Brisbane City Council's Action Plan

A couple of months ago I read with great interest a report commissioned by Brisbane City Council and prepared by a special task force which included Ian Lowe, president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. The report was to focus on the risks and impacts of climate change and peak oil for Brisbane, and to provide recommendations on what the council should do about it. The task force should be very proud of what they came up with, in my opinion.

There was a bit of press soon after the release of the report when the council met to discuss its response. At the time it sounded like they were pretty much going to ignore the report and dismiss its key recommendations as "wacky". I got somewhat upset about that.

But... council has now released their Plan for Action on Climate Change and Energy and it quite substantially reflects the original report! There are some notable omissions -- ambitious stuff like revolutionary transportation systems and 0% greenhouse gas emissions target for 2050, and contentious stuff like mandatory rainwater tanks and restrictions on pools, air conditioning and car parking. Compared to a "business-as-usual" approach, though, it's a major step in the right direction.