Territory’s response to Climate Change
The previous Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water Security, Lauren Moss tabled the third annual progress report on PDF (1.4 MB) the Northern Territory (NT) Climate Change Response in Parliament in October 2023.
The Climate Change Response: Towards 2030 Annual Progress Report outlines achievements in the past 12 months aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing a Territory that is resilient to the impacts of a changing climate.
Key achievements have been made across government including:
- continued progress to increase renewables including the $45 million Darwin-Katherine Battery Energy Storage system, known as the ‘big battery’ with all batteries installed earlier this year
- continued implementation of the NT Electric Vehicle (EV) Strategy and plan with the uptake of EV’s tripling in the past 12 months with more than 300 electric vehicles registered in the NT
- invested $5 million to expand the NT’s hydrogen industry following the release of our NT Renewable Hydrogen Strategy and Renewable Hydrogen Master Plan and the development of the Darwin H2 Hub
Important foundational action has been undertaken by the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security:
- releasing policies including the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Management for New and Expanding Large Emitters Policy, the Policy Statement Management of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Onshore Gas Industry and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets Policy;
- commencing an NT climate risk assessment to examine and prepare for climate related risks that may impact the future liveability of the NT
- commencing a department-focused climate risk assessment to examine and prepare for climate related risks that may impact the delivery of department core business and services
- commencing a project to identify and prioritise NT biodiversity and ecosystems that are most susceptible to climate change related impacts and propose measures for risk mitigation and adaptation that can enhance the resilience of biodiversity and natural ecosystems
During her Ministerial Statement on Climate Change on 25 October 2023 which is available on page 75-78 of Daily Hansard, for more information go to the Territory Stories website, the Minister announced that the NT Government would lead by example and set an operational greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2030, to reduce NT Government operational emissions by 47% compared with 2021 emissions.
This commitment has been informed by the work undertaken by the department to establish a baseline inventory of NT greenhouse gas emissions for the 2020-2021 financial year.
