Adelaide will be the world’s first carbon-neutral city

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill wants Adelaide to become the world's first carbon-neutral city. He also wants South Australia to ensure a fair and equitable transition to a low-carbon economy.

Weatherill said that Australia’s 26 to 28 percent reduction target of carbon emission by 2030 is inadequate and embarrassing in international terms, the Australian Financial Review reports. Weatherill stated that SA has the ability to produce almost all of its needed energy from clean and renewable sources and to export this to the rest of the country.

"We have already begun the transition to a low carbon economy and have demonstrated that it is possible to decouple economic growth from emissions," Weatherill said. "Between 1990 and 2012-2013, we reduced our emissions by nine per cent while growing the economy by over 60 percent.”

The SA government wants to improve the energy efficiency of transportation and buildings and urges homeowners to install solar panels. Weatherill believes waste management and recycling is critical to reducing carbon emissions.

He says that South Australia has plenty of natural resources to back up this idea such as long sunny days and strong gusts of wind in coastal areas. He also wants $10 billion investments to fund renewable technology in the next decade.

However, the SA government uses coal-fired generators that emits a significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO2). The government needs to halt this practice without having to compromise the energy supply.

Hence, the government will play a crucial role in the transition toward a low-carbon economy. Policies must be created to ensure consistent and effective frameworks for industries and businesses to comply, in collaboration with other sub-national governments. With enough support from the government, the private sector will be able to innovate and develop technologies to help reduce carbon emissions.

"We need to support the community and workers through this change," Weatherill remarked. "We want South Australia to be the just transition capital of the world, ensuring a fair and equitable transition to a low carbon economy."

In 2011, the top CO2 emitters were China, the United States, the European Union, India, the Russian Federation, Japan and Canada, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reports. Australia ranked 17th, producing 392.29 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. Aditionally, each Australian generated 18.02 tonnes of CO2.

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