Net Zero Emissions
Climate change is a critical issue that carries implications for generations to come. Identified impacts for City of Port Adelaide Enfield include:
- Increased flood risk placing pressure on stormwater infrastructure
- Increased coastal erosion and storm surges
- Higher temperatures – including more extremely hot days and heat waves
- More frequent very high and extreme fire danger days
- Decreased flows in water supply catchments (including the Murray-Darling)
- Shifts in conditions affecting viability of native plants and animals
For more detailed information about Australia’s future climate visit the CSIRO website and the Bureau of Metrology State of the Climate 2020 report.
Climate Emergency & Pledges
In October 2019 we declared a climate emergency, reflecting our ambition to provide strong leadership for our community in addressing the unprecedented threat of climate change. This was then followed by a commitment to the following five City Power Partnership pledges in March 2021.
- Establish a Net Zero Emissions target for the organisation and prepare a funded plan to meet that target;
- Investigate the establishment of a Council Virtual Power Plant;
- Complete a business case for Council’s consideration to enable a bulk replacement of streetlights to LED;
- Establish formal partnerships and work with local developers to deliver leading edge sustainable design outcomes in new developments across the city; and,
- Progress the rollout of electric vehicle charging stations to create a city-wide network of infrastructure that supports the transition to a low carbon transport system.
Climate Action
Since 2008, we have reduced its corporate greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 43% as part of the implementation of our former ‘Energy and Water Efficiency Management Plan 2017–2022’. Some notable initiatives included:
- Installation of 814kw of solar photovoltaic across 40 council buildings
- Installation of 85kw of battery storage
- Implementing energy efficiency and air conditioning upgrades
- Energy audits of high energy use sites
- A 10% reduction in consumption across electricity and natural gas and a 14% reduction in fuel has been achieved since 2008
- Purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles, hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs).
Corporate Net Zero Emissions Plan
On 9 August 2022 Council endorsed a Corporate Net Zero Emissions Plan (PDF, 3526.23 KB) to establish a pathway to net zero by 2030. As part of the plan Council has committed to ambitious targets to reduce its corporate greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% by 2025 and at least 60% by 2030 compared to the 2020–21 baseline (6,734 tCO2e).
Key initiatives highlighted in the greenhouse gas emission reduction pathway include:
- Renewables & Energy Efficiency – Solar PV, energy efficiency & purchase of 100% renewable energy electricity by 2023
- Fleet Transition – Transition Council’s light fleet to electric by 2027 & medium to heavy fleet to electric or hydrogen by 2030
- Waste Reduction – Reduce commercial waste to landfill
- Water Efficiency – Reduce potable water for open space irrigation and buildings
- Office Procurement – switch to low emission office & IT equipment & supplies and offset flights
- Refrigerants and Gas – Transition to low emission refrigerant gases and 100% electric buildings
LED Lighting
City of PAE in partnership with SAPN will be replacing over 6,500 streetlights in early 2024 with energy-efficient LEDs. As power prices continue to rise, LEDs will reduce our City’s power bills while improving street visibility and safety. There will also be an anticipated annual reduction of 272 tonnes of direct greenhouse emissions (tCO2-e).To find out more about the project click here.