The City of Sydney is bringing its goal of reaching net zero emissions forward a decade, from 2050 to 2040.
The accelerated target will form part of the City's new long-term strategic plan, Sustainable Sydney 2050, which is currently being developed after a year of community and expert consultation.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said governments with high per capita emissions and GDP have an obligation to reduce emissions steeper and sooner.
"When the City declared a climate emergency, I wrote to the Federal Government demanding urgent action on climate change," Lord Mayor Clover Moore said. "But the response I received was an irrational reply from Angus Taylor, deflecting and trivialising a critical issue for which he has responsibility to take action."
"It is nearly beyond belief that the Minster is still, after months of intense scrutiny, yet to explain the origin of the fraudulent document he used to accuse the City of egregious spending on travel.
"When the NSW Police confirmed that the document was falsified, it was the community's expectation that the truth would surface, and that the Minister would be held accountable.
"I am shocked and disappointed the AFP will not further investigate the matter and shed light on a situation that has further eroded the community's faith in the Federal Government.
"Just because he ignores the facts on climate change, doesn't mean the Minister can make up figures to distract Australians from his failure of leadership.
"Successive Federal Governments have shamefully presided over a failed climate policies – Australia's emissions have been going up since 2014. The Minister has the power to transition the country away from reliance on fossil fuels and to deliver electricity that is clean, reliable and affordable. His focus should be on reducing emissions and providing reliable energy, not making up figures about travel by local government officials.
"Over the months in which the Minister has deftly avoided questions on this matter, our nation has experienced debilitating drought conditions and an unprecedented bushfire season that has claimed lives, homes and native animals, and destroyed local communities.
"The link between climate change, drought and bushfires is irrefutable, yet the Federal Government neither prepared our nation for this climate disaster nor responded accordingly to our community's urgent calls for action."
The City's new emissions reduction targets are based on the International Panel on Climate Change carbon budgeting methodology, which states that faster carbon reductions result in higher probability of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and that if applied to Sydney, the methodology suggests that net zero should be achieved well before 2050.
"Cities are responsible for more than 70 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, so while Federal Governments continue to fail us, we have been getting on with the job of responding to our climate emergency," the Lord Mayor said.
"In 2008, we set a goal to reduce our carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2030. We wrote the masterplans, set the targets and worked hard to achieve them over the past decade.
"We were Australia's first carbon neutral council in 2007, which was certified in 2011. Following the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, we set an even more ambitious goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
"By 2017, we had reduced emissions from our own operations by 25 per cent and worked with others to reduce emissions city-wide by 21 per cent. During this time, our economy grew by 37.5 per cent – if it had been business as usual, emissions would have increased by 57 per cent.
"In 2019, the same year we declared a climate emergency, I signed an agreement for our operations to be powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity by July 2020. This means we will achieve our 70 per cent 2030 emissions reduction target by 2024 – six years ahead of schedule – as well as supporting jobs in regional areas like Glen Innes, Wagga Wagga and the Shoalhaven.
"As a wealthy, well-resourced city it is up to us to push the envelope even further and demonstrate how real action leads to tangible results, which is why I will support the City of Sydney to bring forward our net zero targets by a whole decade.
"We can't achieve net zero emissions by 2040 alone, so it is essential that we continue to collaborate with our business community and encourage the uptake of 100 per cent renewable electricity outside of our operations so that we get there."
The new targets are set out in a report outlining the proposed environment and resilience components of Sustainable Sydney 2050, to be noted by City of Sydney councillors at their first council meeting of the year on Monday 17 February 2020 and endorsed by Council mid-year.
The report is available online here.
