By Luke Voogt
Geelong council has targetted zero net emissions by 2035 in its draft Climate Change Response Plan.
Council on Tuesday night voted unanimously to endorse the draft document, which outlines its corporate response to climate change.
Council’s climate change action chair Belinda Moloney said the issue “threatens every aspect of our lives”.
“After heavy campaigning by constituents and protests around the world, I’m glad that council is taking action on what is a dire emergency situation of life-or-death consequences,” Cr Moloney said.
“Sustainable caretaking of our environment must be placed at the forefront of our decision-making, not because it’s on trend or winning votes.
“Council and councillors have a duty of care to educate ourselves and our community as to how to correct our actions and do our part to avoid wide-scale catastrophic climate-related events.”
The document calls for a co-ordinated community response including increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy production, and switching to sustainable transport and cleaner fuels.
The draft includes 80 actions as a “roadmap for collaborative action” to make Geelong a “climate-ready” city.
According the draft plan, council successfully exceeded its last corporate emissions reduction target of 50 per cent by 2020 and is well-placed to assist community efforts to further reduce emissions.
Emissions have been falling for the past five years following investments in renewable energy, capturing and using methane from landfill, and major building efficiency improvements, the document states.
Notable projects include the installation of more than one megawatt of solar systems across 27 council facilities.
Council is currently converting 25,000-plus street lights to LED luminaires and aims to procure zero-emissions electricity for all operations over the next decade through the Victorian Energy Collaboration Project.
The draft followed extensive public consultation with community, business and peak body groups, government agencies and non-government organisations, according to council.
“I wanted to thank everyone in the community for sharing their voice and turning on the screws on this about this plan,” Cr Moloney said in Tuesday night’s meeting.
“It’s critical we get this plan right so please hit us up for feedback.”
The document is open for community feedback until August 25 at yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au
