Electric Vehicles No 'Silver Bullet' For Climate Change: Environment Commissioner

Fairfax - Katie Burgess

Electric vehicles will not be a silver bullet as the ACT looks to cut transport emissions after 2020, the ACT's Environment and Sustainability Commissioner has warned.
Speaking as the ACT government responded to her report on the territory's implementation of climate change reforms, Dr Kate Auty said Canberrans needed to embrace a mix of emission-cutting measures to reduce the risks associated with a warming climate.

You can't miss the ACT's new electric and hybrid buses.  Photo: Rohan Thomson

Transport will account for 60 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions once the ACT converts to 100 per cent renewable energy in 2020, with passenger vehicles contributing about 75 per cent.
Dr Auty said Canberrans needed to "move away from thinking there's a silver bullet like electric vehicles" and embrace other methods of transport like ride sharing, public transport or cycling.

The ACT's environment commissioner Kate Auty. Photo: NeCTAR.

"Electric vehicles are like everything else - one answer to a complex challenge we've been set by our own conduct in respect to greenhouse gas emissions and I'd urge people to think about all the other parts of the transport conundrum and make sure we're doing whatever we can," Dr Auty said.

Climate Change Shane Rattenbury said the ACT's upcoming 2045 Zero Net Emissions strategy would tie into other policy work on future transport planning to encourage people to move away from using private vehicles.
The government adopted 16 of Dr Auty's 17 recommendations about how it could improve on its climate change reforms, including better communicating how to make changes on an individual level.
"Everybody has a part to play, we can't make this somebody else's problem," Mr Rattenbury said.

ACT minister for climate change and sustainability Shane Rattenbury. Photo: Sitthixay Ditthavong 

"Our role as government is to make it easy for people to change their behaviour and to be aware of what they need to do.
"We've got a huge amount of work to do in that space to improve walking and cycling infrastructure, improve public transport and to transition to a electrified vehicle fleet, all of these are challenges ahead of us and that's the next horizon to get stuck into."
Overall Dr Auty said the ACT was doing "more than our share of heavy lifting" when it came to tackling climate change.
She said every action towards cutting emissions made a difference, no matter the size jurisdiction.
"Every time a sub-national government steps away from its responsibilities and says it's small beer, and I don't think I need to do it, we are saying we're happy to live with a 2- and a 4-degree future and if we're saying that it means we're giving up," Dr Auty said.

Links

• ACT government urged to set targets for electric cars to combat emissions
• ACT’s Climate Strategy to a Net Zero Emissions Territory
• ACT’s Climate Strategy To A Net Zero Emissions Territory Discussion Paper (pdf)
• ACT greenhouse gas emissions
• ACT could pay 'social cost' for carbon if it misses emission targets