Energy and climate change

There's plenty we can do individually and collectively to stay globally competitive and reduce the impacts of climate change on Sydney and the wider world.

Sustainability Resilience

Why we’re doing this

Climate change is the most serious environmental challenge that human beings have faced. It is the defining issue of our time.

Globally, the largest contributor to climate change is the burning of fossil fuels for energy. Burning these fuels releases emissions that create a greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. This traps increasing levels of solar heat and causes warming. An energy transition to renewable energy is already well underway. To avert the worst consequences of climate change, we need to accelerate this transition.

Action areas

We’re adopting a diverse approach to tackling climate change and its effects. We know a challenge this great requires action on several fronts.

In 2020, these are the areas we’ll be focusing on:

We purchase electricity for all our pools, parks, libraries, sports halls and town halls from wind and solar farms in regional NSW.

Read this article to learn the details.

Installing rooftop solar on our own buildings and facilities

We’ve installed solar panels at 38 sites, including offices, sporting facilities, libraries and works depots.

Together, the capacity of the solar panels at these sites is 1.5 megawatts – enough to meet the daily needs of around 150 homes.

Another 5 sites have been earmarked for solar in the 2019/2020 financial year, adding another 0.5 megawatts of capacity. Read more about our rooftop solar initiatives.
We know that residents and businesses across the city want to use clean energy, so we’re making it easier by:
- offering a comprehensive renewable energy help centre that contains everything you need to know about rooftop solar and purchasing green energy from the grid
- waiving the development application fee for rooftop solar installations
- running a variety of programs and offering grants to help building owners and businesses improve their energy efficiency and switch to renewables.
Due to the urban heat island effect dense urban environments can become hotter than surrounding suburban areas, which puts vulnerable residents at risk. We’re tackling the problem by:
- growing the city’s tree canopy cover by 50% by 2030. Trees help reduce air temperature by blocking the sun’s rays and improve the air we breathe by absorbing harmful particles and pollutants
- working with research centres such as the CRC for Low Carbon Living and UTS to monitor heat in our city, trial cool pavements and identify new ways to reduce urban temperatures.
The City of Sydney will continue to encourage the federal government and NSW Government to take action on climate change. We are:
- working with the state government to improve air monitoring and air quality in the city
- advocating for better-performing buildings by encouraging the adoption of rating systems such as Green Star and NABERS
- advocating for changes to regulation for the cost of recycled water, to make it financially feasible
- working with the Federal Government and state government to improve the BASIX and national construction code
- to ensure we don’t build more poor-performing buildings that will lock in carbon emissions for decades to come
- planning to be the first local government area in Australia to replace our public lighting portfolio with energy-efficient LEDs – we are partnering with Ausgrid (our local electricity utility) to fast track the upgrade of utility-owned streetlights.

How we can achieve this

There’s plenty we can do individually and collectively to stay globally competitive and reduce the impacts of climate change on Sydney and the wider world.

Whether you’re a business owner, worker or student, a resident or visitor, there are things you can do to fight climate change and help take care of our environment. And it’s easy to get started.

