By NICOLE VALICEK
A DRAFT strategy developed to help the municipality reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been developed for the first time by the Hobsons Bay City Council.
The Community Greenhouse Strategy 2013-2030 strategy will allow Hobsons Bay to consider actions toward greenhouse gas reductions and in particular, to achieve the objective of assisting the community to become a zero net emissions community by 2030.
The draft strategy outlines a series of emission reduction actions to achieve its “ambitious” community target and outlines the role of carbon offsets.
A carbon offset is classified as “avoidance or reduction in greenhouse gas emissions made in order to compensate or ‘offset’ an emission made elsewhere”.
According to the council it had not previously had a strategy that identified actions that support its objective to assist the local community to achieve zero net emissions by 2030.
According to the strategy, with a lot of action the council will only achieve a 16 per cent reduction in community omissions.
In order for the council to meet the target by 2030 it will need to look at the purchasing of offsets.
Offsets can range from planting trees to the purchase of carbon permits, which will be investigated by the council over time.
“It’s quite ambitious – there was a target set back in 2006-’07 to reduce to zero net emission by 2030 but not a way forward on how to do that – this stage actually puts some flesh around that ambitious target,” Councillor Sandra Wilson said.
She said when talking about community it also included industry and the diverse nature of the municipality that incorporated industrial, business, commercial and residential components.
The draft strategy is on public exhibition at the Hobsons Bay Civic Centre, and Hobsons Bay libraries for six weeks.
