It’s time to have our say. Local climate action is powerful!
Would you like a more walkable city? Better public transport? Support for putting on solar and storage? Cleaner local power? It’s time to put our support behind the clean energy transition and climate action. Your voice matters. If you want your opinion to be counted in formulating the next climate plan you can, it’s as simple as contacting the Council!
Send a simple email so you are on the consultation list
Here is a suitable email – simple is absolutely fine – so that you can be included in the consultation process and put forward your support for a better deal for residents of Boroondara. Of course you can elaborate your concerns if you wish, while naturally thanking the Council for their progress on waste and the multi Council clean power initiative.
To boroondara@boroondara.vic.gov.au Please put me on the list of people who want to be kept informed about the new Climate Action Plan consultation. Thank you. Kind regards, Name
Mayor’s invitation to the consultation process Here is a link to the Mayor’s message in the March Boroondara Bulletin which invites people to express interest to join Boroondara’s current consultation plan, updating the current ‘Our Low Carbon Future Strategy’. Ideally this should be a once in 5 year opportunity, so our participation is important, given that so much has changed in the decade since the previous strategy was formulated way back in 2009. Progress in three areas So far, unlike many other Councils, if you look at the Mayors statement Boroondara would have seemed to have mostly worked in three areas – on the waste stream, applying 5 star standards (7-8 stars are where you might start to get written up) and joined “with 45 other Victorian councils to participate in a tender to purchase renewable electricity“. We would like to acknowledge the very hard work of our members in the Local Government working group regarding Boroondara joining this multi council initiative. Pressure to upgrade Boroondara’s efforts Other Councils have gone so much further than us, from significant initiatives on electrifying transport, levering Council’s financial heft to support access to low cost loans for clean energy generation on rooftops, to protecting residents health against heat and the impacts of industrial carbon pollution. In fact many surrounding Councils have declared climate emergencies. Our money matters Another issue that needs to be considered is fiscal responsibility, given the very poor performance of conventional energy stocks over the last decade, our responsibilities in the Paris climate process, and the current global headwinds in fossil sector. Collectively we could join our expertise and community concern over the Council’s position on divestment, acting to protect local financial reserves from acknowledged fiscal risks. As the Mayor says “It is time for us to have a new conversation together to ensure we have a sustainable environment in Boroondara. A new Climate Action Plan will replace the current strategy.”
Progress on the Climate Emergency Petition – over 3900 signatures submitted to Council
Thanks to so many Lighter Footprints members who have joined Lynn, Julia, Tam and Alex week after week in collecting these signatures The petition and work is continuing online, and these initiatives form a solid base on which to delineate community concerns in the lead up to the Boroondara campaign including ongoing consultations with individual Councillors, development of the scorecard process and forums in order to improve climate policy outcomes, protect residents and lower local emissions across the whole municipality.
Boroondara Climate Emergency Petition
Update from Alex Currell from the Climate Emergency Declaration Working Group.
In December 2016 Darebin Council started a global movement by declaring that we are in a Climate Emergency. By the end of March 2020, 1,482 governments at all levels around the world had declared an emergency, with 95 declarations in Australia, including 31 Councils in Victoria. In October 2019 a small group of volunteers who had been involved in the Kooyong Votes Climate campaign began a petition calling on the City of Boroondara to join this movement by declaring a climate emergency and mobilising the required resources to take effective climate action.A grand total of 3,913 signatures have now been collected on the petition.All signatures were collected in person within the municipality, with regular petitioning on Saturday mornings at the Camberwell, Glenferrie and Kew shopping centres. From early 2020, members of the group began meeting with their individual councillors to put the case for a declaration to them directly.Two councillors have refused to meet, but meetings have now been held with six of the other eight councillors.Two meetings have also been held with Council officers to discuss the Council’s proposed community consultation process for a new Climate Action Plan, and to explain the important role an emergency declaration could play in providing a context for this process. On 17 March 2020 the petition was submitted to the Council, together with a paper prepared by the group providing an overview of the climate emergency.The petition will be presented to a full Council meeting and the Council has agreed that a deputation can speak in support of the petition at the meeting.However, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the timing for the consideration of the petition by Council needs clarification.
Join Boroondara residents and friends working for climate progress
Lynn, Alex, Tam and Julia are looking towards the end of the year elections, and continuing pressure on local climate policy right now, so we can make progress on protecting residents, and working towards a safer climate. We will keep you posted on how you can help from home. You are welcome to email Lynn Frankes on lynn@frankes.com.au or call her on 0425 843 685 for more information.