Blue Mountains City Council, New South Wales, has won the national Cities Power Partnership’s Project Financing Innovation Award for it’s Carbon Revolving Reserve project.
The Carbon Revolving Reserve project was selected from a competitive field of entries from councils across Australia.
The national awards recognise outstanding achievement by local governments in the fields of renewable energy, sustainable transport, energy efficiency, community engagement and climate advocacy.
Mayor, Mark Greenhill, said, “The Carbon Revolving Reserve provides a long-term self-sustaining funding source that enables Council to make long term plans for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and show real leadership to our community.”
Since its inception the reserve has helped commit $1.7 million dollars to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and will deliver combined annual savings of $300,000.
The Carbon Revolving Reserve has also attracted about $300,000 of grant and co-funding to date and will enable a further $1.5 million of investment over the next five years.
The Carbon Revolving Reserve has funded projects that include an upgrade of inefficient lighting to LED across Council’s asset portfolio, 52 percent of all public street lighting converted to LED, and the installation of about 290 kilowatt of rooftop solar across five key sites.
“The Carbon Revolving Reserve has been instrumental in achieving our 20 percent absolute reduction target, three years ahead of schedule. As a result, Council have now committed to a stretch target of 30 percent absolute reduction.”
The Cities Power Partnership is Australia’s largest local government climate network, made up over 100 councils from across the country, representing almost 11 million Australians.
Winners were announced at the Cities Power Partnership’s second birthday celebration at Customs House Sydney.
