Manningham Council to pursue ambitious climate mitigation targets

Published
28 Oct 2021
Resilient Environment
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Manningham Council adopted new climate mitigation targets to ensure a sustainable future for the community at the October Council Meeting.

Councillors spoke passionately about our responsibility to future generations and the importance of climate action raised at the recent community panel.

The targets adopted by Council were:

  • net zero emissions by 2028 for Council operations
  • net zero emissions by 2035 for the Manningham community

These inspiring targets are well ahead of targets that the Victorian and Federal Governments have set. The Victorian State Government has announced community targets for a 45-50% reduction on the 2005 level of emissions by 2030, and net zero by 2050. The Federal Government is aspiring to net zero by 2050.

Manningham Mayor Cr Andrew Conlon said that he was proud to be part of a Council and community leading the way towards a more sustainable future.

Cr Conlon said, “Our community wants to see increased action to combat climate change. Manningham Council has committed to climate mitigation targets that will result in significant and wide-ranging benefits for the Manningham community.”

Manningham Council has already delivered many initiatives over the last decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

These successes have included the introduction of:

  • energy efficient streetlights
  • a low emission Council transport fleet
  • solar power
  • green power purchasing and a wind-powered electricity supply through the Victorian Energy Collaboration (VECO)

The new climate mitigation targets will require a range of actions to reduce Council and community emissions to meet the targets set for 2028 and 2035. All actions will be determined based on being best value, economically prudent, environmentally viable and technically proven.

From 2022 to 2023, the first steps towards achieving the targets will involve Council’s consideration of:

  • expanding the VECO program to switch more of Council’s electricity accounts across to emissions-free wind-powered electricity
  • switching main roads streetlights to energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs)

These actions are incorporated into a Climate Emergency Action Plan and Environment Strategy that has been developed and intended for community consultation and formal Council adoption in 2022.

View Reducing council emissions for more information about our work towards climate mitigation.