- Switch to renewable energy. Business Renewable Centre and GreenPower.
- Rate your building. Measurement is the first step to better management. Get your workspace assessed by a relevant sustainable rating agency such as NABERS, Green Star and EarthCheck, to see how you can save energy. For more, see energy ratings: what you need to know.
- Go carbon neutral. Business owners can fight climate change and reap reputational rewards by following the national carbon offset standard. For more, see your quick guide to carbon offsets.
- Use our sustainability programs. You can join one of our programs that help businesses switch to renewables and reduce energy, water and waste. For example, nearly 1,000 office-based businesses are now part of the CitySwitch program, which champions energy efficiency and cost-saving measures.
- Divest from fossil fuels. Change your investment profile to ethical, fossil-fuel companies and move away from banks that invest in fossil fuels. Visit Market Forces to compare the fossil fuel investment positions of financial institutions.
- Become an advocate. You can advocate for your organisation to join one of our programs that helps businesses reduce waste, water and energy consumption, or going renewable with a power purchase agreement.
- Switch to GreenPower. The single best thing you can do for the environment today is switch to a 100% GreenPower-based electricity plan. Call your electricity provider and start the conversation with: “I want to switch to 100% GreenPower for the same rate I am paying now, or less". To switch today, this is the fastest way to go renewable.
- Choose a bank that doesn’t invest in fossil fuels. Many banks lend to companies that produce fossil fuels – change your bank to one that doesn’t. You can also encourage your organisation to divest from fossil fuels. Visit Market Forces to compare the fossil fuel investment positions of financial institutions.
- Switch to GreenPower. The single best thing you can do for the environment today is switch to a 100% GreenPower-based electricity plan. Call your electricity provider and start the conversation with: “I want to switch to 100% GreenPower for the same rate I am paying now, or less.”.
- Use low-emissions transport. Take advantage of the city’s cycleways with a bike, walk to your destination or catch public transport.
- Choose a bank that doesn’t invest in fossil fuels. Many banks lend to companies that produce fossil fuels – change your bank to one that doesn’t. Visit Market Forces to compare the fossil fuel investment positions of financial institutions.
- Choose a green hotel or venue. A growing list of hotels and venues in the city are getting accredited as eco-friendly or carbon neutral.
- Cycle around the city. Hire a traditional or electric bike and take advantage of the city’s cycleways.
- Offset your emissions. Your airline or car-hire company can help you reduce the carbon impact of your trip for as little as a few dollars.
Australia took a step in the right direction when it signed the Paris Agreement in 2016 and committed to limit global temperature increases to less than 2˚C.

To meet this goal, the world must decarbonise by 2050.

The City of Sydney takes Australia’s international obligations seriously, which is why we’ve developed emissions reduction targets of our own.

As our community determines what kind of city we want to live in by 2050, the need for partnership and collaboration is more important than ever. We’ve demonstrated the impacts of collective action and now seek to drive this momentum across the nation, working with regional communities and our Pacific neighbours, as well as our global partners.

But progress at a national level has been slow.

That’s why the City of Sydney is pursuing ambitious but achievable goals of our own as part of our climate emergency response. Our vision is for a resilient, sustainable Sydney that remains one of the world’s most vibrant and liveable cities for decades to come.

We’ve drawn up targets for the City of Sydney local area:
- 50% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030
- 70% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2006 levels
- net zero emissions by 2050.
The benefits of achieving these targets are large and wide-ranging and will have a positive impact internationally as well as locally. In the City of Sydney local area, we can look to cleaner air, a stronger economy and a healthier population.

Globally, a general move towards a more sustainable way of living can help to avoid the destabilisation of communities, the extinction of species and increased regularity of catastrophic weather events.
The consequences of climate change are being felt in Australia already. These include:
- the average surface air temperature has increased by 0.9°C since 1910, leading to more very hot days and fewer very cold days
- bushfire season has lengthened and the type of extreme weather that commonly creates conditions for bushfires has increased
- the sea level has risen at a rate of 3.2mm a year for the past 20 years.
For the City of Sydney area – as across the country – these changes are projected to get worse in the coming years. That will mean by 2070, Sydney’s climate is likely to be hit by a further increase in average temperatures, greater levels of air pollution, more extreme weather events and a spike in the number of extreme heat days each year.

There will also continue to be a marked variability in yearly rainfall, an increase in drought and bushfire conditions, and a severe threat to many coastal areas through the sea-level rise.

Poor and hazardous air quality that is dangerous to our health, especially those with respiratory problems.

Our plans, projects and initiatives

Sydney has already begun to feel the effects of climate change, which is why we’re taking steps right now to reduce the impact, by:

planting more trees and other vegetation to help reduce temperatures in the city
providing cool shared spaces for the community during long hot summers, such as swimming pools, libraries and more
managing the impacts of flooding and protecting our waterways by installing rain gardens and wetlands and investing in stormwater infrastructure in new developments such as the Green Square town centre
providing emergency accommodation and other services for homeless people and those sleeping rough during severe weather events.

We have a number of key plans and programs which are focused around our energy and climate change goals:

Strategies & action plans
Environmental Action 2016-2021: Strategy and action planPublished 30 March 2017
Strategies & action plans
Urban forest strategyPublished 1 February 2013
Strategies & action plans
Greening Sydney PlanPublished 30 May 2012
Lists, maps & inventories
Sydney cycling mapPublished 16 July 2020
Strategies & action plans
Climate Emergency ResponsePublished 24 June 2019