Yarra City Council becomes Australia's first One Planet Council

Yarra City Council has become the first local government in Australia, and the third in the world, to be officially certified as a One Planet Council by One Planet Living - an internationally recognised benchmark for sustainability.

The council’s sustainability performance was independently assessed against 10 principles that allow communities to live and work within their fair share of the Earth’s resources:

• Zero carbon
• Zero waste
• Sustainable transport
• Sustainable materials
• Local and sustainable food
• Sustainable water
• Land use and wildlife
• Culture and heritage
• Equity and local economy
• Health and happiness

Yarra City Council qualified for International Leadership status - the highest platform within One Planet Council accreditation. According to One Planet Living Managing Director Ed Cotter, this places the council alongside leading international communities like Brighton in the UK and Sonoma Mountain Village in the USA.

“Certification against One Planet Living is a stamp of recognition reserved for international sustainability leaders striving to make one-planet living a reality for people and organisations,” said Cotter.

“Yarra City Council has shown great leadership and vision on how local government can actually head the charge on sustainability through their diverse actions and strong targets, and by assessing themselves against the only metric that really matters - one-planet living.”

One Planet Living MD Ed Cotter and Yarra Mayor Cr Jackie Fristacky.

Yarra Mayor Cr Jackie Fristacky noted that Yarra was the first Victorian council to achieve carbon-neutral certification in 2012. She said, “That achievement spurred us to work with our community to develop a new Yarra Environment Strategy, which set new leadership goals for ourselves and our community to prove that local authorities can facilitate significant gains in terms of sustainable living if the right plan is in place and there is a collective commitment to that plan.”

Since 2012, said Cr Fristacky, Council has conducted a substantial retrofit program for 18 of its buildings and introduced on-site energy generation to heat two community pools. She said, “Council has reduced its annual energy consumption by 25% compared with consumption in 2000-01 - the base year we measure against.

“By June 2015, once the retrofitting project is complete, we are hoping to have that reduction up to 45%, which will be a wonderful achievement if we get there.”

She added that the community is taking action too, with more Yarra residents cycling to work than in any other local government area in Australia.

For more about Yarra City Council’s Environment Strategy, click here.