Low Carbon West has received welcome acknowledgement at the end of a year of hard work by the project group to begin implementing the strategy.
On 19 November, members of the team met with the Minister for Industry, Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, who said she is happy to endorse Low Carbon West and the potential it represents for the WAGA region.
And just today, we received news that the strategy is a finalist in the Local Council category of the 2015 CLIMATE Awards by the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA).
The year proceeded as follows:
- In February, we set priorities for implementation. WAGA councils agreed to focus on actions to assist businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and tackle energy use. This was an obvious decision based on the fact that nearly half of the region’s total emissions are generated by non-residential buildings.
- We began communicating about Low Carbon West with business stakeholders. This included presenting on the strategy at events such as the World Environment Day seminar held by ebm-papst – Wyndham’s 2015 Business of the Year, Melton’s Business Resilience Forum and the Open Innovation West conference.
- WAGA participated in consultation with the Victorian Government on the review of the Climate Change Act and the preparation of the Energy Efficiency and Productivity Strategy and the Renewable Energy Roadmap.
- WAGA councils explored the possibility of offering Environmental Upgrade Agreements (EUAs) to businesses, as EUAs legislation was passed in Victoria. Those deliberations are ongoing, as councils weigh up the costs and benefits for their communities.
- We continued to explore how to develop the Urban Sustainability Atlas, a tool to encourage uptake by residents and businesses of solar panels, rainwater tanks and other sustainability measures, with CSIRO, Urban EP (Atlas project managers), City of Port Phillip and other regional greenhouse alliances.
- Most importantly, we drafted a Low Carbon West Business program to implement the main priority recommendations in the strategy: uptake of solar PV and energy efficiency measures by businesses. This program – and securing funding for it – will be Low Carbon West’s focus in 2016.
Photo: The WAGA Coordinator, Fran Macdonald, leading an ideas session at the Victorian Government’s Energy Efficiency and Productivity Summit in August.
(Posted by the Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action)
