A MONTH since the delivery of the Finkel Report on energy stability and emissions reduction, and after a marathon joint party room meeting of the Liberal and National parties, the federal government is yet to formulate a clear position on its recommendations.
When approached for comment on the report, federal member for Forde Bert van Manen said: “The Finkel Review is a report to government, no decisions have been made, the policy discussions and consideration of the recommendations are ongoing.”
But in Logan City, local government is already formulating a strategy on carbon reduction outlined in Logan City Council’s (LCC’s) Corporate Plan.
City health, environment and waste chairperson councillor Lisa Bradley said the strategy will be ready for council’s consideration in early 2018.
“The reference to the ‘carbon reduction strategy for the City of Logan’ in the Corporate Plan 2017-2022 refers to a strategy being developed and implemented to identify actions that council can undertake to reduce carbon emissions from its own activities to make the city more carbon neutral,” she said.
According to Cr Bradley, the carbon reduction strategy will begin with council tracking its own emissions and then identifying actions to reduce and offset those emissions.
"We are hoping to have a report completed in August that presents an overall picture of the carbon emissions produced by council,” she said.
"Once we have that picture, we will prepare a carbon reduction strategy that will propose ways for how we can reduce and/or offset those emissions so Logan City Council can work towards becoming a carbon-neutral council.
“Looking beyond its own activities, council has also recognised the role it can potentially play in developing the renewable energy industry in Logan and has committed to delivering a range of capacity building workshops and undertaking a feasibility study for innovation hubs for the renewables sector.
“Council currently supports a range of initiatives and events that encourage the community to protect our environment and adopt more sustainable ways of living,” Cr Bradley said.
Reducing carbon footprint
A local example of LCC collaborating on carbon reduction is the project to install new solar-powered flood warning signs on Logan City roads, manufactured locally using recycled electronic waste.
The signs were a combined initiative of LCC, Griffith University and Youth and Family Services’ social enterprise Substation 33.
“Substation33 collects electronic waste from a wide range of households, businesses and government departments,” Substation33 manager Tony Sharp said.
“We have a fleet of containers in various locations in and around Logan.
“In the past four years, Substation33 has collected and recycled more that 500,000 kilograms of electronic waste with less than 7 per cent having a final destination of landfill.”
