Environmental Management

Canberra has strong environmental credentials and is widely regarded as a world leader in urban environmental solutions. Canberra was the first city in the world to set a target of 'No waste by 2010'.

The Canberra community has the highest level of environmental awareness in Australia and strongly supports good environment management policies and practices. As such, environmental management and services is a growing business activity in Canberra. There are approximately 400 firms employing over 2,700 people that specialise in some aspect of environmental management. Canberra's environment industry currently generates about AUD$1.1million in exports annually and a total revenue turnover of AUD$580million.

Canberra's environmental management and services industry concentrates primarily on research and development and the provision of services. World class public research institutions such as the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, Australia's largest research organisation), the Australian National University and the University of Canberra and spend around AUD$102million annually on environment related research and development in Canberra.

Canberra has recognised expertise in areas such as sustainable town planning and architecture, environmental landscaping, the physical sciences, earth biology and rural sciences, as well as renewable energy, waste water treatment, water quality and resource recovery. Canberra's environment industry also has a range of knowledge in areas such as:

The industry also possesses skills in areas such as research and development, data management, light manufacturing, engineering, geo-spatial applications, data mining, and education.

For a snapshot of ACT environment firms and organisations, see the ACT Enviro-Enterprise Directory (   1584Kb ) .

The Ecobusiness Program is a joint initiative developed by ACT NOWaste, Environment ACT, the Canberra Institute of Technology and the ACT & Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry. It aims to further extend the focus of no waste by 2010 and the ACT Greenhouse strategies to the commercial sector.

The program is also aimed at helping the business community improve environmental performance across a number of areas. It consists of workshops where businesses can learn how to improve environmental performance. Industry sources estimate the value of the environment industry in the ACT to be over $200 million per annum. This includes the provision of environmental products and services nationally and globally.

To find out more about the Ecobusiness Program and the NOWaste Strategy visit the Ecobusiness Website .

The environment industry in Canberra has built upon the strong environmental awareness and world-class research and development capabilities of the Canberra community to develop a significant and growing industry.

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