Blue Mountains News

This voluntary standard ensures organisations are applying best practice when managing their carbon emissions. It also provides a rigorous, credible and independently verified assessment prior to achieving carbon neutral certification.

To meet this target, we must measure our organisation’s carbon emissions, reduce our emissions as far as feasible, and then purchase carbon offsets that equal our remaining emissions so our net carbon emissions to the atmosphere are zero.

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said Council had already reduced the carbon emissions from operations by 22%, under the Carbon Abatement Action Plan adopted in June 2016.

“Our Carbon Revolving Reserve has committed over $1.7 million to energy efficiency and renewable energy by reinvesting the financial savings into new projects,” he said.  

“Current projects include installing energy efficient lighting across Council facilities, replacing inefficient street lighting, and installing 289 kW of roof top solar panels on several Council facilities.

“Last year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned we have less than 12 years to reduce global CO₂ emissions by at least 50%, or face irreversible damage to our planet.

“It seems clear the single most important thing we can do to stop climate change is reduce emissions, and as the third council in NSW to declare a climate emergency, it's an issue we take very seriously.

“Council is constantly looking for opportunities to improve our operations and make sure sustainability is part of everything we do, and targets like this one are an effective way to encourage further improvement,” he said.