Climate Change

**PAGE CURRENTLY UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION**

At the March 2008 LGA State Executive Committee meeting climate change was determined as one of the LGA's highest priority activities for 2007-08.

This page provides information on the following areas:

• LGA Climate Change Strategy 2008-2012
• Climate Change Sector Agreement with the SA Government
• Climate Change Risk Management and Adaptation Program
• Beyond Carbon - Local Government Climate Change Summit
• Information Papers
• Climate Change Questionnaire Survey

The LGA hosted a Renewable Energy Forum on 26 November 2009 at the Old Town Hall, City of Unley. Please click on the links below for copies of the agenda and presentations.  

AGENDA

Local Government Renewable Energy Forum Agenda - 26 November 2009 (252 kb)

PRESENTATIONS

Renewable Energy - state of the State and Nation - Tim OLoughlin - Presentation (480 kb)
RECs Who What When Where - Dr Tim Moore - Presentation (303 kb)
Wind and Solar Renewable Energy Type Costs Efficiencies Futures - Professor Mike Young - Presentation (353 kb)
Renewable Energy solutions for Councils and Communities - Richard Turner - Presentation (850 kb)
Council Case Study - Ian Baldwin - Presentation (1184 kb)
Council Case Studies - Phil Cameron - Presentation (8800 kb)
Council Case Studies - Roy Ramage - Presentation (486 kb)

Dave Barry - Acting Director, Development services City of Towong, VIC - presentation can be found at  http://prezi.com/d-8ncw_pbrzy/view/

More detail on information presented at the forum can be found at:

file://www.solarprogram.com.au/ outlining the City of Victor Harbours C-PREP program.

A podcast of Roy Ramage's presentation can be found here - http://tr.im/roylga.

For more information please contact Adam Gray, Senior Policy Officer - Sustainability at the LGA on (08) 8224 2055 or email adam.gray@lga.sa.gov.au.

In late 2008 the Local Government Association engaged LUCID Consulting Engineers to summarise the available opportunities for increased energy efficiency within the major application of public lighting in South Australia. The report has now been finalised and it explores all best practice high efficiency lighting systems in use throughout the world and those presently in development. The report also makes comparisons with the present widely used systems within the State using various technical metrics while making basic cost-benefit comparisons for each possible technology. The result of the report is a range of suggested energy efficient alternatives to the public lighting systems presently used within South Australia. 

New Technology Sustainable Public Lighting Implementation Guide - August 2009

Sustainable Public Lighting Technical Feasibility Report- August 2009

Public Lighting Forum 

On 26 August 2009 the LGA hosted a Forum to discuss the outcomes of the Sustainable Public Lighting Technical Feasibility Report and Implementation Guide and determine a path forward. The Forum was held at Local Government House, 16 Hutt Street and involved presentations from ETSA, LUCID engineering, City of Charles Sturt, Campbelltown City Council and Local Government Corporate Services.  Please refer to attachments below for copies of the presentations.

LGA Public Lighting Forum - Feasibility of New Technologies (4858 kb)
LGA Public Lighting Forum - Local Government Corporate Services (1484 kb)
LGA Public LIghting Forum - New Technology Implementation Guide (177 kb)
LGA Public Lighting Forum - Public Lighting Audit (34 kb)
LGA Public Lighting Forum - Public Lighting in City of Charles Sturt (1493 kb)

The LGA Climate Change Strategy has now been finalised following Council feedback and LGA State Executive Committee endorsement. A copy of the Strategy can be accessed here.

The strategy encompasses a broader (but highly consistent) focus than that covered within the sector agreement. The strategy will focus LGA effort on climate change across the following areas:

1. ADAPTATION

Goal - Identify and adapt to the long term physical impact of climate change in this state

Focus Areas -

• Knowledge and Research
• Adaptation Action

2. MITIGATION

Goal - Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint of the local government sector and community

Focus Areas -

• Living in a Carbon Economy
• Reducing Carbon Footprint - Improving Energy Efficiency

3. LEADERSHIP

Goal - Provide leadership and build capacity of local government and the community to manage climate change risk and opportunity

Focus Areas -

• Council Support & Engagement
• Partnerships and Collaboration
• Awareness and Education

Work is already well underway in a number of the strategy areas including:

• the formation of a Climate Change Technical Panel to provide access to sound, relevant, credible scientific and specialist advice;
• preparation of a response to the Australian Government greenpaper on the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in conjunction with ALGA and Dr Tim Moore from BalanceCarbon (refer LGA Circular 40.6);
• ongoing liaison with Mutual Liability Scheme in relation to their Climate Change Risk Assessment project (refer LGA Circular 37.1);
• development of a climate change training and development program for 2009; and
• ongoing liaison with a range of government and non-government agencies on opportunities for future collaboration.

In the development of the LGA's strategic climate change approach and project, the LGA Secretariat has been acutely aware of the need to effectively collaborate with the SA Government and their climate change initiatives. This will ensure that the LGA's project, complements SA Government initiatives and attracts its support and assistance. The development of a sector agreement under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007 was an agreed key objective for State and Local Government for the first half of 2008 as Councils need expert assistance to develop localised strategies and targets to:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their Council operations; and
• Provide community leadership to encourage citizens to commit to local, State and national strategies and targets for households and businesses.

The attached agreement was signed at the Local Government Climate Change Summit on 4 June, 2008, by SA Premier the Honourable Mike Rann MP, and LGA President, Mayor Joy Baluch AM. The draft annual program which forms a schedule to the agreement is the subject of a 12 week consultation period with Councils and State agencies. Please refer to Circular 23.5 for further information.

