The City of Sydney is to further slash its greenhouse gas emissions by using 100 per cent renewables to meet its electricity needs.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the renewables commitment endorsed by Council recently would see the City’s operations cut emissions by around 18,000 tonnes a year – equivalent to the power consumption of around 4,000 households.
Cr Moore said the City is to preference purchasing renewable power from community-generated sources, and plans to purchase only 100 per cent renewable energy generated by wind or solar PV to power its larger sites and offset the carbon emissions in the electricity used at small sites.
She said the decision followed intense efforts by the City to reduce energy consumption and emissions.
“Acting on climate change is the City’s top priority,” Cr Moore said.
“We were among the first to set science-based targets in 2008 and since then we’ve reduced our emissions by 20 per cent on 2005 levels,” she said.
“This decision by Council will allow us to achieve our commitment to reduce emissions by 70 per cent, 10 years ahead of our own 2030 deadline, well on the way to net-zero by 2050.”
She said the City was the first local government in Australia to achieve carbon neutral certification in 2011 and is part of the C40, a network of 94 of the world’s largest cities, representing more than 700 million people worldwide.
The Lord Mayor said cities play a crucial role in addressing climate change.
