As a member of the Climate Council's Cities Power Partnership, Shellharbour City Council is calling on the Federal Government to make climate change a top priority.
Shellharbour Mayor Councillor Marianne Saliba will sign a joint mayoral statement with 15 other local Councils, demanding national action from federal leaders.
"All tiers of government have a role to play in driving down Australia's greenhouse gas pollution. We need swift action at the Federal level to address our escalating national emissions," Cr Saliba said.
"I am happy to be signing this important statement and proud that our Council has committed to reducing its contribution to climate change," she said.
Councils supporting the statement are asking for:
• Strong national climate policy aligned to the science and a national commitment to rapidly transitioning to 100% clean energy.
• Support the rapid phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, which contribute to climate change.
• Provide long-term finance to support implementation of clean energy and sustainable transport, such as rooftop solar, battery storage, electric vehicle charging stations, public and active transport infrastructure in council and community areas.
At the local level, Shellharbour City Council was recently awarded grant funding under the Office of Environment and Heritage Accelerated Lighting Upgrade Program to replace over 2200 inefficient streetlights with energy efficient LED alternatives.
It is estimated that this program will reduce Council's greenhouse gas emissions by over 19,460 tonnes, the largest reduction in emissions by any energy efficiency project ever completed by Council. Lighting replacements will begin in the coming months.
This is in addition to the following five pledges under the Cities Power Partnership to reduce its contribution to climate change:
• Install solar power on council buildings.
• Set minimum energy efficiency benchmarks for all planning applications.
• Adopt best practice energy efficiency measures across all Council buildings, and support community facilities to adopt these measures.
• Ensure Council fleet purchases meet strict greenhouse gas emissions requirements and support the uptake of hybrid and/or electric vehicles.
• Provide fast-charging user pays infrastructure throughout the city at key locations for electric vehicles.
