Endorsement of environmental policy brings Monash one step closer to carbon neutral target

Monash Council is charging ahead with its target of net zero emissions by 2025, with the endorsement of its Environmental Sustainable Design (ESD) Policy for Council Buildings and Infrastructure last month.

The development of the ESD Policy is a key action from Council’s Zero Net Carbon Action Plan, which was endorsed in August 2020. It seeks to improve the sustainability, environmental performance and climate resilience when constructing or upgrading Council-owned and managed buildings and infrastructure.

The policy sets out a consistent approach for achieving best practice ESD outcomes in the design, construction and operation of buildings and infrastructure. It’s based on a model policy by the Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (EAGA), in collaboration with its member councils (including Monash).

In 2019-20, existing ESD policies and environmental strategies were compared across the Glen Eira, Whitehorse, Boroondara, Maroondah, Monash, Yarra Ranges and Knox councils and assessed through a benchmarking process, to inform the creation of the template policy.

Council tested the policy in 2021 during the development of its Wellington Children’s Hub and Mulgrave Pavilion projects, identifying any changes or updates that needed to be made to meet ESD commitments while keeping within budget.

Minor adjustments were made because of the trial, including the addition of building thermal efficiency consideration and inspection of insulation at lock up stage, improved building metering and monitoring, and the preference for electric over gas appliances where possible.

Mayor Cr Stuart James said the ESD Policy was a continuation of Council’s commitment to enact positive climate change action and reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“We’ve undertaken a range of projects in recent years to reduce emissions in our operations and in the community. These include the introduction of food organics in the green bin service, upgrading to LED lighting for key Council sites, increasing our electric vehicle fleet and the creation of a Sustainability Hub in Mulgrave to demonstrate how to be more sustainable at home,” Cr James said.

“Integrating ESD into Council capital works isn’t only environmentally responsible, it supports best practice and will also mean our buildings and infrastructure will perform better in the long term.”

Monash is also one of 46 Councils involved in VECO, the Victorian Energy Collaboration – the largest emissions reduction project ever undertaken by the local government sector in Australia. From 1 July 2021 renewable energy has been used to power all Council-owned infrastructure, like streetlights, major facilities and community buildings, reducing our GHG emissions by up to 60 per cent.

Council is also advocating to Victorian and Australian governments for funding to retrofit community centres to reduce emissions, such as LED lighting changeover, insulation and solar panels where appropriate, and solar panel installation on our community buildings, such as kindergartens.

View the Environmental Sustainable Design Policy (pdf, 365KB), supporting Policy Guide (pdf, 758KB) and amendments

/Public Release. View in full here.