Clean Air Strategy
For Brisbane
Living In Brisbane 2026
Our Vision: Clean Air
Our aim is that by 2026, all Brisbane residents and visitors will breathe clean air – among the cleanest of Australian capital cities.
By clean air, we mean it is safe to breathe, contains minimal pollution and promotes positive health and wellbeing. It meets national standards and goals every year.
It enhances amenity and encourages active and healthy lifestyles that make the most of the beautiful Queensland weather and natural environment.
Clean air allows the richness and diversity of natural habitats to be preserved and contributes to a sustainable future for the region’s community and economy.
Lord Mayor’s foreword
Brisbane has long been known for its blue skies and healthy, outdoor lifestyle. These are values that Council wants to continue to protect.
In this time of rapid growth, it is important that we plan our future air quality. This is why we are taking action now.
The Clean Air Strategy for Brisbane is Council’s plan for the short to medium- term to put Brisbane on track to reach its long term goal for clean air by 2026.
This plan recognises the strategic priorities facing Brisbane and the region and the actions needed to tackle these challenges.
I encourage you to be active in creating our shared vision for a livable city in 2026 - have a clean air conversation, share your clean air ideas and make clean air choices.
I look forward to working with you to ensure Brisbane stays clean, healthy and a great place to live.
Campbell Newman
LORD MAYOR
The Brisbane Clean Air Strategy 1
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The Clean Air Strategy At A Glance
Goal
Our aim is that by 2026, all Brisbane residents and visitors will breathe clean air – among the cleanest of Australian capital cities.
FOCUSDING
How Brisbane City Council Will Achieve This Goal
Objectives
Minimise the release of harmful pollutants to the air.
Minimise the impact of pollution on people.
Focus
Health of the community
Our strategies will target pollutants that have an impact on health, in particular fine particles, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.
Impacts at the neighbourhood level
Whatever the regional picture shows, it is what people are exposed to locally that really counts to protect community health. Neighbourhood issues will have prime importance.
Guiding Principles
Lead by example.
Act now.
Delay and missed opportunities create poorer air quality in the future.
Make clean air a Council priority.
Integrate clean air thinking into all Council’s activities and programs and align with other council and regional initiatives affecting air.
Collaborate with regional partners.
Seize opportunities to achieve timely change through partnerships and networks, in particular the South East Queensland Council of Mayors.
Measure and report our success.
Progress against our goals and targets will be monitored, evaluated and reported annually.
Strategies
Provide clean alternative travel choices.
Promote cleaner vehicles.
Make industry cleaner.
Reduce ‘dirty’ energy consumption.
Manage fire and smoke.
Promote clean indoor air.
An important point to note:
This Strategy will guide Council in taking steps within its power to achieve clean air as well as encourage others to assist in achieving this goal.
Council can not unilaterally guarantee air quality. Contributing factors to air quality include significant ones beyond Council’s control.
1 Brisbane’s air quality
Clean air – the story so far
Today, Brisbane’s air quality is generally good compared to Melbourne and Sydney, but compared to similar sized cities elsewhere - more can be done.
Overall the quality of our air meets national standards but occasionally higher levels of smog (ozone) and particle pollution are experienced.
As a city, Brisbane has come a long way in managing air quality. Backyard incinerators, high-sulphur diesel, lead-based paints and leaded petrol are all things of the past. Clear action taken by federal, state and local governments has solved many air pollution problems.
Brisbane has benefited from:
National standards and goals for the quality of our ambient air environment.
Greater knowledge and understanding of pollutants and their movement in our region.
An accurate account of pollution sources provided by the South East Queensland Air Emissions Inventory[1].
New vehicle emission standards and stricter requirements for emissions performance and fuel quality.
Innovation and improvements in best available technologies for industry.
Council’s achievements
Council has delivered many successful initiatives for Brisbane’s air under previous air quality strategies.
A significant increase in the number of clean, compressed natural gas buses.
More comfortable, cleaner and reliable public transport services.
The highest proportion of electric-hybrid vehicles of any government fleet in Australia.
Queensland’s first publicly-accessible heavy vehicle emissions testing facility.
Trials of alternative fuels and vehicle technologies, such as biodiesel and a hybrid electric-diesel truck.
Replacement of six-cylinder Council vehicles with fuel-efficient four-cylinder models.
Partnership for the introduction of ultra-low-sulphur diesel for public consumption in South East Queensland.
760km of safe, connected bikeways and shared pathways.
An online clean air index that reports on Brisbane’s air quality in real-time.
Practical environmental guidelines for Council-licensed industries to help them improve their performance.
Banning pit burn operations and open burning for disposal of cleared vegetation.
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Research into roadside air pollution and planning solutions to help protect residents near busy roads.
Separate incompatible land use, such as residential uses from polluting industries, through good planning via Brisbane’s City Plan.
Community achievements
You, the community, have contributed to achieving clean air through:
More residents choosing public transport with bus patronage increasing by 32% in three years
13% more people choose clean travel options as a result of our TravelSmart programs in north Brisbane suburbs
Cycling and walking on shared pathways increasing by up to 22% on week days and up to 36% on weekends (between 2004-2007)
Many more residents being more energy efficient and using Green Power (from renewable sources)
Industry leaders taking on-board cleaner production and energy efficiency principles.
Where we are now
Queensland’s Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is responsible for ambient air quality monitoring – it reports that long-term trends in pollution levels across the South East Queensland region are improving slightly.
Ambient air quality and meteorology parameters are measured at five locations across Brisbane City Council area telling us the following about our air.
Overall, the quality of the air we breathe meets national standards and goals for protection of human health and wellbeing.
