Green Shoots: Opportunities to grow a sustainable WA economy presentation

This latest report in the Focus on Industry series, the fifth report in this series, identifies significant opportunities for Western Australia to reduce the negative environmental impact of industries across its regions, and provides a roadmap for WA to transition to a more sustainable and resilient economic future. We found that:

• A green diversification strategy could create 55,000 additional jobs, 49,000 of which would be in regional WA. This would also see some $16 billion added to the WA economy;
• Australia has slightly decreased greenhouse gas emissions over the last five years but in WA they have risen by 12 per cent;
• WA remains one of only two states without a renewable energy target, the other state being New South Wales;;
• The largest sectoral emissions in WA come from mining, at 40 per cent of the state’s emissions in 2018;
• WA has the second highest household and industrial waste per capita;
• Western Australia produces more plastic waste per capita than any other state and only recycles four per cent of it, the lowest recycle rate than any other state; and
• More than two-thirds of Australians believe protecting the environment should be given priority even if it causes slower economic growth.

Learn more from our presentation of the report findings, first presented at our Green Shoots report launch event on 12 November 2020.