Source: Richie Southerton

THEMES

Human Settlements

This section provides an assessment of the pressures on the environment from human settlement activities in the ACT. The following indicators are assessed:

For background information on human settlements see Background: Human Settlements

The consumption of fuels and the generation of waste reported in this section are also major sources of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the ACT. Information on air quality can be found in Air, and information on and greenhouse gas emissions can be found in Climate Change.

Canberra experienced two extended COVID-19 lockdowns from late March to late May 2020 and from mid-August to mid-October 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has also significantly increased the uptake of working from home arrangements. These will have impacted some of the annual data presented in this section, particularly the ecological footprint, energy consumption, waste generation and transport. Any potential Covid Pandemic impacts are discussed where relevant.

That the ACT Government: 

ACTION 1.

Develop strategies to reduce resource consumption and waste to landfill, and to increase waste recovery rates as part of moving toward a circular economy.

ACTION 2.

Promote and support sustainable consumption at the household level to further decrease the ACT’s ecological footprint.

ACTION 3.

Develop strategies to improve the uptake of public transport and active travel, including increasing cycling participation across gender and age groups.

ACTION 4.

Provide incentives for low-income households to encourage the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles, and to reduce the purchase of diesel powered vehicles.

ACTION 5.

Expand water sensitive urban design across new and existing urban areas, incorporating integrated water cycle management to enable the capture and use of stormwater, and the creation of habitat for ACT’s biodiversity.

HS1: ACT’s ecological footprint

CONDITION

TREND

DATA QUALITY

The ACT’s ecological footprint is over 9 times the size of the land area of the ACT showing that current resource use is unsustainable. Despite this, the ACT has reduced its total ecological footprint by 11% since 2009–10, and the carbon footprint by 41%. Per capita reductions have been higher still with a 30% decrease in the ecological footprint since 2009–10 and a 54% decrease in the carbon footprint.

Households are responsible for 67% of the ACT’s footprint. Decreases in community resource consumption are key to further reducing both the ecological and carbon footprints for the ACT.

HS2: Energy consumption and generation

CONDITION

TREND

DATA QUALITY

Because of the lack of ACT-only data for other energy sources, this assessment is limited to electricity consumption and generation.

The ACT reached its 100% renewable electricity supply target in 2020. Despite population growth, electricity consumption has remained stable reflecting an ongoing decline in per capita usage.

HS3: Solid waste generation and management

CONDITION

TREND

DATA QUALITY

There are no apparent trends indicating long-term changes in the total amount of waste generated, recovered or landfilled. The annual resource recovery rate is generally good at around 75% to 80% of the total waste generated, with recovery rates improving in recent years. Municipal solid waste accounts for the highest proportion of waste sent to landfill and its generation appears to be stable despite the annual population increase in the ACT. The lack of comprehensive and consistent waste data, and high annual variations in waste produced, makes it difficult to assess the overall status of waste in the ACT.

HS4: Transport

CONDITION

TREND

DATA QUALITY

The ACT community maintains a high dependence on cars for transport, with the number of registered vehicles and their usage increasing. Cars were used for around 75% of all trips undertaken in 2022, and 86% of commuting to work. Public transport, cycling and walking only represented 13% of all travel to work in 2022, although public transport use was increasing before COVID-19 restrictions and the uptake of work from home arrangements. The number of diesel-powered vehicles continues to grow in the ACT, accounting for 20% of passenger vehicles in June 2023 compared to just 6% in 2010. This growth is increasing transport impacts on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. Around 5% of vehicles in the ACT are electric or hybrid and their number is increasing rapidly.

HS5: Water resources

CONDITION

TREND

DATA QUALITY

The variation in water storage volumes is consistent with a long-term trend in the ACT of extended periods of reduced storage inflows punctuated by years of high rainfall. The ACT’s four reservoirs were holding just 55% of the total ACT storage capacity in June 2020 but very high annual rainfall resulted in full, or close to full, storage capacity for all reservoirs from 2021 to June 2023. However, the long-term trends in storage volumes and inflows show that although recent years have provided above average water resources, the region remains prone to long periods of dry conditions with implications for water resources.

