Adelaide looks to become world’s first carbon-neutral city
Adelaide in Australia is a strong contender in becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral city, according to its Lord Mayor Martin Haese speaking at the sustainable innovation forum at COP21 in Paris recently. He plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 and said, ‘Out of any city in Australia, we are ideally positioned to grab this.’
Around Australia and the world, cities are announcing targets of zero net emissions, but so far only a handful of states and capital cities have signed the global Compact of States & Regions and Compact of Mayors — two UN accords that require signatories to publicly report their emission reductions.
In April last year, the South Australian Government and Adelaide City Council signed the two international agreements and jointly set the target of making Adelaide carbon neutral in the next 10 years.
Martin Haese said, ‘The state already produces 41% of its electricity from renewable energy, and 27% of South Australian households have solar PV on their roof. That’s the highest take-up in the nation.’
Between 2007 and 2013, the City of Adelaide reduced its carbon emissions by 19%, while gross regional product increased by A$4 million.
That reduction can be largely attributed to the greening of the city’s electricity supply — including large-scale wind and solar projects, and roof-top solarPV — and further significant energy-efficiency improvements in new and existing commercial buildings in the city.
