Melbourne’s Zero Carbon Plan

The city of Melbourne is taking a giant leap towards reaching their target ofhaving zero carbon net emissions in the year 2020. The city council has propagated various programs and schemes over the last 8 years to achieve the ambitious goal. While they know that tremendous work is still needed to be done, the council is pleased to say that they are on the right track, and getting a lot of positive feedback and support from the community.

The Zero Net Emission Program started way back in 2003, and the city was internationally recognised then for its initiative and leadership towards environmental protection. In 2008 the program was updated to cope up with the demands of increasing population and carbon emissions. Today the program aims specifically to reduce carbon emissions across Melbourne in various sectors of the economy and community, including commercial, residential, transport, and energy generation.

As part of that the city council has identified four new key strategies to enable them  reach the ultimate goal within the time frame. The city aims to reduce carbon emission in the following proportions either by carbon offsets or through renewable energy sources.

1Commercial sector – 25% carbon reduction
2. Residential sector – 20% carbon reduction
3. Transportation – 20% carbon reduction
4. Energy Supply - 18% carbon reduction from conventional sources

Action Plan:

1.       Increasing government support for solar power in Melbourne to encourage households to install rooftop systems.

2.       Providing energy audits to households across the city alongside with energy saving tips.

3.       Assisting the commercial sector to improve energy consumption through the 1200 buildings program.

4.       Increasing the use of low carbon emitting vehicles and man powered mode of transportation like cycle through the Cycle Melbourne scheme

5.       Improving the city’s energy generation through renewable means.

Let’s hope that they manage to achieve their admirable goal, and that all Melbourne residents will do their part to support these initiatives as well as contribute their own steps to reducing energy usage from dirty fossil fuel sources.