Your feedback has helped strengthen and improve the Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) which was adopted at Tuesday night’s Council meeting.
As part of the plan, we will work with residents, businesses and visitors to achieve net zero emissions for Council operations by 2028 and for the community by 2035.
Community consultation on the Draft plan occurred between April and November this year through Your Say Manningham, a Gender Impact Assessment, survey and in person pop-up stalls across our city such as the Plastic Free July events and FOGO information stalls.
We received valuable submissions and contributions (including from 316 survey participants) and incorporated this feedback to reflect the strong themes captured throughout the engagement.
These included prioritising:
- improved public transport and switching to electric vehicles
- more energy efficient LED streetlights
- more rooftop solar and household/building energy saving measures
- diverting food and garden organics (FOGO) waste away from landfill
- incentives to recycle and repurpose materials
- bolstering biodiversity
- more community education and awareness raising.
The plan to address climate change was developed following Council’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2020.
The declaration acknowledged, ‘we are in a state of serious climate and environmental change and this climate emergency requires urgent action by all levels of government, including local government.’
Manningham Mayor, Cr Deirdre Diamante, said the CEAP would be published and distributed widely in early 2023.
“Thank you to everyone who contributed to this important plan. It really will take a community effort to respond to the climate emergency locally and it is critical we are prepared to tackle climate risks including extreme weather, heatwaves, bushfires, storms and flooding.
“We will continue to engage on how we put the plan into action so the community feels supported and empowered to reach net zero emissions by 2035.”
