Commissioner, Robert Neil's Implementation Status Report (ISR) provides an assessment of the ACT's steps so far to reduce emissions and adapt to future climate change.
The report found that the Government policy AP2, combined with greenhouse gas reduction targets prescribed by the the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010, had positioned the ACT among the world's most progressive jurisdictions in terms of mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Mr Neil said the ACT Government was responding to the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change through its targets of 90 per cent renewable energy use by 2020 and 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2020, which were the most ambitious legislative targets of any State or Territory in Australia.
REPORT FINDS POLICY A WORLD LEADER
"It is responding robustly and constructively, by prescribing legislative (the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010) greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets that are not only consistent with the IPCC's recommendations but are also the most ambitious targets in Australia," he said.
The report explored how the ACT was tracking against sector greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets; climate science implications for the Territory; the appropriateness of adaptation and mitigation policies and planning processes; how the ACT's targets and actions stood against national and international developments; and what new opportunities or challenges had emerged.
Mr Neil said that for the Territory to continue adapting to climate change and leading a sustainable future it was vital that climate change policies, including AP2 and the actions it contained, remained contemporary and was continually reviewed and updated.
Minister for the Environment, Simon Corbell said ACT Government policies had already positioned the Territory at the forefront of climate change adaptation and mitigation in Australia.
"A solar reverse auction and a wind reverse auction have already resulted in more than 240 megawatt capacity of renewable energy being secured for the ACT. The reverse auctions were so successful that the ACT Government won a prestigious Banksia Gold Award last year for the pioneering scheme," he said.
"Combined with the 45 megawatt capacity of household rooftop solar already operating in the ACT, the large-scale solar and wind farms commissioned through the reverse auctions will supply about 40 per cent of the ACT's electricity needs by 2017."
Mr Corbell said the Government would study the challenges and opportunities presented in the report and make a formal response later this year.
The Office of the Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability's Implementation Status Report: A report on the implementation of AP2: a new climate change strategy and action plan for the ACT can be accessed here.
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