of

the C

arbo

n Poll

ution

Red

uctio

n Sch

eme o

r alte

rnati

ve fr

amew

ork.




Prin

cipl

es a

nd

obje

ctiv

es

addr

esse

d

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2,

3, 4

, 5

Obj

ectiv

es: 1

, 2,

3, 5

, 6

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 3,

4, 5

Obj

ectiv

es: 1

, 3

Res

pons

ible

de

part

men

t(s)

All

rele

vant

de

partm

ents

(w

ith s

uppo

rt fro

m E

nviro

nmen

t an

d S

usta

inab

le

Livi

ng).

All

rele

vant

de

partm

ents

(w

ith s

uppo

rt fro

m E

nviro

nmen

t an

d S

usta

inab

le

Livi

ng).

Add

ition

albenefits/im

pacts

Otherbenefits(iesocial,

envi

ronm

enta

l, ec

onom

ic,

gove

rnan

ce)

See

king

gre

ater

ene

rgy

efficiencybecomes‘Business

As

Usu

al’ a

cros

s C

ounc

il.

Identifiessignificantenergy

savi

ng o

ppor

tuni

ties

and

syst

emic

impr

ovem

ents

for

sust

aina

ble

outc

omes

.

Assistsim

provedquantification,

track

ing

and

repo

rting

of

emis

sion

s an

d co

st s

avin

gs.

Assistsinidentification

and

asse

ssm

ent o

f new

op

portu

nitie

s.

Fost

ers

colla

bora

tion

betw

een

depa

rtmen

ts.

Estim

ated

gr

eenh

ouse

sa

ving

s (tC

O2e

)

Not

cal

cula

ted

Not

cal

cula

ted

Estim


Cos

t sav

ings

Not

cal

cula

ted

Not

cal

cula

ted

Cap

ital c

ost

TBD

TBD

Tim

efra

me

2009

/10

2009

/10

Des

crip

tion

Rev

iew

Cou

ncil

Pla

n, re

leva

nt

policies,financial

and

busi

ness

pl

ans

and

proc

esse

s to

em

bed

prog

ress

to

war

ds s

trate

gy

obje

ctiv

es a

nd

targ

ets.

Est

ablis

h po

licy

rela

ting

to

min

imum

ES

D

in a

ll C

ounc

il re

furb

ishm

ents

an

d ne

w

build

ings

.

Impr

ove

man

agem

ent

of e

nerg

y us

e, c

ost a

nd

emis

sion

s re

late

d in

form

atio

n.

Ass

ign

acco

unta

bilit

y fo

r mon

itorin

g of

ene

rgy

use

and

cost

dat

a to

rele

vant

de

partm

ents

. E

stab

lish

proc

esse

s fo

r an

nual

em

issi

ons

inve

ntor

ies.

Prio

rity

actio

n ar

ea

Gov

erna

nce,

pl

anni

ng &

po

licy

Dat

a m

anag

emen

t an

d re

porti

ng


16

Prin

cipl

es a

nd

obje

ctiv

es

addr

esse

d*

Res

iden

tial

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2, 3

, 4

Obj

ectiv

es: 2

, 4, 5

, 6

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2,3

Obj

ectiv

es: 2

, 4, 5

, 6

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2,3

, 4

Obj

ectiv

es: 2

, 4, 5

Res

pons

ible

de

part

men

t(s)

Env

ironm

ent a

nd

Sus

tain

able

Liv

ing

Env

ironm

ent a

nd

Sus

tain

able

Liv

ing

Env

ironm

ent a

nd

Sus

tain

able

Liv

ing

Otherpotentialbenefits/im

pacts

Oth

er p

oten

tial

benefits(iesocial,

envi

ronm

enta

l, ec

onom

ic e

tc)

Sav

es re

side

nts

mon

ey o

ver t

ime.

Mar

ket s

uppo

rt fo

r lo

cal s

uppl

iers

and

in

stal

lers

of S

HW

H.

Pot

entia

l for

regi

onal

pa

rtner

ship

s to

bro

ker

bulk

-pur

chas

e.

Con

tribu

tes

to

chan

ging

com

mun

ity

attit

udes

rega

rdin

g su

stai

nabl

e en

ergy

so

lutio

ns.

