By ZHINUO ZHANG and TING HAO
Melbourne is on track to becoming a carbon neutral city by 2020, environmental experts say.
The amount of carbon dioxide Melbourne generated in the 2015-16 financial year dropped by more than 8000 tonnes from 2011-12.
In order to limit global warming to 2 degrees C, Melbourne must lower greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 per cent per year, according to Melbourne city council's emissions reduction plan.
“We already achieved our 2018 target to reduce emissions from our operations by 10 per cent,” council senior sustainability officer Kate Noble said.
“In 2012 we became a carbon neutral certified organisation which involves reducing energy use in our buildings, purchasing renewable energy and offsetting any remaining emissions,” Ms Noble said.
Depending on the volume of carbon emissions Melbourne emits, the Melbourne City Council uses an online database to calculate the amount of carbon credits it should buy to offset emissions.
A carbon credit is a permit that allows the receiver to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide. This is an initiative that works to limit the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The council secured $4.4 million in funds from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to support the emissions reduction plan, Ms Noble said.
The council also intends to upgrade the energy efficiency of a number of facilities and to retrofit buildings.
It runs programs to reduce emissions from offices and apartments and has installed solar panels on many office buildings across the city, Ms Noble said.
“We have also committed to increasing the number of carbon neutral events, and carbon neutral products and services in our supply chain,” she said.
The 1200 Buildings program aims to support building owners and managers to retrofit existing commercial buildings.
In the past five years, 26 per cent of buildings in Melbourne were retrofitted according to the latest data from Melbourne Retrofit Survey 2015.
The Melbourne Climate Close-Up report suggests the 1200 Buildings program could potentially improve their energy efficiency by roughly 38 per cent. That is equivalent to a reduction in 383,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
But Ms Noble is calling for help from other levels of government.
“We need others to also take action to reduce emissions including other levels of government if we are to achieve this target,” she said.
Crown, the largest entertainment and hospitality resort in Melbourne, has invested in improving energy efficiency, water conservation and waste disposal.
It also gives customers the opportunity to offset emissions through their carbon-offset program.
The Green Star, developed by the Green Building Council of Australia is helping many commercial buildings reduce carbon emissions, and this rating system is the basic standard for every qualified sustainable building.
The 60L Green Building in Carlton is the premier green commercial building in Australia. It uses 80 per cent less water than other buildings of the same size and class, and has water efficient fittings installed in all bathrooms, showers, toilets and kitchen taps.
“We put lots of photovoltaic (PV) cells on the roof and it provided 10-30 per cent of the building common area electricity,” building officer Andrew Gemmell said.
This technology provided 100 per cent green power for office electronic equipment, lighting, air condition, hot water and others. Also, artificial intelligence used in many details, such as louvre windows and smart air system can keep air fresh and maintain temperatures stable in workplaces.
“In order to encourage more building owners to join in 1200 Buildings program, after they volunteered to sign the commitment pledge and agree to make action plans, their buildings, as successful cases, will attract top-grade tenants with high rent fees,” Mr Gemmell said.
The Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI) has been working since 2006 to promote the low carbon economy in Australia. It provides three types of services: NoCO2 certification program, carbon management strategies and an energy efficiency solution. The NoCO2 Certification Program is as one of the CRI's most successful projects.
CRI designed a long-term sustainability commitment to measure all emission sources in the productive process of FUJI Xerox in Melbourne.
“From the moment they chop down the tree, we started to follow the whole production cycle and tell the company which part was worth improving to reduce carbon emissions,” CRI director Nicholas Kapes said.
FUJI XEROX can show their environmental awareness to clients and customers by using the Carbon Neutral Product Logo.
City of Melbourne Chair of Resilient Cities and University of Melbourne academic Professor Lars Coenen said the council was leading the way in cutting carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality.
“There’s really a need to go beyond 'enough'. I think it’s important for the council to really show the gravity of the challenge of climate change. What cities like Melbourne should do is to aspire beyond 'enough' and actually show the leadership,” Prof Coenen said.
“They should show leadership in terms of going beyond these which are just enough for adopting measures to climate change and meanwhile show other parts of the world that solutions are being trialled that will help not just Melbourne, but basically the whole world to adapt climate change."