Lane Cove and The Climate Emergency

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Background

On 16 September 2019, Lane Cove Council become the 50th Australian Council, along with various other Governments Internationally to declare a climate emergency. 

A climate emergency declaration acknowledges that climate change poses a threat to our society and requires immediate action by all levels of Government. 

Climate change poses a number of risks to our community, including:

  • Increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves, which can impact the health of vulnerable community members and could lead to increased hospitalisation for heat stroke or other complications.
  • Increased storms and flooding, which can impact local roads, or damage buildings and infrastructure, resulting in outages to local power and water services, and loss in trade.
  • Reduced air quality during bushfires and storms which can create a health hazard.
  • Loss of local biodiversity as a result of changed weather events disrupting ecosystems.  

Council has adopted a Climate Resilience Plan (2021-2026), and a Sustainability Action Plan (2022-2025), to guide our actions to address climate change, and supports our community to do the same through a range of education and engagement programs. 

 

What we have achieved so far:

  • Purchased 100% renewable energy for electricity use at all Council facilities and streetlights.
  • Provided 187 rebates to the community for the installation of solar, battery, EV chargers, induction cooktops and more.
  • Facilitated the installation of 15 kerbside electric vehicle charging points across Lane Cove.
  • Upgraded the Tantallon Oval clubhouse to be fully off grid, with 60kW solar and two 101kW batteries.
  • Supported residents to reduce food waste to landfill through Compost Revolution and the new Compost Network program.
  • Supported 77 Meet Your Neighbours events with over 2,940 attendees to support residents to create local support systems.
  • Installed 5,483 plants along nature strips through the On the Verge program.
  • Established additional recycling programs such as the HomeCycle program and the Canopy Recycling Trailer which have enabled the recycling of 138 tonnes of 'tricky to recycle' items.

All stats are relevant from 2021/2022 FY through to 2024/2025 FY.

 

What we are working on now:

Council is now working on developing our next Sustainability Action Plan and transitioning our Climate Resilience Plan into a Climate Emergency Plan. 

These plans will build on both the successes and learnings of the work already undertaken and will look to extend action in key areas to address key sustainability challenges. 

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