Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds will step down in August after nearly eight years in the role, announcing she is taken on a position leading an international push to get solar panels on 300 million homes by 2030.
Reynolds, who has spent 12 years on Hobart City Council, said she won’t contest the upcoming October elections.
“Change and renewal are healthy, for cities and for people, and it feels like the right time to make space for a new generation of leadership,” she said.
Deputy Lord Mayor Zelinda Sherlock will take on the role from August until the elections.
Reynolds has been appointed director of the 300 Million Solar Homes Initiative, which works with mayors around the world and the solar industry to help fast-growing countries scale up rooftop solar.
The initiative is linked to the not-for-profit Global Solar Council, which was launched at COP21 in Paris in 2015 and represents the global solar energy industry.
Reynolds will remain based in Hobart.
She said the new role would help countries reach the levels of rooftop solar already achieved in Australia, where more than 40 per cent of homes now have panels installed.
“At a time of rising greenhouse gas emissions and global instability, expanding access to locally generated solar power has never been more important,” she said.
Looking back on her time as Lord Mayor, Reynolds pointed to a string of achievements including inner-city housing approvals, rates reform, the introduction of food and organics collection, a ban on single-use plastics and the protection of more than 1,000 significant trees.
She also highlighted securing federal funding for Hobart’s ferry terminals and progressing a visitor centre for Kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
“I was elected on a promise to provide leadership for a more sustainable, caring and creative Hobart and I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together since then,” she said.
Reynolds acknowledged challenges along the way, including the impact of COVID on the council’s budget and what she described as “poor decisions and at times neglect by other levels of government.”
She said she still has items on her to-do list before stepping down and plans to remain active in the coming months.
