Have your say on Darebin’s new draft Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030

Based on the feedback from Stage 1, the new draft Climate Emergency Plan includes four core pillars (or key directions):

• Caring for Country,
• Towards Zero Emissions Darebin
• Community Resilience and
• Innovation and Leadership.

We have developed goals and actions under each of these pillars to guide our response until 2030.

We want to know what you think of these proposed goals and actions. Do they support Council and community to take strong action to reduce greenhouse gases? Will they help make the Darebin community stronger and more resilient, and support those people most impacted? Will they enable our city and natural environment to thrive? Are there any actions we have missed?

In this draft Climate Emergency Plan (Plan), we outline what we will do as a Council; how we will support our community to take action and stay safe, and where we will continue to collaborate and ask for stronger action from State and Federal governments.

There are four main sections (four pillars) each one representing the key areas Council will focus on in addressing climate change and its future impacts.

The four pillars and their accompanying vision statements are as follows:

• Caring for Country. Vision: Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a connection to Darebin are empowered and supported to maintain and share their culture and knowledge to protect, preserve, revitalise, and heal Country, which supports self-determination, benefits everyone and maintains a thriving, resilient natural environment.
• Towards Zero Emissions. Vision: Darebin homes, businesses, and transport, and Council operations and buildings are efficient, fossil fuel-free and powered by renewables, allowing for a healthy, liveable and thriving community.
• Community Resilience and Adaptation. Vision: Darebin’s community is connected, safe and resilient to the changing climate, and has safe places to live, work and play
• Leadership and Innovation. Vision: Darebin Council drives innovation and opportunity through strategic climate advocacy and partnerships across all sectors and is recognised as a Sustainable Climate Economy hub, with a climate-focused and skilled workforce.

Within each pillar, goals to 2030, with detailed actions for the 2024-27 financial years are provided. A further three year action plan will be developed in early 2027 in line with the goals outlined in this plan.

Feedback from the community and advice from content specialists and internal stakeholders has been used in developing the goals and actions. To recommend the action items that would provide the highest value for the community a prioritisation system was used to rank all possible actions. The criteria used to rank and refine the actions included demonstrable need, strategic alignment and deliverability.

In addition, the Plan focuses on those actions that:

• we can take as a local Council and with the community to address and respond to climate change.
• foster and harness opportunities for innovation and leadership.
• build a sustained partnership with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Traditional Owners, acknowledging their ongoing cultural knowledge and custodianship and setting out ways we will work together.

At the end of the draft Plan we provide the background information on how these pillars, goals and actions were developed, why they are important and how we will measure our progress.

This new Plan has been developed on the basis of extensive consultation with our community, detailed input our colleagues across Council, and is informed by expert external advice. They reflect changes in the policy and legislative landscape including new ambitious Federal and State emissions reductions targets. Updated climate projections and modelling are also incorporated, as are the values and vision of the Darebin community and Council.

Community engagement was undertaken between August to October 2022 to understand the community’s views, ideas and aspirations in relation to climate change.

A summary of the consultation feedback and who we engaged with is available.

Here are some highlights.

Over 1,000 members of the community were engaged through surveys and in-person workshops, which included: Online survey (467 responses), in person workshops (11) and local community meetings (24) (reaching a further 544 people).

Consultation showed overwhelming support for Council to take strong action on the climate emergency including mitigation (emissions reduction) and adaptation (ensuring our community is equipped to deal with the impacts of climate change, with a focus on supporting those most impacted).

What community is doing and wants to do about climate change?

• 93% of participants are affected by anxiety and worry about climate change and how it is impacting their family and friends.
• Many of us try to minimise waste by recycling, composting or using a green waste bin for food scraps and purchasing second hand. We are also actively reducing our ecofootprints through travel and energy choices.
• We want to do more – especially about energy efficiency! Here’s our top 5: install shading/draft proofing, use energy from a battery, replace gas appliances, add insulation, use solar energy.
• Barriers to achieving improved energy efficiency include: cost, not being the home owner or able to make independent changes, not sure where to start or get the right information.

What should Council do?

Two distinct and significant priorities for Council were identified by the community: (1) provide programs to help upgrade homes and businesses, including renters and (2) support community groups and businesses to prepare for the impacts of climate change.

How should we prepare for a changing climate?

Similarly to the findings of the 2021 ‘Design Your Darebin 2041 Engagement’, there was significant interest in creating a green, cool, shaded oasis of tree lined streets and pathways, parks and open spaces that support biodiversity and wildlife. Safe, cool, shaded open space that supports inclusion and access for all residents, but particularly older residents and those most likely to rely on public transport was a key priority.

Who should be prioritised?

Two clear priorities emerged from the engagement: (1) support for those most impacted by climate change to improve liveability and energy efficiency of their homes (including for renters), and (2) supporting big emitters to reduce emissions. The impact of poor quality housing on health, wellbeing and social inclusion, particularly during heat waves, was also a major theme in previous engagement.

We are already feeling the effects of climate change. Our climate is getting hotter and we are seeing unpredictable rainfall and more storms and droughts and flash flooding. Quality of our air is affected by bushfires and our water sources are under pressure.

Climate change impacts residents and business owners. We heard from our community that during heatwaves people are becoming increasingly isolated as they stay home to shelter from the heat. Heatwaves have a negative impact on people’s health and wellbeing and renters are particularly vulnerable as they have less ability to make changes to their homes and businesses.

At Darebin Council we bring an equity lens to our work. This recognises that climate impacts are felt differently by different people and that factors like age, health and mobility, income, social connectedness, housing, migrant and refugee status and quality and proximity to high-risk flood or bushfire regions affect someone’s vulnerability. Those most at risk of experiencing severe impacts are often those with the fewest resources to address them.

This diagram shows the ways climate change is affecting Darebin and what it means for our community.