SA Premier releases plan to make Adelaide 'world's first carbon neutral city' by 2050

Updated

Adelaide will be a carbon neutral city by 2050 if a South Australian Government strategy to tackle climate change is successful.

Premier Jay Weatherill released the State Government's vision for the "the world's first carbon neutral city" as up to 6,000 marched in Adelaide as part of world-wide rallies for action on climate change ahead of global talks in Paris.

The reported predicted temperatures will rise by up to 1.5 degrees Celsius and rainfall would decrease by up to 12 per cent in parts of the state by 2050, including in the Mid-North and Yorke Peninsula region.

Rainfall was expected to decrease by 10 per cent across the Murray-Darling Basin.

We want South Australia to be the just transition capital of the world, ensuring a fair and equitable transition to a low carbon economy. SA Premier Jay Weatherill

"We have already begun the transition to a low carbon economy and have demonstrated that it is possible to decouple economic growth from emissions," Mr Weatherill said in the report's introduction.

"Between 1990 and 2012/2013 we reduced our emissions by 9 per cent while growing the economy by over 60 per cent.

"We have the ability to produce almost all of our energy from clean and renewable sources and export this energy to the rest of Australia."

The report said the Government would achieve its target by playing a "critical role in supporting the community and industry in the transition to a low carbon economy".

"The Government also has a responsibility to provide policy certainty for business and industry, establish consistent and effective regulatory frameworks, and, as climate change leader, to collaborate with other sub-national governments to facilitate global action," it said.

The report said local governments would be at the "front line", and would develop local policy and "operational solutions".

It said the private sector would "drive innovation and development clean tech solutions" if it was supported by the right "fiscal policies and regulatory settings".

Mr Weatherill said the change from traditional to low carbon industries would be felt by those workers and communities who relied upon them.

"We need to support the community and workers through this change," he said.

"We want South Australia to be the just transition capital of the world, ensuring a fair and equitable transition to a low carbon economy."

The report foreshadowed an increase in bushfires, heatwaves and floods in SA, with changing rainfall patterns and higher evaporation rates expected to challenge the state's water supplies.

Topics: climate-change, community-organisations, environmental-health, federal---state-issues, state-parliament, adelaide-5000, sa

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