Airborne particles (less than 10 μm in diameter) can exceed national guidelines multiple times in a year - making these pollutants a priority for this Strategy.
Occasionally, levels of ozone (an indicator of smog) exceed national guidelines. Smog events occur as a result of slow reactions occurring between air pollutants in hot, low wind conditions. To reduce smog, Council also places high priority on controlling nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, including localised air toxics, as precursors to photochemical smog formation.
Levels of carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide are stable or declining due to improvements in engine design, emission control technology and fuel quality.
Ambient air quality monitoring in the Brisbane City Council area show that levels of carbon monoxide have not exceeded guidelines since 1999.
Sulphur dioxide levels have not exceeded national guidelines at any location within the Brisbane City Council area in the period extending from 1990 to 2008.
Despite our progress, there is more to be done.
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NOTE: It is very difficult to pick out a clear trend in the amount of smog events (measured as ozone) and in levels of airborne particles, as these vary greatly from year to year depending on how hot and windy it is and during extreme events such as bushfires or dust storms.
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New challenges for clean air
In the 21st century, Brisbane faces greater pressures than ever before.
Rapid growth
By 2026 South East Queensland’s population will top 3.7 million - 2 million of those will live in Brisbane.
850,000 jobs in Brisbane will bring more people to the city every day from around the region.
Motorists will drive 31% more kilometres. Improvements in vehicle emissions-control technology have benefited our air, but continued use of fossil fuels and the ever increasing kilometres being driven, will negate some of the early gains.
Increasing density will mean more people will live closer to pollution sources. A major challenge will be to better understand the impacts of pollution on people’s health at a local level.
Brisbane is already more susceptible to air pollution than most other Australian cities. The surrounding mountain ranges and islands trap pollutants within the airshed until rain or strong wind clears the air. Our subtropical climate favours smog formation. This is because hotter temperatures increase emissions of volatile compounds that react to form smog, and our high UV levels speed up those chemical reactions.
The challenge is to retain our environmental quality in the face of these inevitable changes.
The need for decisive action
The need to focus on air quality is urgent due to rapid growth in the region and the long lead times often needed for mitigation strategies to be developed, implemented and to take effect.
Delayed action can make a major difference to the benefits that can be achieved. For example, had national vehicle standards kept up with the improvements in international standards, vehicle emissions performance could be well advanced today. In this case, as with many strategies for managing air quality, the benefits are only realised over a long period of time. For this reason it becomes even more important to act sooner rather than later.
Did you know?
In 1800s New York, horses were the main mode of transportation. They were also the main cause of air pollution on the city streets, kicking up dust and dirt. Motor cars were seen to bring a ‘clean’ solution for the city’s air problems. What will tomorrow’s solutions be?
Clean air – our plan
Scope
The Clean Air Strategy is a plan for the short to medium term to make sure Brisbane reaches its long-term goal for clean air by 2026.
The strategy focuses on air pollutants that impact on health – particles, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, including localised air toxics.
Neighbourhood focus
While Council is committed to partnerships to improve regional air quality, this strategy focuses on localised issues that impact at the neighbourhood level.
Our strategy highlights that, despite some improvement in the quality of ambient air, there is a need to focus on pollution issues at the neighbourhood level to eliminate local pollution ‘hotspots’.
Clean air – part of a sustainable city
A sustainable city must look after the environment that we depend upon, the social structures that look after our communities and the economy that serves us.
Clean air is one of the many programs Council has in place to help deliver a sustainable Brisbane.
Council’s role
Council works in partnership with other agencies, industry and the community to protect air quality.
The following diagram gives an overview of the sharing of responsibilities among the three levels of government.
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This strategy recognises the value of strategic links – such as shared goals and vision, consistent measures, targets and opportunities for partnering in advocacy and procurement – that will improve the likelihood of achieving the desired outcomes.
Because air quality is a regional issue we will work closely with other Councils through South East Queensland’s Council of Mayors to drive better air quality outcomes for the region.
Our proposed actions
Council will deliver a sustainable program to manage air pollution that impacts on health. Road transport accounts for over 60% of all our air emissions.
We will reduce these by:
providing greater transport opportunities through the Transport Plan for Brisbane and Brisbane Active Transport Strategy: Walking and Cycling Plan.
promoting cleaner, more efficient vehicles, including the bus fleet and commercial vehicles.
piloting and planning for the feasibility of alternative fuels and technologies.
advocating at state and federal levels for stricter controls on in-service vehicles.
Industrial processes contribute significantly to volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and particles. These emissions will be targeted through:
improvements in license requirements and auditing for industry regulated by Council.
promote continual improvement through best practice information and guidance for industry and showcasing innovation via CitySmart Innovation Festival.
advocating to the State and Federal Governments for stricter emissions controls.
Burning of fossil fuels for electricity and transportation releases both toxic pollutants and greenhouse gases. This plan is designed to make the most of the many strategies in the Plan for Action on Climate Change and Energy that reduce air pollutants as well.
Smoke can contribute up to 66% of particle pollution. We will reduce this through:
continuing to manage bushfire risk
better managing smoke nuisance from domestic burning
We will promote healthy indoor air through community education and advocating stricter building requirements.
We will endeavour to protect residents from exposure to harmful pollutants through:
clever community design and planning solutions
capturing benefits of natural solutions in Brisbane’s Open Space Strategy (currently in draft)
seeking to better understand health risks at the neighbourhood level.
We will adopt natural solutions to improve the quality of the air we breathe through rooftop gardens, neighbourhood shade-ways, urban forests and bushland regeneration.