What is Net Zero and why do we need it?
Net zero refers to the concept of balancing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere with an equivalent amount removed through different actions.
Emission reductions are integral to the overarching goal of achieving a more sustainable and resilient future, and they involve a combination of technological, policy, and behavioural changes across different sectors of society.
IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (2013) states that limiting global temperature change requires substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions which, together with adaptation, can limit climate change risks. Based on the outcomes of Fifth Assessment Report, negotiations from COP 21 resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015.
The overarching goal of the Paris Agreement is to hold ‘the increase in the global average temperature to 'well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels’ and pursue effort ‘to limit the temperature increase to 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels.’
Article 4 of the agreement also highlights that the parties undertake rapid reductions in accordance with best available science, so as to achieve balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of GHGs in the second half of this century. This is why there is a global race to reach this balance (Net Zero) by 2050.
The primary goal of net zero concept is to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5oC above pre-industrial level. It’s really important to note that, because it’s a global average, even small fractions of an increase in warming can have massive impacts to our global climatic systems. It will expose millions of people to more extreme climates, rising sea levels and more frequent weather-related disasters including heatwaves, drought, flooding and wildfires. The frequency and severity will drastically increase with catastrophic effects.
What is Council doing to reduce emissions and plan for our future?
Wagga Wagga City Council has several strategies and initiatives to reduce emissions into the future. This includes Net Zero emissions strategies, an urban cooling strategy and several initiatives and partnerships.
Council has adopted a corporate net zero emissions target by 2040. The term 'net zero' refers to the balancing of greenhouse gas emissions with actions that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. The first step should always be to minimise greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, a target has been set for the Wagga Wagga community to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Several projects have been implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Council business and across community assets that Council maintains. Projects have also commenced on how our community can adapt to a changing climate. These include:
- Implementation of a combined food organics and garden organics waste service
- Installation of rooftop solar on Council’s Civic Centre and the Livestock Marketing Centre
- Upgrade to energy efficient LED lights in Council buildings
- Upgrade of street lighting to energy efficient LED lights
- Purchase of an electric vehicle as part of Council’s vehicle fleet
- Development of the ‘Adaptation Action Plans for Priority Infrastructure and Vulnerable Communities’ through Local Government NSW’s ‘Building Resilience to Climate Change’ program
- Partnering with Wagga Wagga Urban Landcare to trial the planting of climate adapted species
- Developing an urban canopy cover and heat map strategy
- Delivering the 'One tree for me' campaign to increase vegetation cover
- Purchased renewable energy for all council operations and assets. Council will have 100% renewable energy starting from January 2025.
Wagga Wagga City Council Corporate Net Zero Strategy
While there’s a global race to net zero, Wagga Wagga City Council has set a community target of achieving reduced emissions of 50 per cent by 2030, and net zero by 2050. It is crucial to achieve net zero as it will help us minimize the overall impacts of human activities on our environment and climate system.
This generally involves a combination of actions like investing in renewable energy or green power, and employing strategies to capture and store carbon. In our daily life, they can include simple actions and making some adjustments to:
- How we get around
- What we eat
- How we use energy
- What we purchase
- What we throw away
The Community Net Zero 2050 Roadmap includes different pathways that are available for our community to engage in climate solutions. We encourage our entire community - whether you are an individual, a small business, or a large corporation to engage in as many pathways as possible which feels realistic and relevant to own specific circumstances.
Together, we can achieve net zero emissions and enjoy the different co-benefits that can come with it like healthier lives, financial savings, and being proud to contribute to protecting our environment.
Wagga Wagga Community Net Zero Emissions 2050 Roadmap
Wagga Wagga Urban Heat
The Urban Cooling Strategy aims to increase community health, well-being and resilience through planning more sustainable future developments and adapting our existing areas wherever possible. This will enable our community to:
- Plan for and create more liveable future neighbourhoods
- Reduce land surface temperatures in existing urban areas
- Increase urban canopy coverage on existing public and private land
- Increase the community’s awareness of urban cooling mechanisms.
The Urban Cooling Strategy action summary table lists a number of actions that Council and the community can take to help reduce the impact of increasing temperatures and heat waves on the community.
Canopy Map
Have you ever thought about how hot your house, school, street or backyard is compared to other areas?
Have you ever thought about how shade provided by tree canopy can cool down these local areas?
Have you ever thought about how different building and pavement colours and materials reflect and absorb heat differently?
Using datasets acquired via high-resolution aerial photography in February 2021, the Wagga Wagga Urban Heat & Canopy Map shows thermal land surface temperature and vegetation canopy height classes across a 318 square kilometer local study area of Wagga Wagga suburbs and surrounding areas. Canopy is defined as any vegetation greater than 3 metres in height.
Climate change is projected to impact Wagga Wagga in numerous ways, leading to potentially unforeseen risks to the built environment and council’s assets. The Resilience Bueprint for South-East NSW provides both operational and future recommendations that help to manage risks appropriately, ensuring the climate resilience of these assets into the future.
In addition to these larger initiatives, Wagga Wagga City Council has also adopted the following smaller initiatives in order to reduce its greenhouse emissions;
- Installation of rooftop solar panels on Council’s Civic Centre and the Livestock Marketing Centre Read more
- Upgrade to energy efficient LED lights in Council buildings Read more
- Upgrade of street lighting to energy efficient LED light
- Purchase of electric vehicles as part of Council’s vehicle fleet. Read more
- Development of the ‘Adaptation Action Plans for Priority Infrastructure and Vulnerable Communities’ through Local Government NSW’s ‘Building Resilience to Climate Change’ program
- Partnering with Wagga Wagga Urban Landcare to trial the planting of climate adapted species
- Delivering the 'One Tree For Me' campaign to increase vegetation cover in the region
Offsets
The term ‘offset’ refers to counterbalancing or compensating an influence against its opposition so there is no significant difference as a result. This term is frequently used in environmental context to refer a counterbalance made to reduce harmful effects on the environment.
Carbon offsetting refers to a process of reduction or removal of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases that are used to compensate the emissions made elsewhere.
It also means increasing carbon storage through different activities, for example: land restoration and tree plantation that is used for the compensation.
Carbon offsets are a last resort when it is not viable to completely cease an activity that produces emissions.
Biodiversity offsetting extends the concept of carbon offsetting to address environmental impacts beyond carbon, aiming to balance the loss of biodiversity caused by different developmental works. The concept is built around the idea of “no net loss”.
Biodiversity offsetting involves measures such as habitat restoration, creating protected areas, or supporting conservation projects to counterbalance ecological impacts.
Carbon and Biodiversity Offset Strategy
Wagga Wagga City Council has developed the Carbon and Biodiversity Offset strategy with an aim of achieving the Community Net Zero Roadmap by 2050 and extending goals of Biodiversity Strategy: Maldhangilanha beyond 2030 (see below)