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The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy is the leading international alliance of cities and local governments with a shared long-term vision of promoting and supporting voluntary action to combat climate change and move to a low emission, resilient society. A new draft common global reporting framework has been released and ICLEI Oceania are seeking feedback and input. Come along to the webinar on Wednesday 23rd May 2018 - hear what this all means and have your say in program design!

Over the last 3 years, Ironbark have been working with Australian councils, ICLEI Oceania, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, Distribution Network Service Providers (DNSPs) and other data sources to to develop community profiles for councils the length and breadth of the land. As of May 2018, the number of councils we're working to develop community GHG profiles now sits at 80 around Australia. We now have a ready-made program that any Council can access with three differing...

The results of the first round of the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program have been released by the Federal Government; and they’re very interesting! NSW is leading the way in terms of the number of projects and the funding secured, but there are innovative proposals from all states on the list covering transport, planning, energy, and many more areas. However, it is key that the Federal Government does not see ‘Smart’ as simply an alternative label for information technology, but instead views it...

Ironbark are thrilled to announce that we’ve teamed up with ICLEI Oceania and Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) to develop the most comprehensive local government and climate change survey Australian councils and communities have ever witnessed! We're inviting Australian council and community stakeholders to take part in the survey to better understand local government climate change actions, policies, strategies and targets. The survey will identify successful case studies across Australia and help...

Having developed numerous GPC-compliant inventories for councils over the last 12 months, Ironbark Sustainability have identified and sourced relevant data for inventories that can be applied to any Australian council. We have also had two of our senior staff certified last month as GPC greenhouse gas emissions inventory specialists through the World Bank’s City Climate Planner Certificate Program. We’re now offering Australian councils GPC-compliant community data packages that includes a...

At the Local Government Energy Efficiency Conference in Sydney last week, keynote speakers discussed funding and financing energy efficiency and sustainability projects. We also heard from the City of Yarra reflect on the value of Yarra becoming Australia's first One Planet Council. Having developed One Planet Council Gap Analysis reports for councils around Australia, Ironbark now has valuable data and has developed tools that allow any council to find out how they measure up against...

Throughout 2016 Ironbark have been speaking to councils and attending conferences, events and workshops throughout Australia where setting climate targets has been high on the agenda – including greenhouse reduction targets, renewable energy targets, energy efficiency targets and the most recent trend, science-based targets. This has been impacted by some other big changes in council land around the ongoing quest for accurate community emissions data and significant local and international...

Monday 7th March 2016 marked a special milestone for councils around Australia, with the 300,000th energy efficient street light installed. This has been a remarkable achievement, especially considering that only five years ago the number was a fraction of this. Perhaps the most remarkable – and telling – part is precisely where light number 300,000 was installed. Can you guess?

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) have just launched their Local Government Finance Program to provide flexible and competitive fixed-rate, long-term finance tailored to the needs of Australian councils. Having worked closely with the CEFC for nearly 5 years now we’re always impressed with how professional and knowledgeable they are. We were involved with projects in Baw Baw Shire Council, Warrnambool City Council, Richmond Valley Shire Council and many others, and there's no doubt...

After the first ERF auction in April 2015 it was clear that opportunities for councils are extremely limited. However, with the second auction taking place in early November 2015 and possibly a third in early 2016, changes may be a foot. Will councils be able to participate in future auctions? What types of projects could be eligible - such as buildings, street lighting and landfill gas projects? What are the best opportunities for councils? How should a council bid? What will be the impact of...