About
Brisbane is the state capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the largest city in that state and the third most populous city in Australia with a population of approximately two million. The city is situated on the Brisbane River on a low-lying floodplain between Moreton Bay and the Great Dividing Range in south-eastern Queensland. Brisbane was declared a municipality, a city with its own local government, in 1859. The city was named after Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, who was a noted astronomer and the sixth Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.
Strategy
In August 2006, Brisbane City Council set up the Climate Change and Energy Taskforce with the aim of determining how to prepare and respond to:
• climate change
• increasing energy use
• rising petrol prices
• peak oil (when the global supply of oil begins to fall)
Brisbane City Council’s Plan for Action on Climate Change and Energy focuses on eight strategic areas
• Leadership and partnering
• Decision making
• Communication and education
• Strategic and land use planning
• Sustainable transport
• Preparedness for change, emergencies and surprises
• Natural resource management
• Research
Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman is determined that Brisbane will be Australia’s most sustainable city. Brisbane aims to become carbon neutral by 2026 and is currently aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 10 tonnes per household per year by 2012 with the final carbon footprint target of one tonne for each person.
The Brisbane City Council is working to achieve its targets by generating renewable energy from the city landfills and wastewater treatment plants and they have the largest GreenPower supply contract of any city in Australia. They are on target for 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2010. Brisbane City Council also promotes the use of solar hot water systems after having estimated that traditional hot water systems chew up 28 per cent of household energy consumption.
To make the Council’s transport services more sustainable, they buy accredited offsets for emissions, and they are working hard to deliver a major increase in public transport capacity through a commitment to buy 500 new buses. The city has pioneered Australia’s first public bicycle hire scheme and introduced the “superbus”, a 14.5-metre low-emissions bus capable of carrying up to 98 passengers.
The Brisbane City Councils' Green Heart CitySmart programme engages the residents at a personal and household level. They are working with communities to achieve a change house by house, street by street, and suburb by suburb that will help their city become the most ecologically diverse and sustainable city in Australia. Green Heart CitySmart is based on awareness, education and incentives, and they want to assist their residents in making choices that will lower their energy use and save money as well as improve the environment and their lifestyle.
The city is also spearheading a planting project of two million trees, including 150 000 native seedlings to be planted to celebrate Brisbane’s 150th anniversary, and Brisbane residents have already met their water saving target of 140 litres per person per day.
Sharing their vision and experiences with other leading cities in sustainability is essential to meet the challenging targets they have set. Joining the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Climate Neutral Network gives Brisbane access to the international experience required to meet their targets without wasted effort, says Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman.
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