Local government leaders committed to emission reduction
CITIES POWER PARTNERSHIP
Douglas Shire Council remains committed and a lone councillor has endorsed the Climate Council’s Cities Power Partnership (CPP) which is seeking to celebrate and accelerate the emission reduction and clean energy successes of Australian towns and cities.
Earlier this month, 17 mayors and councillors from New South Wales and Queensland called on government to recognise the spiralling costs to communities from climate-fuelled extreme weather, and do more to protect communities from costly and disruptive climate shocks.
The mayors and councillors, from regions including Tweed and Shellharbour in New South Wales to Douglas Shire in Queensland, released a statement calling for urgent action to protect their communities from worsening climate change.
One of the signatories is Douglas Shire Councillor Abigail Noli, who has been actively following this organisation since its inception in 2017. Over the years Douglas Shire has committed to numerous projects under this banner.
“I believe in the importance of what the Cities Power Partnership is trying to bring about,” said Cr Noli.
“This is to make local governments more resilient and prosperous and simultaneously protecting our communities by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Clean energy is a win-win for Australia because we create new jobs and unlock economic opportunities by avoiding worsening climate impacts.
“Australia has the resources to become a world leader in renewable energy like solar and wind and jobs can be created along the way,” she said.
In a statement posted on the Cities Power Partnership website, Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr said: “We (Douglas Shire Council) recognise that climate change is a significant issue and understand the important advocacy that the Climate Council undertakes, particularly around climate change mitigation and action.
“The Cities Power Partnership sends a strong message that Australian towns and cities are committed to a sustainable, non-polluting energy future. Council is leading this cause on the national stage by actively advocating for an environmentally-friendly energy solution for residents and business owners in the Daintree Rainforest.”
Labelled Australia's largest network of cities and towns tackling climate change, the Cities Power Partnership was launched mid-2017, along with a Climate Council cities report authored by some of Australia’s leading experts.
A round two launch in January 2018 saw it grow to 70 members, representing eight million Australians and making it the largest climate action program for local government in the country.
Round three was launched in late 2018 and brought the CPP up to 100 local government areas. They now represent over 125 local governments and more than 300 towns and cities and rural shires across all Australian states and territories.
Cr Noli said Douglas Shire Council was one of the founding councils in 2017 and over the years has committed numerous projects under this banner.
“Some of the projects have been to use renewable energy at council buildings when possible; investigate and trial renewable energy at transfer stations and landfill; use energy efficient lighting; implement a solar farm; improve cycle lanes and cyclist provisions to reduce vehicle emissions.
“It is therefore accurate to say that Douglas is part of this grander scheme of the Cities Power Partnership. It is up to individual councillors to inform themselves as much or as little as they see fit and every councillor is in a different place on that journey,” said Cr Noli.
Mayor Kerr, who supports the initiatives of the organisation, said while Council constantly attempts to better our processes in this area and supports the initiative pledges of the Cities Power Partnership, the letter sent to the Federal and State Governments is not an official position of the Douglas Shire Council and the signatories to the Cities Power Partnership letter are those of individual Mayors and Councillors.
“I do believe that calling on the Federal and State Governments to act on climate change is most appropriate as they have further resources and reach to achieve appropriate goals rather than just local council,” he said.
Climate Council researcher, Dr Simon Bradshaw, said there is no doubt communities had suffered economic damage as a result of climate-driven extreme weather disasters.
“All types of extreme weather events – storms, coastal erosion, flooding, bushfires, heat waves and drought – are influenced by climate change. Australian communities are already paying the price, with the past twelve months seeing a devastating run of extreme weather disasters.
“Extreme weather has cost our national economy at least $35 billion over the past decade. And it’s going to get worse – by 2038, the price tag of climate impacts could climb to $100 billion a year,” said Dr Bradshaw.
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