TCCO Newsletter

DECEMBER 2018

Welcome to the December 2018 edition of the Tasmanian Climate Change Office’s Newsletter. We’re always interested to hear about your climate change adaptation or emissions reduction projects, events and ideas, so please send us an email with the details for us to include in future editions or share on Facebook.

As we wrap up the year, the Tasmanian Climate Change Office would like to wish you all a safe and happy festive season.

TCCO turns 10!

This year we celebrate ten years of the Tasmanian Climate Change Office. Since 2008 we've organised over 1,000 presentations, consultation and community events, reaching over 40,000 people. We have commissioned reports, funded the Climate Futures for Tasmania project, released Climate Change Action Plans, reviewed the Climate Change Act, published Tasmania's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report each year, won a Resilient Australia Award and seen Tasmania's emissions drop below our legislated target to reach zero net emissions.

Thank you for your support and input over the past 10 years.

Banksia Awards

TCCO is very proud to have been a finalist in the Banksia Sustainability Awards. The Awards recognise individuals and organisations across Australia working to achieve and promote sustainability.

TCCO’s application highlighted our ability to address climate change by managing a range of projects and initiatives, which we deliver in close partnership with key stakeholders. Over the past 10 years, our team has built strong relationships across all levels of government, non-government organisations, businesses and the community.

The 2018 Banksia Awards were presented at a Gala Dinner in Melbourne on 29 November. Sophie Muller, Director TCCO, presented our 'Zero Net Emissions' application. The Government Award was won by the Lord Howe Island Board NSW, for their biosecurity work, in particular their Weed and Rodent Eradication Projects. We'd like to congratulate all the finalists and winners of this year's awards. It was encouraging to see so much excellent work going on around the country.

Read about all the winners and finalists on the Banksia Foundation website.
Proud finalist of the 2018 Banksia Government Award

The year ahead

TCCO is getting ready for a busy 2019. Here are some of our key priorities for next year:

Providing funding to Tasmanian businesses to audit energy use and help find ways to reduce it and achieve cost savings.
Delivering a project to help low income Tasmanian households reduce their energy use.
Amending the Climate Change (State Action) Act 2008.
Continuing our Climate Resilient Councils project, helping councils to embed climate change considerations into their decision making.
Supporting a Climate Change Health Roundtable.
Continuing the Smarter Fleets programs, for heavy vehicles and local government light vehicles.
Providing funding to support a statewide electric vehicle charging network.
Progressing the Business Resource Efficiency Program, helping businesses to reduce emissions and costs.
Finalising the Emissions Pathway Review project.

Read more about some of these projects below.

Consultation - Amending the Act

Thank you to everyone who made a submission, or attended a forum, to give their views on the proposed amendments to the Climate Change (State Action) Act 2008 (the Act). We appreciate your time and willingness to share your thoughts.

The submissions are available on the TCCO website.

Next steps

The amendments to the Act will be drafted, taking into account the consultation feedback. You will have another opportunity to comment on the draft Amendment Bill in 2019.

Consultation - Statewide electric vehicle charging network

The Tasmanian Government is committed to supporting the uptake of electric vehicles, including providing $450,000 in funding for public electric vehicle charging stations.

We recently sought feedback from the community on how we can best utilise this funding to achieve the greatest benefit for Tasmania. Thank you to everyone who made a submission as part of this consultation. The submissions are now available on the TCCO website.

The consultation feedback will help us develop a strategy to increase public electric vehicle charging opportunities statewide.

It's an exciting year ahead for electric vehicles in Tasmania, with a strong focus on charging infrastructure, and a number of new models expected to arrive on our shores.

Tasmanian Climate Symposium

On Wednesday 14 November the Tasmanian Climate Change Office, in partnership with Hydro Tasmania, hosted the inaugural Tasmanian Climate Symposium: Research. Policy. Practice. Tasmanian Climate Symposium - group of people in lecture theatre

The Symposium brought together key decision makers in government and industry with Tasmanian researchers to network, share learnings and work collaboratively to translate climate research into better policy and practice.

The Symposium was a great success, attracting over 60 participants from government, industry and the research sector. The first session showcased Tasmania’s world class scientific research capability and included speakers from CSIRO, the University of Tasmania, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Topics included:

how Tasmania’s climate has changed over the past 1,000 years;
the next generation climate forecasts for Tasmania; and
a seasonal outlook for the summer ahead.

The final session involved an engaging panel discussion facilitated by Sophie Muller, Director of the Tasmanian Climate Change Office, with Andrew Pirie from Apogee Tasmania, Sandra Whight from Tasmania Fire Service and Steve Davy, CEO of Hydro Tasmania.

The discussion focused on how these diverse panel members integrate climate research into strategic and operational decision making, and the importance of collaboration between researchers, government and industry.

Climate Resilient Councils Tasmania Project

TCCO is working with councils across the State on the Climate Resilient Councils project. The aim of the project is to support local government to better understand and manage their climate-related risks when making strategic and financial decisions.

The project is a key action under Climate Action 21: Tasmania’s Climate Change Action Plan 2017-2021, and is being delivered by TCCO in partnership with the Local Government Association of Tasmania (LGAT).

The project has two phases:

Phase one - provided councils with a preliminary assessment of their climate change governance. Consultancy firm Climate Planning was engaged to undertake the governance assessments.
Phase two - is currently being developed in collaboration with councils and LGAT, informed by the outcomes of phase one. The second phase aims to provide practical, capacity-building support to councils in relation to climate change governance.

Seventeen of Tasmania’s 29 councils participated in the first phase of the project. In early October 2018, each of these councils received a detailed draft project report that assesses how climate change is considered by their council, and suggests opportunities for further consideration of climate-related risk in council decision making.

All Tasmanian councils can receive support through the second phase of the Climate Resilient Councils project. Councils are invited to contact TCCO to explore tailored, practical ways that we can work together to continue to improve consideration of climate change in strategic decision making.

Upcoming Events

6th Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit 2019

'Futureproofing the Australian Economy' is the theme of this summit, Australia's largest climate and business event. The focus will be on managing risk and opportunity in the transition to a low carbon world. The program includes presentations and discussion on managing climate change risk, zero net emissions opportunities, carbon farming, and future innovations.
Date: 8-9 May 2019
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Brunton Ave, Richmond VIC
Information and registration: Carbon Market Institute

OzWater'19

OzWater is Australia's international water conference and trade exhibition. The program includes over 100 technical presentations and nearly 100 poster pitches. Within the 'building sustainable cities and thriving communities', and 'public health and community wellbeing' streams, topics include:

the impacts of climate change on water demand;
UN Sustainable Development Goals;
liveability, recycled water use, and waterwise communities;
pathways to carbon neutral water industry;
water sensitive urban design; and
lessons from the first Victorian water sector climate change adaptation plan.

Date: 7-9 May 2019
Venue: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Wharf VIC
Information and registration: OzWater'19

Other news

Climate Action Toolkit

The Climate Council has launched their Climate Action Toolkit to answer the question "what can I do in my everyday life to tackle climate change and make a difference?".