The City of Cased has adopted its Climate Action Plan 2022-2030, setting the course towards becoming a net zero emissions community and detailing actions that help tackle climate change.
The plan incorporates extensive feedback from the community and is designed to guide decisions and highlight what Council is doing to reduce corporate emissions and achieve net zero corporate emissions by 2030 or sooner.
The plan also outlines how Council will support the Casey community to achieve a regional target of net zero emissions by 2040.
City of Casey Chair of Administrators, Noelene Duff PSM, said the actions detailed in the plan were ambitious, yet achievable, and would set Casey on the path to a more sustainable future.
"Council already has a strong record on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through improvements in energy efficiency and investment in renewable technology," Ms Duff said.
"This new plan will ensure this work continues and that we meet out targets for net zero emissions and renewable energy supplies.
"Climate change is likely to impact everyone in Casey, with modelling predicting more extreme-weather events, including heat waves, longer and more intense bushfire seasons, drought conditions, increased storm activity, flooding and a rise in sea level. These are long-term impacts that we can plan and prepare for.
"Through our involvement in the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance (SECCCA), we are also part of a regional network committed to delivering innovative projects and research that investigates the impact of climate change on our community."
Through Council's extensive Shape Your City community engagement programs in 2020/21 and 2022/23, we heard from more than 10,000 community members, each time overwhelmingly highlighting the need to deliver and invest in actions to address climate change.
Ms Duff said as part of the recent engagement on the Draft Climate Action Plan and Shape Your City consultations, thousands of residents delivered an overwhelming message that they want to take action to address climate change, and also provided valuable suggestions for ways this could be achieved.
"Everyone needs to play a role to ensure that our municipality continues to grow and prosper in a sustainable way and the City of Casey will provide the necessary leadership and support to enable this to happen," Ms Duff said.
"While Council is committed to doing its share and will advocate on behalf of the community, residents and businesses and Council will need to work together to achieve our goals."
To provide clear direction and guidance, actions in the plan have been grouped into six themes: Energy Efficient Buildings, Renewable Energy, Transport, Circular Economy, Sustainable Land Use and Planning, and Education and Empowerment.
View the full report here.
