It’s been one year since the City of Wollongong declared a climate emergency. The Council has since progressed on many fronts including net-zero emissions targets, urban greening, cycling infrastructure, waste management and sustainable procurement. Wollongong is one of just 27 Australian signatories to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, having joined in 2017. In accordance with the commitment, the City of Wollongong has:

• Completed an emissions inventory for the Wollongong Local Government Area

• Adopted science-derived emissions reduction targets (December 2019)

• Started preparing a Climate Change Mitigation (emissions reduction) Action Plan

• Begun planning for a Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan.

Wollongong declared a Climate Emergency in August 2019, and in December of the same year adopted a net-zero targets for operations and the community (Wollongong City Council). The Council has also adopted a 202020 Vision approach in their first Urban Greening Strategy 2017-2037, which strives to achieve a world-class urban landscape while meeting goals for climate change, livability and economic renewal. 

A key to Wollongong City Council’s action has been their proactive and meaningful engagement with their community. 

In November 2019, Council launched an online engagement, inviting community, business and industry to comment on the proposed community target, and welcomed ideas on how they could achieve this target together as a community. They received 426 online submissions, including over 100 ideas from the community (read more from Jodie House, Bangthetable July 2020).

According to Wollongong City Lord Mayor, Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM, “the role of our community in fighting climate change is critical – there has been a huge shift in momentum and our community is very active.” 

This August, Council invited the community to contribute to the draft Wollongong Cycling Strategy 2030 to increase bike riding participation. As of 14 August, Council had received more than 900 comments on an interactive online map used to identify the community’s current experience across the city. Council has also proposed changes to their draft Waste and Resources policy to reduce the amount of household items that end up in landfill.

Later in 2020, Council will introduce a weekly FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) collection to all households with green-lidded garden waste bins. The roll-out is based on a series of successful trials across the municipality.

“The FOGO trial carried out last year in Austinmer, Cordeaux Heights and Warrawong was really positive with great feedback from participants… We’re looking to build on that success and see the roll-out of this program across the city,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Council Gordon Bradbery AM said. (Wollongong City Council, July 2020)

You can follow Wollongong City Council’s journey as they work closely with the community to achieve net-zero emissions.