HS6: Water consumption

CONDITION

TREND

DATA QUALITY

Total water consumption in the ACT and Queanbeyan remained fairly consistent during the decade 2013–14 to 2022–23, ranging from around 46,000 to 56,000 megalitres per year, despite increases in the population serviced. Per capita water use has also been fairly consistent, ranging from 66 to 83 kilolitres per person annually. This is far lower than the per capita water use in the early 2000s of around 120 kilolitres per person.

CONDITION


Environmental condition is healthy across the ACT, OR pressure likely to have negligible impact on environmental condition/human health.

Environmental condition is neither positive or negative and may be variable across the ACT, OR pressure likely to have limited impact on environmental condition/human health.

Environmental condition is under significant stress, OR pressure likely to have significant impact on environmental condition/ human health.

Data is insufficient to make an assessment of status and trends.

TREND


DATA QUALITY


Adequate high-quality evidence and high level of consensus.

Limited evidence or limited consensus.

Evidence and consensus too low to make an assessment.

Assessments of status, trends and data quality are not appropriate for the indicator.

Population

The ACT’s ecological and carbon footprint

Ecological footprint

Carbon footprint

Energy

Waste (data includes Queanbeyan but excludes material from the Mr Fluffy asbestos disposal)

Transport

Private vehicle use

Public transport and active travel

Water resources and consumption

Water resources

Potable water consumption (data includes Queanbeyan)

Context

The impacts of human settlement on the environment are many and varied, and there are a range of Acts, policies and programs in place to manage them. The ACT Government typically uses a multi-pronged approach to address impacts, which includes community education, incentivisation of desired behaviours, investment in technology and infrastructure to support those behaviours, and modelling of desired actions in its own operations.

For more information about the ACT Government’s approach to climate change adaptation refer to Climate Change.

Policy framework

The Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010 legislates the ACT’s target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by June 2045, and outlines some of the ways this will be achieved. It also establishes the Climate Change Council to advise the Minister on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The ACT Climate Change Strategy 201925 is the main policy instrument for implementing the ACT’s ambitious climate actions. It articulates a vision that “By 2045 the ACT will be a leading net zero emissions territory that demonstrates that a healthier, smarter future is possible”. It spells out the emission reduction targets to 2045 and identifies the actions to meet them, as well as build resilience to climate change impacts. The strategy aims to embed the consideration of climate change in both Government and community decision-making.

In 2021 the ACT Government established the Office of the Coordinator General for Climate Action to coordinate and support the ACT Government’s agenda for climate action. The role of this office includes looking into policy and planning reform, and facilitating some of the larger programs promised under the Climate Change Strategy 2019–25. Other responsibilities for delivery on the actions are split primarily across the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, Community Services Directorate and the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate.

The ACT Government has implemented a range of rules, incentives and programs to support electrification, energy efficiency and local renewable energy. The focus on equity and low-income households to ensure programs in this area are not exclusionary is an area of strength for the ACT.

The Suburban Land Agency has developed a Sustainability Strategy 2021–25 which sets out objectives under four themes to ensure ecologically sustainable development is embedded into new subdivisions and urban estates that the Agency delivers.

The ACT Transport Strategy 2020 is an important complementary document to the Climate Change Strategy 2019–25, recognising that transport is the major contributor to the ACT’s greenhouse gas emissions. It discusses a range of ways to reduce vehicle emissions, ranging from encouraging active travel and use of public transport through to incentivising the purchase of zero emissions vehicles. The ACT’s Zero Emissions Vehicles Strategy 202230 and its predecessor the Zero Emissions Vehicles Action Plan 20182021 provide more detail on how a transition away from internal combustion engine vehicles will be achieved. An Active Travel Plan to encourage walking and cycling is also in the final stages of development at the time of writing. Within government, the public transport vehicle fleet will shift to zero emissions by 2040 guided by the Zero–Emission Transition Plan for Transport Canberra 2020.

The ACT Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act 2016 establishes a regulatory framework to support the achievement of the resource recovery objectives of the ACT Waste Management Strategy 2011–2025. The Act intends to facilitate and reward good practice in waste collection, transportation, recovery and reuse and discourages disposal of waste to landfill. In 2021, the Act was amended to enable introduction of a household Food Organics and Garden Organics service, as well as other measures to improve waste management.

The ACT Waste Management Strategy 20112025: Towards a Sustainable Canberra provides a framework for sustainable resource management with the target of resource recovery to over 90% by 2025. Its aims include reduced waste generation, full resource recovery, a clean environment and a carbon neutral waste sector.

