We are committed to action on climate change.
In December 2020, Shellharbour City Council committed to set Net Zero Emissions targets for Operational and Community emissions within Shellharbour City by 2050; and develop a Net Zero Strategy outlining interim targets and action plans for Operational and Community emissions to align with Council’s vision for Net Zero Emissions by 2050.
The first step of this is currently underway, and Council is developing a corporate emissions reduction plan.
To complement our efforts on climate change, we are also a member of the Cities Power Partnership.
The Cities Power Partnership is Australia’s largest local government climate network, made up of over 150 Councils. Founded by the Climate Council of Australia, the program recognises and supports emissions reduction projects by local councils who together are transitioning to a cleaner economy.
In March 2019 we pledged to:
T1 - Ensure Council fleet purchases meet strict greenhouse gas emissions requirements and support the uptake of hybrid and/or electric vehicles
T2 - Provide fast-charging user pays infrastructure throughout the city at key locations for electric vehicles
EE1 - Set minimum energy efficiency benchmarks for all planning applications
EE2 - Adopt best practice energy efficiency measures across all Council buildings, and support community facilities to adopt these measures
RE3 - Install solar power on council buildings
A key achievement has been the installation of more energy-efficient LED streetlights across Shellharbour City, which is expected to save about $165,000 annually in energy costs and reduce Council's annual greenhouse gas emissions by over 800 tCO2 per annum.
In 2021 Council completed solar power installations at seven council facilities including Myimbarr Sports Centre, Shellharbour Links Golf Club, Shellharbour Tourist Park, Warilla Library, Shellharbour City Stadium, Alunga Childcare Centre and Wallaroo Childcare Centre. Together these systems will save over $50,000 in annual energy costs and will reduce our carbon footprint by 209 tonnes per year.
In 2021 Council completed a project replacing the old lighting across 17 Council buildings and facilities with new LED efficient lighting. This will reduce energy consumption in Council buildings by 140,093kW per annum, and reduce Council’s carbon footprint by 226 tonnes of CO2 per annum
As part of the 2021/22 round of Council’s Small Environmental Projects Fund, three local public schools were selected to participate in the Solar my School program.
In October 2021, we hosted Dr Karl Kruszelnicki to speak at one of our Nature Talk in the Library events about climate change, and how we can all make a difference. You can view a recording of this here.