The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) and the Council of Capital Cities Lord Mayors (CCCLM) has published the Local Action for a Low Carbon Future discussion paper, identifying ways for the Federal Government to work more closely with local bodies to bring about the country’s low carbon future.

 

The paper establishes a policy position on the role of local government and reflect a consensus view on the role local government organisations will play in the country’s low carbon future.

 

The paper’s findings reveal that the federal government’s Clean Energy Plan can reach further into residential and business communities by working with the local government’s key strengths, and, that local government has had two decades of experience in responding to the challenges of moving to a low carbon future.

 

The paper identifies four major strengths that the local government sector can bring to unlocking the country’s low carbon potential:

  • collaboration (effectiveness in building partnerships and working collaboratively at multiple levels);
  • proximity (councils connect frequently and directly with citizens, local businesses and a range of community stakeholders);
  • unlocking investment capital (and embarking on innovative and transformative practices and projects); and
  • knowledge using local data (councils have unique access to increasingly fine-grained land use and employment data to assist in carbon emission reductions).

 

A summary of the report can be found here