Banyule City Council doubles down on aims for carbon neutrality

Banyule City Council (Council) has been building toward its new Climate Action Package and other renewable energy transition plans since its over-ambitious Energy Saving Plan (2014-2017) which set out to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020. Council was not deterred, indeed it has seemingly doubled its efforts after declaring a climate emergency in a meeting last week and joining the Solar Savers program. 

“This is a global problem that we must all tackle together, Banyule Mayor Cr Wayne Phillips said, “Banyule Council is proud to join with the Climate Emergency movement and will continue to act to ensure a safe and sustainable world now, and in the future.” 

“We have established an initial $5 million Climate Action Package to fund important carbon abatement work, such as energy efficiency improvement, sola panel roll out and the introduction of electric vehicles,” said Phillips. 

The Climate Action Plan backs up Phillips words, setting out concentration on nine “priority actions”, some of the key actions of which are: 

• Maximise renewable energy – pursue opportunities for renewable energy generation, such as solar or wind. Utilise alternative procurement of renewables through power purchasing agreements. 
• Reducing energy use in buildings by upgrading insulation, air conditioning, lighting and appliances, plus installing solar hot water systems. 
• Working towards replacing Council’s entire light and heavy vehicle fleet with electric or other zero-emissions vehicles. 
• Support our suppliers to reduce emissions from the goods and services they provide to Council. 

Council is keen for its community members to take a look at the plan, get involved and contribute to discussion by 8 November 2019. 

In addition to the Climate Action Package, Council has also announced its participation along with 10 other local governments in the Solar Savers program. Solar Savers is a bulk-buy program enabling residents to access affordable, high-quality solar PV through a new government-supported bulk-buying system.  

Solar Savers has selected reliable installers to provide high-end solar PV systems at affordable rates. The idea is to help pensioners and low-income households lower their electricity costs and take part in the energy transition. The major saving of the program is via a low-interest loan with Bank Australia which alleviates much of the prohibitive upfront costs faced by people on a tight budget. 

Participants in the Solar Savers program are also eligible for the Victorian Government’s Solar Homes rebate. You can register your interest here until the end of December 2019.