Mar

ket s

uppo

rt fo

r lo

cal s

uppl

iers

and

in

stal

lers

of P

V

syst

ems.

Ong

oing

cos

t sav

ing

for r

esid

ents

.

Con

tribu

tes

to

chan

ging

atti

tude

s re

gard

ing

sust

aina

ble

ener

gy u

se.

Gre

enho

use

abat

emen

t (to

nnes

C

O2-

e)

Aver

age

4 t

CO

2-e

per

hous

ehol

d pe

r ye

ar.

Est

imat

ed

65 M

t ove

r 11

yea

rs

(from

1,5

00

hous

ehol

ds)

Aver

age

1 to

1.

5 t C

O2-

e pe

r hou

seho

ld

per y

ear.

Est

imat

ed

2,50

0 to

nnes

ov

er 1

0 ye

ars

(from

200

ho

useh

olds

)

1.5

to 2

t C

O2-

e pe

r ho

useh

old

per

year

.

Estim


Payb

ack

perio

d

4 - 7

yea

rs

(dep

endi

ng o

n el

igib

ility

for

reba

te &

futu

re

ener

gy p

rices

etc

)

40 y

ears

plu

s (w

ithou

t reb

ate)

App

rox

15 y

ears

(w

ith re

bate

)

Est

imat

ed s

avin

g on

ele

ctric

ity

$1,500to$1,700

per h

ouse

hold

ov

er th

e lif

e of

the

bulb

s (a

ssum

es

16 b

ulbs

per

ho

useh

old)

.

Upf

ront

cos

t

Cou

ncil

staf

f tim

e

Pro

mot

ion

cost

s

Hou

seho

lder

s pay$4,100

-$4,800per

SH

WH

Hou

seho

lder

s pay$11,000to

$14,000

Cou

ncil

staf

f tim

e (m

inim

al)

Free

to

hous

ehol

ds

Tim

efra

me

Laun

ch

2009

/201

0 un

til

2011

/12

with

op

portu

nity

to

exte

nd.

2008

/09

- 20

09/1

0 w

ith

oppo

rtuni

ty to

ex

tend

.

With

in

2009

/201

0 w

ith

oppo

rtuni

ty to

ex

tend

.

Des

crip

tion

Stro

ng

prom

otio

n fo

r the

re

plac

emen

t of

inefficientelectric

wat

er h

eate

rs.

Pro

mot

e st

ate

and

fede

ral i

ncen

tives

/re

bate

s (a

s av

aila

ble)

.

Targ

eted

pr

omot

ion

for t

he

inst

alla

tion

of s

olar

ph

otov

olta

ic (P

V)

syst

ems.

Pro

mot

e st

ate

and

fede

ral

ince

ntiv

es /r

ebat

es

(as

avai

labl

e) e

g vi

a S

olar

Sub

urbs

.

Pro

mot

e in

stal

latio

n of

energyefficient

light

bul

bs th

roug

h ‘L

ive

Gre

en w

ith

LES

S’ p

rogr

am

(in p

artn

ersh

ip

with

Low

Ene

rgy

Sup

plie

s +

Ser

vice

s(LE

SS

))

Act

ion

area

Sol

ar H

ot

Wat

er H

eate

rs

(SH

WH

)

Sol

ar e

nerg

y

Ligh

t bul

bs

7.2

Com

mu

nit

y ac

tion

pla

n

* The

exten

t to w

hich t

hese

actio

ns w

ill ad

dres

s obje

ctive

2 (to

redu

ce ag

greg

ate em

ission

s for

Aus

tralia

) is de

pend

ent o

n the

detai

ls of

the C

arbo

n Poll

ution

Red

uctio

n Sch

eme o

r alte

rnati

ve fr

amew

ork.




Prin

cipl

es a

nd

obje

ctiv

es

addr

esse

d

Prin

cipl

es: 1

, 2, 3

, 4

Obj

ectiv

es: 2

, 4, 5

Com

mer

cial

Prin

cipl

es: 1

,3

Obj

ectiv

es: 2

, 4, 5

Res

pons

ible

de

part

men

t(s)

Env

ironm

ent a

nd

Sus

tain

able

Liv

ing

Eco

nom

ic

Dev

elop

men

t

Env

ironm

ent a

nd

Sus

tain

able

Liv

ing

Otherpotentialbenefits/im

pacts

Oth

er p

oten

tial

benefits(ie.S

ocial,

envi

ronm

enta

l, ec

onom

ic e

tc)

Ong

oing

cos

t sav

ing

for r

esid

ents

.

