2016-05-10 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                        10 MAY 2016


Council has a strong history of addressing emissions reductions and energy efficiency, including:
    In 2001 Noosa Council joined the Cities for Climate Protection program committing itself to
      sustainable reductions in GHG emissions of both its operational and community sectors;
    In 2002 Noosa Council committed to reducing both community and Council’s operational
      sectors emissions by 20% below the baseline levels of 1996 and 2000 by 2010;
    In 2003 Council developed the Noosa Shire Greenhouse Management Action Plan to
      deliver the above target. It included a range of actions including buildings upgrade,
      biodiesel project, water & sewage improvements, purchasing of green power, street lighting
      upgrade, information dissemination, ecoBiz, Living Smart program amongst others;
    During amalgamation the Sunshine Coast Regional Council developed a Sunshine Coast
      Climate Change and Peak Oil Strategy with supporting policy documents to achieve its
      targets: Carbon Neutral Plan and an Energy Transition Plan. The Sunshine Coast
      Regional Council has committed to offset its electricity consumption from green energy by
      construciton of the Valdora Solar farm; and
    The Noosa Biosphere also prepared a Noosa Climate Action Plan “Preparing Together
      2012”.

2.    Council’s goals and targets
Council in its operations can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by establishing goals and
undertaking actions to reduce energy use and increase energy efficiency, for example, through
the increased use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy and by identifying energy
efficiencies in how programs and services are delivered to the community particularly in high
demand assets such as street lighting, council buildings and facilities, and our fleet.
The adoption of a Carbon Reduction Policy will strengthen Council’s commitment to reducing
carbon emissions from Council’s operations and the impact greenhouse gases have on our
climate.
The Policy identifies that it will drive greater efficiency in Council’s use of resources by investing
directly in appropriate actions, leading by example and measuring and monitoring progress.
An important aspect in measuring our progress is how we scale our activities. Establishing
accurate targets is crucial to achieving emissions reductions. While council has set an ambitious
and aspirational target of zero emissions in the long term, it is not possible to set accurate targets
particularly in the short term until we have a clearer picture of our current energy usage and
carbon emissions, technology options and costs. An important initiative for Council’s
consideration in the 2016-17 budget is a project to review these matters and once better
informed, Council will be in a position to set accurate targets and timeframes which can then be
translated into actions and incorporated in the Carbon Reduction and Energy Efficiency Plan.

Previous Council Consideration

Ordinary Meeting Minutes 24 September 2015, Item 17, Page 10

NOOSA CARBON REDUCTION & ENERGY EFFICIENCY PLAN
That Council note the report by the Sustainability Project Officer to the Planning &Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 15 September 2015 and:
A.    Agree to the development of a Carbon Reduction & Energy Efficiency Plan;
B.    Undertake a community engagement process to develop the Carbon Reduction & Energy
      Efficiency Plan as proposed in Attachment 1 attached to the report; and
C.    Refer the proposed budget for this project for inclusion in the next budget review.


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