Burning fossil fuels to power our buildings and vehicles and produce the products we use is a major source of global warming. When these fuels are burned, they produce carbon emissions and trap heat in the atmosphere.

We need to do all we can to reduce our emissions as quickly as possible to slow global warming. We can do this by using renewable energy, changing to electric vehicles and reducing the amount of waste we generate.

Community emissions

The ‘Snapshot Community Climate Tool’ developed by Beyond Zero Emissions and Ironbark Sustainability provides an overview of Geelong’s community-wide carbon emissions footprint.

According to the 2018/19 snapshot, the community emissions for the entire City of Greater Geelong municipality was estimated to be 3,189,300 tCO2-e in 2018/19. The main sources of community emissions include:

• Electricity - 54%
• Gas - 12%
• Transport - 30%
• Waste - 3%

Having this data allows emission reduction opportunities to be identified and targeted.