Cr Bill McArthur, MAV President said that although Victorian local government was broadly supportive of a national carbon price, there should be appropriate mechanisms in place to offset the impact on councils as a major public sector provider who deliver important community services.
“It’s long overdue that we adopt a national carbon price to ensure a more secure future for Australians, and the Federal Government must establish a scheme that shows strong leadership to best reflect the nation’s interests.
“A carbon tax will have a cost impact for councils, particularly the disposal of municipal wastes, construction of buildings and infrastructure, electricity and gas costs, and the purchase of automotive fuel.
“While we support the principles of compensation for households and emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries, a carbon price should also exclude both new and legacy landfill waste.
“There is an absence of reliable, cost effective methods to measure waste emissions, and existing State regulations are already strong enough to adequately address landfill gas management challenges.
“The incentives under the Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative could provide further impetus for councils to mitigate carbon emissions from landfill and generate carbon offsets for the voluntary carbon market.
“For more than a decade Victorian councils have actively worked to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, which will also reduce the impacts of a carbon price. This has included changes to vehicle fleets, improved building energy efficiency, landfill methane gas capture, green purchasing programs and use of GreenPower,” he said.
Over 90 per cent of Victorian councils monitor their energy or greenhouse gas emissions, and two-thirds have adopted a formal greenhouse gas mitigation strategy.
A 2009 MAV study on the impacts of the former Rudd Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme estimated that council costs would increase around two per cent with a $25/tonne carbon price and around three per cent with a $40/tonne carbon price – equivalent to rate increases of between three and five per cent. Half of these cost impacts were attributed to emissions from legacy and new landfill waste.
Cr McArthur said that a new survey would be undertaken with councils to update analysis on how the carbon tax would affect local government and further inform the sector’s emissions reduction efforts.
“Other initiatives to help reduce the impacts on councils of a future carbon tax include a joint electricity tender; a toolkit to increase environmentally sustainable building design; and switching to energy efficient street lights.
“An electricity tender conducted by the MAV has provided 20 participant councils with highly competitive rates for the next four years, and the savings will help to offset predicted electricity price increases over the coming years.
“Federal and State funding committed in response to a sector advocacy campaign last year will also help councils with bulk changeover to energy efficient local street lights. This could achieve a 78 000 tonne annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and $9.5 million in energy cost savings a year,” he said.
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