On 1 July 2021, the ACT Government banned single-use plastics through the Plastics Reduction Act 2021. In the first tranche of actions, expanded polystyrene takeaway food and beverage containers, and single use plastic cutlery and stirrers were banned. The second tranche, from 1 July 2022, banned single use plastic straws, cotton buds with plastic sticks and all oxo-degradable plastics. In the third tranche, from 1 July 2023, microbeads, expanded polystyrene products and packaging and plastic takeaway containers were banned.

The Water Resources Act 2007 aims to ensure that management and use of the water resources of the Territory sustain the physical, economic and social wellbeing of the people of the ACT. The ACT Water Strategy 201444: Striking the Balance aims to assure Canberra’s long-term water supply through a range of approaches including reducing mains water consumption and diversifying water sources. In general, the ACT water policy suite seeks to maintain the reduction in water consumption that was achieved by water restrictions and other policy interventions during the Millenium Drought. This represents a reduction of 40% compared with 2003 consumption rates.

Policy effectiveness

The ACT is undoubtedly a leader in Australia in its approach to reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions. The ACT Government has introduced an impressive range of programs[11] to support Canberra residents in making changes which contribute to this reduction, ranging from grants and financial incentives to behaviour change education. Further, an independent review of the Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act 2010 conducted in 2021 found that it had been highly effective in allowing the ACT Government to set the groundwork for action, to develop policy and successfully meet emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.

Nevertheless, there are areas where policy relating to the environmental impacts of human settlement in the ACT could be strengthened.

Ecological footprint

Despite an impressive range of policy interventions and progress on emissions reduction in many areas, the ACT’s ecological footprint remains high. Nine planet Earths would be needed to sustain human life if all people lived the same lifestyle as ACT residents. For comparison, the global average ecological footprint in 2022 was calculated as being 1.75 planet Earths.[12] Although the ACT Government has made significant efforts to reduce the Territory’s scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, around 94% of our emissions are from scope 3 emissions generated from goods and services consumed in the ACT but produced elsewhere. This includes construction materials, vehicles, household items, food and clothing.

The ACT Government currently has no plan to directly address the Territory’s substantial scope 3 emissions. While there are a number of policies which go towards addressing some aspects of the ACT’s large ecological footprint, as with other policy areas, there is no overarching framework to bring these different domains together with a strategic approach.

Transport

As the ACT Transport Strategy 2020 is relatively new, it has also not been in place long enough to properly assess its effectiveness. However, public and active transport use have declined during this reporting period in spite of the plans and strategies in place to encourage these practices. Decreased public transport use is indicative of a longer-term trend compared with previous decades and is not solely an effect of the COVID-19 restrictions imposed during this reporting period. While the ACT Government is investing in expanding the light rail network this trend suggests that more work is needed to understand the motivations and barriers which dictate Canberran’s use of public and active transport.

Waste

The ACT Waste and Management Strategy 2011–2025 is an ambitious strategy with strong targets and clearly outlined outcomes. The ACT has the second highest resource recovery rate (75%–80%) in Australia after South Australia, however reaching the 90% target set out in the Strategy remains challenging. This is especially the case when resource recovery in Australia has been impacted by the changes in the past five years following the China’s change to their waste import policy. As the ACT Waste and Management Strategy 2011–2025 is reaching its end of life and due to disruptions caused by waste export changes, it has become outdated. However, several policies and Acts have been put in place both on Federal and ACT level addressing the changes in the waste sector over the last decade. As the ACT might be preparing to develop a new waste strategy, to remain a policy leader in Australia it is recommended that the new waste strategy:

Water

Water efficiency has understandably not been at the forefront of decision-making in the ACT over the last two years of wetter-than-average conditions but is likely to become more pressing as the Territory moves back into a predicted period of hotter and drier weather. Canberra’s increasing population and urban footprint are likely to disproportionately increase domestic water consumption. While historic gains from programs promoting domestic water efficiency are still paying dividends, new residents may be unfamiliar with water saving behaviours. The houses, gardens and municipal greenspace in new developments will inevitably increase demand for water even if constructed with water efficiency in mind. A renewed focus on water efficiency in domestic and commercial settings is likely to be necessary in the near future.