In 2018 We started the next chapter in our sustainability journey and asked for your input to take a snapshot of your priorities and help us identify the areas to focus on over the next 10 years.

Yarra is one of Australia’s leading sustainable cities. We were the first council in Victoria to achieve carbon neutrality and the first in Australia to receive One Planet certification. These achievements were driven by you, our environmentally-savvy community. Thank you!

We also sought feedback at the Yarra Sustainability Awards on conducted 2 different pop-up sessions.

Pop-ups

Thursday 5 July
11am to 12.30pm
Richmond Library
415 Church Street, Richmond

Wednesday 11 July
3.30pm to 5.30pm
Bargoonga Nganjin, North Fitzroy Library
182 St Georges Road, North Fitzroy

Your contributions are helping us prepare our Draft Environment Strategy 2018–30 and later this year we’ll bring this draft back to you for further feedback.

We embrace our responsibility to our next generation of Yarra citizens and we believe our legacy should be a sustainable city supported by innovative policies, practices and advocacy.

Fast facts

  • Yarra’s population is expected to increase by almost 30,000 by 2031 and the city is growing by an average of 1160 dwellings per year.
  • Yarra is home to more than 13,000 businesses and jobs are expected to double in the next 15 years.
    The rapidly growing knowledge and service sectors have taken over from traditional manufacturing.
  • 22% of Yarra’s 20 square kilometres are classified as parkland, adding to a network of over 20,000 street trees.
  • About 46% of Yarra residents walk, cycle or catch public transport to work (more than double the Greater Melbourne average). However transport modelling suggests that by 2031 there will be 48,000 more car trips in Yarra per day.
  • Climate change will pose an increasing threat to the city, most significantly in the form of more frequent and severe heatwaves and storms.

Recent sustainability highlights

  • Renewable energy generation in Yarra has increased from 1,200 kW installed capacity in 2010 to now over 7000 kW.
  • There has been a 10% increase in bike riders commuting to work since 2013.
  • Waste to landfill was reduced by almost 100 tonnes last year despite a growing population.
  • In our own operations, we have reduced our carbon emissions by a sector-leading 40% since 2001, we generate 25% of our own energy needs from local, renewable sources and have maintained carbon neutral certification since 2012.
  • We are converting disused pavement to green open space (6 new pocket parks since 2009).