Australia’s capital city switches to 100% renewable energy

The Australian capital, Canberra, will become the first city outside Europe to shift from fossil fuel to 100% renewable energy.

Wind farms provide some of Canberra’s renewable energy.

From 1 January 2020, Canberra will join seven other districts around the world that produces or purchase the equivalent of their total electricity consumption from renewable sources, according to a report released on 18 September by policy think tank the Australia Institute in Canberra. 

The report analysed data on more than 500 regions around the world with populations greater than 100,000 people.

The district of Rhein-Hunsrück in Germany became the first area to go 100% renewable, in 2012; two German states, three states in Austria and one region in Spain followed.

The analysis used information from the CDP, a non-governmental organization in London that gathers mostly self-reported environmental-performance data from local governments and companies.

Read the Nature story by Bianca Nogrady - “Australia’s capital city switches to 100% renewable energy.”