Climate resilient environment and community

Enivornment and climate

Climate resilient environment and community

Climate mitigation and adaptation are important to track as they contribute to both personal wellbeing, the wellbeing of the economy, and society as a whole.

Tree canopy cover

This measure shows how much of Canberra's urban footprint is covered by tree canopy.

This is important because the 'urban forest' provides important benefits to our urban ecosystem. Benefits include:

In 2020 the tree canopy cover for Canberra was 22.5%. The canopy cover analysis runs every five years, with the next update due in 2025.

Canberra’s Living Infrastructure Plan sets a target of 30% tree canopy cover over Canberra’s urban footprint by 2045.

View a map of tree coverage at ACT Canopy Cover Map 2020.

ACT Canopy Cover Map 2020.

Bar chart of tree canopy coverage in the ACT in 2020. In 2020, tree canopy cover for Canberra was 22.5%.

The data are derived from the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data captured in April 2020. This cannot be compared with previous data due to misclassifications in the 2015 data and its collection in late May when many deciduous species would be experiencing seasonal leaf loss.

Greenhouse gas emissions

This measure shows annual greenhouse gas emissions in the ACT, measured in kilotonnes (thousands of tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalent (kt CO2-e).

Reducing emissions is important because it will make Canberra a more liveable city now and in the future.

The ACT is on track to meet our 2025 emissions reduction target of 50-60% below the 1990 level.

ACT’s renewable energy policy has caused emissions from electricity to fall to zero since 2020. Electricity generation was previously the largest contributor to emissions. The largest remaining emissions contributors are ground transport and stationary energy (largely natural gas and wood combustion).

Over time the ACT is committed to net zero emissions by 2045. Read more at ACT Climate Change Strategy.

ACT Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Reports.

Line graphs of greenhouse emissions in the ACT, by financial year from 2012-13 to 2021-22.

In 2021-22, 1646.9 kilotonnes (thousands of tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalent were emitted in total. This compares to 1773.8 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020-21.

In 2021-22 and 2020-21, electricity generation emitted 0 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Heatwave resilience

This measure shows the proportion of Canberrans who report it being easy to cope with heatwaves when they happen.

In 2023, 57.4% of Canberrans agreed they could easily cope with heatwaves.

Confidence was lowest amongst those aged 18-29 (53.1%) and those with disability that resulted in restriction in cognitive or mental health functioning (41%). It was higher amongst older age groups. Confidence appears to be strongly related to home ownership status, with those aged 50 and older much more likely to own their home rather than be renting compared to younger age groups.

Living well in the ACT region survey, unpublished data.

2019-2021: Living well in the ACT region: The changing wellbeing of Canberrans during 2020 and 2021.

Line graph of percentage of Canberrans who agreed, disagreed, and had neutral level of agreement that they could cope with heatwaves in the ACT between 2019 and 2023.

In 2023, 57.4% agreed that they could cope with heatwaves compared to 70.9% in 2020.

In 2023, 24.3% disagreed that they could cope with heatwaves compared to 18.5% in 2020.

In 2023, 18.3% were neutral that they could cope with heatwaves compared to 10.6% in 2020.

The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing at the individual, household, community and regional level.

When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population. Differences between groups are reported when there is a statistically significant difference based on 95% confidence intervals or other tests of significance.

Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability.

Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.

The University of Canberra has been conducting the survey since 2019. As of mid-2023, the survey had been conducted 6 times. Not all questions have been measured each time the survey has been conducted.

There have been no changes in measure design, analysis or reporting of this measure since it was first included in the survey. 2023 data for this measure has been drawn from the Living well in the ACT with a changing climate survey using the same question design as that used in the Living well in the ACT region survey.

Data for people with disability are only available for 2023 due to a change in the way disability was defined and measured in the survey, to better reflect international best practice.

Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting Professor Jacki Schirmer at the University of Canberra.

Circular economy (waste)

We are working across Government and with research partners to develop long term measures of waste reduction in the ACT.