The Victorian State of the Environment (SoE) 2023 Report has been tabled in the Parliament of Victoria by Minister for Environment, Steve Dimopoulos MP. View the report and interpretive website here.
The SoE 2023 Report includes 171 trend assessments of 139 indicators finding that 33 are improving, 34 are stable, 60 are deteriorating, 44 are unclear and reveals that responding to biodiversity decline and climate change remain major challenges for Victoria.
A milestone environmental report for Victoria, SoE 2023 aligns the 139 indicators with 76 SDG targets and reports on progress against those targets. It includes 15 recommendations and tracks progress against the recommendations from the SoE 2018 Report.
The approach to reporting is the culmination of an ambitious program of reform by the Commissioner since 2014 that has delivered an expansion of Victoria’s statutory environmental condition reporting program.
Victoria’s Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Dr Gillian Sparkes AM is responsible for delivering Victoria’s five-yearly report card on the condition of the environment.
“Since taking the role of Commissioner, my team and I have worked with so many talented and dedicated colleagues to re-wire the system to report on what we need to know rather than just what we know.”
SoE 2023 builds on the findings of the SoE 2018 Report and has been assessed through consecutive SoE reporting cycles.
“Sincere thanks to the Commissioner’s Reference Group and to all the individuals and organisations that have given their time and expertise to prepare this report. I am deeply grateful to you all", said Dr Sparkes.
The SoE 2023 Report found that 32 of 42 biodiversity assessments are deteriorating or unable to be assessed since 2018. It makes specific recommendations to counteract biodiversity decline including the use of spatial information, which is explored in detail. Victoria’s temperatures continue to increase on those reported in 2018 and only one of the 13 climate change indicators has improved - net greenhouse gas emissions which recorded a 27 % reduction. Encouragingly, five of the six energy indicators have improved compared with findings reported in 2018.
Click here to explore Victoria’s independent report card on the condition of our environment in full and download the report.