Communities in Transition
for Queensland Communities
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Communities in transition
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Australian communities in transition
International communities in transition
Research
Australian communities in transition
Queensland's Communities in Transition
The Qld Government's Climate Transition Strategy set out how they will set Queensland on the pathway to transition to a clean growth economy. The first step is to set a goal, and that is for Queensland to achieve zero net emissions by 2050. The strategy sets out 3 pathways. The third pathway is to work with Queensland regional communities to transition including encouraging ‘place-based’ initiatives.
Pathways to a clean growth economy - Queensland Climate Transition Strategy
The Clean Growth Choices Consortium will be supporting a mix of regional communities in Queensland to develop economic and social roadmaps for the future.
Teams of diverse community leaders will:
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Explore future scenarios for Queensland and for their regions
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Be exposed to a structured approach to managing change via a series of workshops where they will discover new tools and techniques to develop an economic and social roadmap for the future
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Use these new tools and techniques to work collaboratively to develop their own uniquely tailored transition roadmaps
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Build networks to help break barriers and enable positive transitions
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Begin implementing their roadmaps and inspire others to ensure we can all thrive in the face of global changes
Low Carbon Living CRC
The Low Carbon Living CRC is a is a national research and innovation hub that seeks to enable a globally competitive low carbon built environment sector and is supported by the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) programme. It's community program encourages hotels, cafes, restaurants, tourism operators and community organisations in tourism hotspots to lower their carbon footprint by reducing waste, energy consumption and water use.
Low Carbon Living Blue Mountains, NSW
30 businesses have undertaken energy, water and waste usage audits and been advised to how they can become more efficient in using carbon based resources. They implemented opportunities and been reassessed. Some have achieved up to 15% reductions over one year.
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Southern Highlands & Hunter Valley, NSW have now joined the program.
Beyond Zero Emissions
Beyond Zero Emissions is a volunteer powered climate solutions think tank. It is a community of technology experts, scientists, researchers, communicators and concerned citizens who freely give our time and expertise so that a safe climate can be secured for all.
Zero Carbon Communities Guide Zero Emissions - Achievable & Affordable Now
Zero Emissions Noosa (ZEN), Qld
ZEN is a not-for-profit incorporated association whose members have set the goal of zero net community carbon emissions in the Noosa Shire by 2026. The council measures and reports emissions using credible measurement tools annually. They have developed a decision-making framework determining the appropriate approach to reduce emissions for a specific activity. A detailed Action Plan prioritises actions over an initial 5-year period (and ultimately 10 years). Funding of actions will be considered as part of the annual budget development process. The Strategy will be utilised when determining the appropriate approach to purchase of carbon offsets. Capital investment will be based on detailed cost-benefit analysis. Appropriate resourcing (people & systems) will be provided and the Council ensures appropriate governance framework. The Strategy will be reviewed at least biennially and the Action Plan annually as part of the budget development process.
Zero Emissions Byron (ZEB), NSW
Zero Emissions Byron is a not-for-profit company aims to transition the Byron Shire region to zero emissions by 2025, working through the sectors of Energy, Buildings, Transport, Land Use and Waste. ZEB aims to reduce the impacts of climate change and develop new economic opportunities by inspiring and working with Council and the community.
Zeronet Energy Towns
Z-NET supports towns to satisfy their own energy needs from renewable energy sources in a way which is competitive with its current system of energy (in terms of price, quality, reliability, security of supply and so on). This is achieved firstly by reducing energy use and then importing or locally producing enough energy to meet or exceed the community’s demand.
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The Z-NET tool to calculate the town’s current energy footprint and analyses the merits (energy-wise and financially) of the various options available to reduce and produce energy.
Uralla's plan sets out a two-stage approach. Stage 1 is about immediate practical action to generate renewable energy locally or nearby that have a positive business case relative to the cost of importing renewable energy. (this action could reduce overall energy use by 15% and deliver between 40 to 70% of the goal within ten years. Stage 2 provides a framework for developing partnerships and joining policy and advocacy initiatives to remove barriers and establish a viable context for large-scale renewable electricity generation. For firewood, Stage 2 represents the culmination of local efforts to create a renewable firewood supply within a regional context.
Victoria's Take-2 Community Transitions Pilot Program
Take-2 is the state’s collective climate change program supporting individuals, government, business and other organisations to help our state achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Hepburn was choosen as a pilot because of its demonstrated track record in community energy with the Hepburn Wind project and the strong support shown by the Council, local community and business.
The project will deliver a Z-NET Blueprint for the Hepburn Shire (carbon emissions inventory)and a co-developed Community Transition Plan. It will produce feasibility analysis and business cases for local energy options and build resources and capacity within the community. The project team will work closely with Hepburn Shire Council and the five local sustainability groups.
Morleand Council & the Moreland Energy Foundation, Victoria
Morelands is commitmed to zero emissions by 2020. In 1993 this region pioneered one of Australia’s first community energy programs (Project Aurora) where the community could purchase ¼, ½ or full solar panels with the money subtracted from their electricity bill. In 2000 Moreland City Council utilised the proceeds from the sale (due to the privatisation of the electricity industry) to create the Moreland Energy Foundation Ltd. Since then the organisations have worked together supporting our community to take action on climate change.
The Strategy sets out an ambitious plan to achieve a 22 per cent reduction in carbon emissions across the Moreland community by 2020. The plan has 5 strategies: 1: Generating local renewable energy 2: Using energy efficiently 3: Low-emissions transport y 4: Minimising urban heat island effects 5: Activating our community to reduce emissions
International communities in transition
Copenhagen, Demark
Copenhagen aims to be the world’s first carbon-neutral capital city by 2025. In 2011, Copenhagen had reduced CO2 emissions by 21% compared to 2005. T
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Copenhagen - Solutions for Sustainable Cities, 2014,The city of Copenhagen
12 sustainable city solutions from Copenhagen.
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CPH 2025 - Climate Plan Roadmap 2017-2020, 2016, The City of Copemhagen
The CPH 2025 Climate Plan is a a collection of specific goals and initiatives within four areas - energy consumption, energy production, green mobility and the City administration.
Samso Island, Denmark
The island which has a population of 4,000 become carbon netral in 2007 thanks, biomass district heating plants, improvements on transportation and energy conservation and 21 wind turbines that mean the island is no longer dependent on coal and oil and is now a exporter of renewable energy. 70% of the total invested came from local investors. The key to the transition was the Energy Academy.
Research
Role of Community-Based Approaches with Administrative Support in an Urban Low-Carbon Society in the UK, 2014, Masako Murota, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 13:3, 593-600
This paper deals with community-based approaches to a low-carbon society in the UK and aims to clarify the types of community-based approaches, the factors involved in goal attainment, the roles of actors and the positive and negative points of community-based approaches.
The hidden potential of sustainable neighborhoods : lessons from low-carbon communities, 2013,
Fraker, H., Island Press, Washington (Book)
ln-depth evaluation of first generation low-carbon neighborhoods in Europe (Hammarby in Sweden, and Kronsberg and Vauban in Germany) and shows how those lessons can be applied to the U.S. Using concrete performance data to gauge successes and failures, the author presents a holistic model based on best practices.
