ACT to phase out gas under climate strategy

climate strategy
Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury

The ACT Government has revealed it plans to phase out the use of natural gas to reach its net zero carbon emissions by 2045, as well as pushing the uptake of electric vehicles.

Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury has put part of the onus on Canberrans, asking the community to do more to help it reach the target by participating in “car-free days” and swapping gas heaters for electric aircons.

“The move to 100 per cent renewable electricity has been led by the government and households have, I think, been very positive about that on the whole,” he said.

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“But the next phase, where emission reduction does require more behaviour change, we will need to work with the community.

“This is not about making it the community’s problem, government will continue to lead and provide the framework and that’s very much what this strategy does. But we’re also being very clear, we want to partner with people.”

In order to facilitate the change, Mr Rattenbury floated the ideas of changing the costs of car registration and restricting parking.

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He also pointed to Copenhagen in Denmark as an ideal model for Canberra, which Energy Networks Australia CEO Andrew Dillon said on Twitter is flawed.

“Memo @ShaneRattenbury: your beloved Copenhagen isn’t phasing out gas, it is creating a green gas grid. Suggest you give that a go,” his tweet read.

The ABC also pointed out the strategy was a bit of an awkward one considering the ACT Government is a shareholder in ActewAGL, a natural gas provider in Canberra.

Read the full ACT Climate Strategy here.

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