Estimating council emissions

Council pledges

Under Victoria’s world-leading Climate Action Act 2017, councils can make voluntary pledges to demonstrate their significant contributions to reducing the state’s emissions. Pledges may include council actions and estimated emissions reductions.

More information is available about council pledges and pledges already submitted by councils.

Snapshot climate emissions profiles

Snapshot Climate is a free source of local emissions data for all Australians. In 2022, the Victorian Government provided funding to update the tool with more detailed and accurate data. The tool provides information about greenhouse gas emissions from all sources. The data is available for different time periods at the scale of states, federal electorates and local council areas.

More information is available on the Snapshot Climate - Australian Emissions Profiles website.

Estimating council emissions

Tailored guidance is provided for councils that wish to include emissions reductions in their pledge:

• Guidance on estimating emissions reductions (PDF, 439.5 KB)
• Guidance on estimating emissions reductions - accessible (DOCX, 220.1 KB)

Emission reduction resources

The following resources will help councils to estimate their emissions reductions:

• The Victorian Government has prepared new guidance on environmental reporting for Victorian public entities to report on environmental impacts and greenhouse gas emission from their operations.
• The Snapshot Climate tool provides free, accurate and detailed emissions data for all local government areas.
• GHG Protocol Policy and Action Standard for estimating the effect of policies and actions.
• National Greenhouse Accounts Factors help companies and individuals estimate greenhouse gas emissions.
• GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard is guidance for companies and other organisations.
• GHG Protocol for Cities supports cities to measure their emissions and build more effective emissions reduction strategies.

Where to get further help

For further guidance and if you have any questions or suggestions please contact DEECA Climate Change Policy at climate.change@deeca.vic.gov.au.