How Melbourne plans to become a greener and more sustainable city

THE Australian city of Melbourne has decided to create new green spaces, in addition to protecting its existing parks and multiplying projects to reduce CO2 emissions throughout the city. The goal is to become a net-zero city, driving the ecological transition while also making life more pleasant.

In addition to maintaining and protecting the city's parks and gardens, the City of Melbourne will invest in new green, open spaces, particularly in its most densely populated suburb, Southbank.

An additional green space the size of two Olympic swimming pools will be created from scratch in the north of the city. This project alone will include new play and picnic facilities, 48 new trees and safer pedestrian crosswalks.

In total, 2,400 new trees are to be planted this year. The tree species are selected for their climate resilience to ensure that the entire ecosystem can deal with high levels of heat and drought, all while keeping residents cool.

Important work will also be undertaken to collect rainwater throughout the city.

This will then be used to irrigate the city's parks and gardens while protecting them against drought. In addition, the city plans to build new systems to deal with possible natural disasters such as flooding or heat waves.

In order to keep working towards net-zero CO2 emissions, the city will step up its Power Melbourne renewable energy project, which involves building an entire network of batteries in the city to store and use this energy source as required.

This network will be installed mainly on public buildings. Melbourne's ambition is to become a city powered 100% by renewable energy by 2030.

Nearly A$50 million will be invested to make Melbourne a benchmark city in Australia, and around the world, for embracing the benefits of nature and sustainable resources.