South Australian Local Government Sector Agreement - Climate Change (365 kb)

Schedule 1 of the Agreement

Following the signing of the Local Government Climate Change Sector Agreement by the Premier and LGA President on 5 June 2008, a 12 week consultation on the draft 'Annual Program for 2008-09' (Schedule 1 of the agreement) was undertaken, providing opportunity for Councils and State Government agencies to provide feedback on the anticipated program for 2008-09 across the agreements ten focus areas:

1. More efficient public lighting (including street lighting)
2. Collaboration and information exchange on green power procurement
3. Council business risk assessment and adaptation planning
4. Regional and community climate change impact assessment and adaptation
5. Offsets and sequestration
6. Energy efficiency
7. Community education and behaviour change
8. Information provision across government
9. Strategic planning
10. Emissions trading

Feedback generally indicated support for the activities within the agreement schedule, however the following recurring issues were highlighted by Councils and have also been more explicitly incorporated into the revised schedule:

• increased emphasis on measures to assist future adaptation to climate change, particularly in relation to water resource management, conservation and reuse, including stormwater harvesting;
• greater emphasis on integrating climate change and sustainability within planning and development frameworks (including transport systems), particularly in light of the Planning and Development Review 2008; and
• consideration of more equitable and ongoing cost-sharing arrangements between State and Local Government.

The finalised Sector Agreement Schedule of Priorities is available here.
Final - Schedule - Climate Change Sector Agreement 2008 (46 kb)

LGAMLS is developing a Climate Change Risk Management and Adaptation Program to Councils (refer LGA Circular 10.7). Operational risks issues that will arise from climate change scenarios are rapidly evolving with the potential impacts across entire Council operations. 

The LGAMLS Risk Assessment and Adaptation Program has been developed to deliver a consistent industry approach for Councils to follow and will use the following documents and standards within its program:

• Climate Change Impacts & Risk Management - A Guide for Business & Government;
• Climate Change - Adaptation Actions for Local Government;
• Standards Australia AS/NZ 4360: 2004 Risk Management; and
• CSIRO, Climate Change In Australia: Technical Report 2007.

The above documents are being used as a consistent framework for national climate change adaptation programs and are being promoted as best practice tools by the Australian Government.

In developing the Risk Management Adaptation Program in South Australia, the LGAMLS piloted the program with a group of three Councils from the Central Local Government Region, namely:

• Northern Areas Council;
• Goyder Regional Council; and
• Clare & Gilbert Valleys Council.

The preliminary pilot program involved four sessions that have enabled the Councils to identify, analyse, evaluate and  prioritise the impact of climate change on their operational risks, before creating a number of future adaptation actions.

Now that the preliminary program has reached its conclusion, the LGAMLS has reviewed the initial process and outcomes and assessed the key successes and improvement areas that can be factored into the full program.  These include:

• the need for a flexible approach that meets individual Council operations and requirements;
• commitment from the CEO & Executive Management ensures delivery of best outcomes;
• key executives to drive the program from within Council are those responsible for environmental issues and risk management;
• consistent climate change scenarios selected in consultation with Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) / CSIRO are critical to assist Councils to determine appropriate risks from future exposures. The LGAMLS approach successfully links various climate scenario's to potential impacts across all Council functional areas;
• adopting an Organisation Wide Risk Management Model and involving a variety of staff with knowledge of all Council operations which will assist the Council to focus on future projections and to make decisions rather than just gathering historical data;
• a broader understanding of adaptation outcomes and measurements needs to be developed through the LGAMLS workshops; and
• the outcomes of the process will provide a sound base to assist Councils with their development of mitigation strategies.

These items have been included in the program that has recently commenced with the City of Charles Sturt and along with other continuous improvements, will form part of the ongoing program delivered to all Councils.  The Scheme is also working closely with the three Councils participating in the Australian Government's open 'Pathways' Adaptation Program to share experiences.

The LGAMLS will now roll out the program to other Councils and as part of the roll out, would like to work with Councils that have a current commitment to climate change and risk management.  The LGAMLS will be running programs with a number of Councils simultaneously so that the LGAMLS can work towards the targets set out in the Sector Agreement negotiated by the LGA and the State Government. Refer to LGA Circular 37.1 for further information.

Beyond Carbon - Local Government Climate Change Summit

The LGA hosted a major Local Government Climate Change Summit on 4 and 5 June 2008 at the Mercure Grosvenor Hotel. The summit was part of the Beyond Carbon Conference held from 3 to 5 June 2008 that drew together national climate change expertise and experience and focussed on imparting practical knowledge and understanding of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions and opportunities for Councils. Development of the summit program was informed by the results of the SA Local Government climate change survey and other key resources. Please click here for further information. Information and resources from the summit will be available on this page in the coming weeks.

We would like to thank our sponsors:

Beyond Carbon Conference Principal Sponsor:

For further information go to : http://www.adelaide.edu.au/

Local Government Climate Change Summit Green Sponsor:
For further information go to : http://www.environarc.com.au/

As part of the strategy to provide SA Councils with current and locally relevant information about climate change, the LGA will progressively issue information papers on key topics. In response to the rapidly evolving political and legislative environment for greenhouse gas mitigation and the under preparedness of SA councils to a carbon-constrained future the LGA recently commissioned expert research on the impacts and opportunities for Local Government in a carbon constrained future.

In November 2007 the LGA conducted a comprehensive climate change survey of Councils - see Circular 41.11. The SA Councils survey was based on comparable surveys undertaken by other state Local Government Associations to assist in the development of a 'national Local Government picture. The survey results underpin many of the elements of the strategy. The survey confirmed the importance of climate change to Councils and their communities and the urgency of development of practical and locally relevant information and support packages for Councils. A copy of the survey results is available on request.