(pictured: Bligh Voller Nield’s retrofit of Stockland’s head office was Australia’s first 6 star Green Star rating for office interiors)

City-wide sustainable planning and intelligent design could halve the greenhouse gas emissions of Australian cities over the next 20 years, according to new research.

A new study has revealed that Australian cities could slash emissions by 540 million tones (MT) over the next 20 years by implementing plans that incorporate trigeneration, building retrofits, simple transport movements and renewable energy, similar to the City of Sydney’s Sustainable Sydney 2030.

The saving is roughly equivalent to the annual total emissions from the whole of Australia in 2008, across all sectors including energy, industry, waste and agriculture, or comparable to the nation being carbon zero for a year, the research conducted by the City of Sydney and Kinesis finds.

This reduction is four times that independent analysis predicts will be achieved across all of Australia’s buildings as a result of the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).

The Centre for International Economics Australia estimates residential and commercial buildings are responsible for 23 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions.

“The report shows that if Australian cities implement measures like those in our Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan, we could collectively halve emissions in our cities within 20 years, making a very significant contribution towards reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions,” said Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP.

“The City of Sydney has a comprehensive plan in place to reduce our emissions by 70 per cent by 2030, using integrated actions and mature technologies including tri-generation, building retrofits, simple transport improvements and renewable energy. These real and tangible proactive changes are already underway in other Australian cities too, and need to be reflected in Australia’s commitment to national targets in Copenhagen,” Moore said.

While acknowledging the benefits and targets set by the CPRS, the report shows there is real scope to significantly increase national targets, Moore said. Capital City Mayors have agreed to further develop the research before Copenhagen.

The report concludes that this sort of targeted city action could achieve a quarter of the government’s current unconditional commitment.