Con

tribu

tes

to

chan

ging

com

mun

ity

attit

udes

on

ener

gy &

w

ater

use

.

Impr

oved

ass

et v

alue

an

d le

ase

rate

s an

d am

enity

of c

omm

erci

al

build

ing

stoc

k.

Impr

oved

hea

lth

and

prod

uctiv

ity o

f w

orkf

orce

.

Mar

ket s

uppo

rt fo

r lo

cal m

anuf

actu

rers

, su

pplie

rs a

nd in

stal

lers

of

gre

en b

uild

ing

serv

ices

and

pro

duct

s.

Gre

enho

use

abat

emen

t (to

nnes

C

O2-

e)

0.6

tCO

2-e

per h

ouse

hold

pe

r yea

r

Not

yet

ca

lcul

ated

Estim


Payb

ack

perio

d

Est

imat

ed s

avin

g on

wat

er a

nd

energyof$50per

hous

ehol

d pe

r ye

ar.

Not

yet

cal

cula

ted

Upf

ront

cos

t

Cou

ncil

staf

f tim

e (m

inim

al)

Free

to

hous

ehol

ds

Cou

ncil

staf

f tim

e

Ret

ro-g

reen

ing

cost

s es

t. at

$850to$1,500

per m

etre

sq

uare

d.

Tim

efra

me

With

in 2

009-

2010

with

op

portu

nity

to

exte

nd.

From

200

9-20

10

Des

crip

tion

Pro

mot

e in

stal

latio

n of

energyefficient

show

erhe

ads

thro

ugh

‘Liv

e G

reen

with

Les

s’

prog

ram

(in

partn

ersh

ip w

ith

LES

S)

Pro

mot

e gr

een

retro-fittingof

exis

ting

build

ing

stocke.g.office

light

ing,

air

cond

ition

ing,

el

ectri

cal

equi

pmen

t etc

.

Act

ion

area

Sho

wer

head

s re

plac

emen

t pr

ogra

m

Com

mer

cial

B

uild

ings

(Offices)

heading


18

8. Monitoring and review plan8.1 Review checkpoints

Our Low Carbon Future Checkpoints

First public strategic review of the CPRS?

Checkpoints

Carbonpricefloats

CPRS Introduced (carbonpricefixedat$10/tonne)

Australian Offset Standard Released

CPRS Legislation draftedCopenhagen ‘09

(National target set at 5, 15 or 25%)

June 2012

July 2010June 2010

June 2009

3rd Internal Review

2nd Internal Review

Council endorses Strategy

Review Points

1st Internal Annual Review


heading



8.2 Annual monitoring program

An annual internal review of the strategy and associated action plans will aim to ensure the strategy is on track to achieving its goals, to make amendments as required and to ensure that progress reporting is undertaken.

An annual review of the strategy would include:

Re-inventory of the City of Boroondara’s corporate •emissions. Preliminary assessment of progress against •targets. Analysisofthecostsandbenefitsofinvestment•inactionscomparedwiththecostsandbenefitsof purchasing credible offsets. Measure impact of implemented actions. • Review of the ability of actions to meet objectives •of this strategy. Where feasible, this will include a reportofactionsagainstfinancialcosttoCouncil(including cost of staff time) per tonne of CO2 saved compared with the current market rate.

8.3 Three-year monitoring program

A review of the strategy every three years would include:

Re-inventory of the City of Boroondara’s corporate •emissions. Re-inventory of the City of Boroondara’s •community emissions (from ABS). Assessment of progress against targets.•Review of the ability of actions to continue to •achieve a high rating against the principles. Development of an updated three-year action •plan taking into consideration the political context and new technologies.Analysisofthecostsandbenefitsofinvestment•inactionscomparedwiththecostsandbenefitsof purchasing credible offsets. Review of legislative, social and political context •with regard to climate change. Review feasibility of the strategy’s approach in •light of changes to social and political context and legislation.

Reporting indicators:The Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Guidelines will provide structure and clarity on relevant reporting indicators.

our low carbon future strategy

Documents