6 minute read
SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE
Initiatives that demonstrate excellence in the delivery of environmentally sustainable processes or projects which provide programs and developments that meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations.
Judging Criteria
Advertisement
➢ Complexity of funding ➢ Measurable sustainability outcomes ➢ Size of project and innovativeness ➢ Cost benefits of the initiative ➢ Impact of the initiative
Winner
High Commendation
➢ Mildura Rural City Council, Mildura – Farming the Sun! ➢ Melbourne City Council, Carbon Neutral Premier Events
WINNER Sustainability Initiative
In October 2018, the Cities of Port Phillip, Whittlesea and Wyndham, the Supply Chain Sustainability School (SCSS) and EY ECO-Buy launched a pilot program, the Supply Chain Sustainability School Local Government Portal.
The freely accessible web portal provides individualised learning pathways and a range of short, relevant resources about current and emerging sustainability issues.
The project was funded by a $75,000 grant from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and $170,000 of in kind support.
The initiative's objective was to improve sustainable procurement skills, processes and outcomes by addressing knowledge gaps across Local Government supply chains through the provision of a free online portal.
The portal is helping Councils and their supply chains to reduce their environmental impacts; achieve their sustainability targets and those of the Victorian Government; improve outcomes for their communities; and run more efficient and profitable businesses.
In total, 87 learning resources tailored to the needs of Local Government and their suppliers were curated from existing SCSS, Council, State Government and private sector enterprises sources, whilst others were developed specifically for the initiative.
Suppliers are encouraged to complete a free self assessment for their business which then provides the user with a personalised Action Plan tailored to individual levels of knowledge, business and Council clients’ needs. Apart from learning modules, users are also able to access hundreds of other free topical videos, templates, documents and hyperlinks through the resource library. Feedback from both suppliers and Council teams has been overwhelmingly positive, with a 15% increase in supplier respondents rating their sustainability knowledge as good after accessing resources. 75% of respondents stated that the learning resources were useful to their business and 70% stated that the resources were personally useful.
When reflecting on the success of the pilot, the participating Councils believe that the process has given their procurement teams more confidence to advocate for change in procurement patterns through tendering processes and one-off purchases amongst other things.
The momentum of the pilot will continue with further planned portal developments. Participating Councils are continuing to promote the freely available initiative to new and current suppliers, local businesses, and Council officers to improve sustainable procurement.
The Supply Chain Sustainability School Local Government Portal initiative started from a few small conversations but soon became a substantial collaborative effort between Local Government and organisations with sustainable procurement expertise. The knock on effect of this collaboration was the change in supply chain relationships, from purely transactional to partnerships with aligned goals.
The CEO of the Supply Chain Sustainability School remarked that: “the more Councils that can partner with their suppliers to achieve better, more efficient and sustainable supply chains, the more we can reduce our environmental impacts and improve our procurement outcomes.”
HIGH COMMENDATION Sustainability Initiative
Mildura Rural City Council has made significant progress in driving down corporate and community greenhouse gas emissions and costs through ambitious renewable energy projects.
In addition to installing over 580 kilowatts of solar PV on its own buildings, Council has invested in four strategic projects including Environmental Upgrade Agreements, Victorian Local Government Power Purchase Agreement, Large Scale Solar Farm Feasibility Study and Private Large Scale Solar Farm Investment.
Through its Energy Management Plan 2017-2021, Council has committed to a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings and facilities by 2022 (based on 2015-16 levels) and a 15% reduction from its street and public lighting by 2022.
Electricity currently represents about 70% of Council’s overall emissions profile (excluding landfill emissions). The onset of increasing electricity prices, renewable energy and storage technologies becoming more widely available and affordable, as well as Council’s own emission reduction targets, presented Council with an opportunity to explore alternative methods of sourcing electricity to meet its long term energy needs and to assist the broader community to do the same.
Council has facilitated the installation of 280kW of solar PV through EUAs, 1,844 MW of large scale solar through private investment and is positioned to source 100 per cent of its own residual electricity consumption through the renewable Power Purchase Agreement from as early as July 2021.
These innovative projects have saved almost two million tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of taking 380,000 cars off the road.
Melbourne City Council is celebrating Melbourne without emissions by pioneering a new way of delivering carbon neutral events. Through the measurement, reduction and offsetting of emissions sources, Melbourne Fashion Week, Melbourne Music Week, and Melbourne Knowledge Week have been certified carbon neutral under the Federal Government's Climate Active program in 2018 and 2019.
In 2018, the Council developed the Climate Change Mitigation Strategy to 2050 to guide the city to reduce emissions to achieve their science based targets and to align their actions with the Paris Agreement on climate change. The City of Melbourne has been certified Carbon Neutral since 2012, and to support this Carbon Neutral commitment, an Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) was produced for the five years 2016-2021. One of the ERP’s goals is to commit to reducing carbon from events in the city. The project commenced in 2018 to certify a portfolio of the three premier events Carbon Neutral under the Australian Government’s National Climate Active Program.
The Sustainability team worked closely with event operation teams to analyse the events’ predicted emissions based on programing and venues, develop data collection and calculation templates, and identify emission reduction opportunities.
By implementing rigorous environmental reporting requirements for these events, staff were able to focus on the importance of measurement and reporting and enable new processes to be embedded into existing event planning and delivery.
Future ready starts today.
With the right strategy and operational foundations, be equipped for every new challenge.
Effective and efficient services, an innovative culture, and smart technologies are key to delivering on the changing needs and expectations of your community. Our dedicated local government team provides deep capability, backed by a global network. We’ll help you get set for success.
Contact:
Toni Jones Partner, Local Government Lead KPMG Australia tonijones@kpmg.com.au
Anticipate tomorrow. Deliver today.
KPMG.com/au/localgov
