This month CHIA partnered with ACOSS and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in a roundtable on the topic of how to finance energy performance retrofits for lower income households including those living in social and affordable housing. We had participation from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW), banks / finance organisations and ARENA. We are hoping that the ideas generated can shape future policy and financing options so that renters aren’t left behind in the energy transition.

This month also saw the inaugural meeting of the Community Housing Climate Action Network. Senator Jenny McAllister, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy made opening remarks. As the first meeting it was focused on bringing everyone up to speed on current initiatives. Two of our steering group members, David Atkins, General Manager, Industrial and Building Energy Performance at DCCEEW, and Gill Armstrong at Climate Works, gave presentations on respectively, current government initiatives and the work to identify cost effective energy performance measures for different building types in different climatic zones. We were very pleased to have over 40 people attending. The questions raised give us good indication of where to focus at the next network meeting in February. Thanks to the Lord Mayors Charitable Foundation who are supporting this initiative.