Our journey
What council has achieved in the past in energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable transport or broader sustainability
Moreton Bay Regional Council is implementing a range of initiatives targeted at environmental resilience and sustainability. In 2019-20 financial year council’s bushland restoration projects and green infrastructure initiatives saw the planting of thousands of koala habitat trees, street trees, and other native species. Street trees provide shade along footpaths, vegetation buffers along waterways, improve water quality of the region’s rivers, and bushland renewal projects provide habitat for priority species.
As of 31 July 2020 Council’s environmental management program at The Mill in Petrie saw 84 koalas fitted with telemetry devices for monitoring and regular health checks. In addition there are 26 dependant joeys expected to join the program when they turn one year old. The expansion of council’s network of green infrastructure continued with the installation of wildlife fencing, driver warning road stencils, and fauna rope bridges. This transport infrastructure is critical to supporting our wildlife safely access the region’s parks, reserves and wildlife corridors.
In the 2018-2019 financial year more than 30 tonnes of litter was removed from 133 locations across the region as part of Clean Up Australia Day efforts. Council also supported the removal of 700 kilograms of litter from the Caboolture River. Meanwhile, council’s innovative projects and initiatives contributed to supporting a cleaner region including provision of waste education workshops and incentivised education activities. Treasure Markets sold more than 750 tonnes of reusable items while major waste facilities converted landfill gas into enough electricity to power 14,000 houses per year. Prior to the installation of these land fill gas power stations, flaring of landfill gas resulted in a greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 634,819 tCO2e. For further detail on these initiatives see our annual report. A further example of Council’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is Council’s multi-tenancy public building, known as The Corso, located in North Lakes. The sustainability design elements of The Corso have resulted in it producing 50% less greenhouse gas emissions, achieving a 5 Star Green Start Rating with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). For more information on The Corso see our website.
What council hopes to achieve in the future in energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable transport or broader sustainability
We are currently developing a wide-ranging, long term Environment and Sustainability framework to holistically plan how we mitigate and adapt to climate change in the region. At the same time, we are seeking to understand our emissions profile with a view to setting science-based targets to reduce emissions in the region.
Other projects we are focussing on include:
- continuing to deliver our program of conservation management and habitat restoration
- investigating the feasibility of a proposed council-owned 5 MW solar system
- increasing our current use of recycled water for irrigation of our parks
What council hopes to gain from being a member of the Cities Power Partnership
Many local governments have been acting on climate change across Australia for decades. Our community have asked us to join the partnership and we want to involve them in this journey, use the resources provided by CPP and learn from other councils who are dealing with similar environmental issues that we all face. By learning from others it will help us progress faster on our pathway to increasing resilience and adapting to our already changing climate.