Shire updates response to climate emergency

THE Surf Coast Shire has updated its Climate Emergency Response Plan (CERP) for the rest of the decade as well as the next set of actions that will deliver it.

The council officially declared a climate emergency in August 2019 and then developed the CERP 2021-31 to lay out the overarching strategic vision, goals and actions for managing what the shire would do next.

In their report to councillors at last month’s meeting, officers stated most of the shire’s efforts in the first two years had been on mitigation, particularly reducing corporate emissions, as this was “in line with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s continued assertions that urgent, deep and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions are critical”.

The CERP has been updated with the inclusion of the Emissions Reduction Target and Roadmap adopted by the council in April 2022, which includes the goal of net zero emissions by 2030; as well as the climate adaptation planning framework to better inform and co-ordinate the shire’s adaptation response.

The draft 2023-2025 Climate Emergency Action Plan sets out six goals and 26 actions for the shire over the next two years.

Most of these can be done with the shire’s existing resources, but eight will need external funding.

Goals achieved by the 2021-23 action plan include reducing the shire’s non-landfill greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2,140 tonnes (about 41 per cent), installing more than 316kW of solar and 64kWh battery storage on shire facilities; transitioning to 100 per cent renewable electricity, and saving the shire more than $80,000 in reduced utility bills in the 2021-22 financial year.

The council resolved to approve the updated CERP and put the 2023-25 action plan on exhibition for three weeks.

“While the council has made significant progress in addressing the climate emergency, of course there is still much more to do,” Cr Libby Stapleton said.

“As we’ve all experienced in the past couple of years, there’s been an increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather, and the council recognises that there needs to be an enhanced focus on our climate adaptation response to build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

“The three consecutive La Ninas and a series of storm events have been significant for the council, particularly for the management of the council’s roads and stormwater drainage networks.”

She noted the shire’s $80,000 savings from switching to renewable energy were countered by the more than $380,000 cost of the four storm events across the shire between October 2021 and October 2022, and encouraged community members to provide feedback.