Cities of Darebin and Yarra lead the way with bold, inclusive V2.0 Climate Emergency Plans
In the eight years since the first declaration, inspired by Darebin's leadership, supported by shared resources and spurred on by local communities around the world, a global movement has emerged with 2,364 jurisdictions in 40 countries having declared a climate emergency, covering over 1 billion citizens. In Oceania, the national governments of New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu have all declared a climate emergency and in Australia, 118 Councils have declared, representing 45% of the Australian population.
After declaring a climate emergency, a focus on effective climate action usually follows, with most Councils writing Climate Emergency Plans or the like to outline how their organisation will reduce emissions and adapt to a changing climate, and how they will engage and support their community to do the same.
The City of Darebin and City of Yarra, as leaders in the climate emergency declaration space, have both recently updated their climate emergency plans after their first plans expired. These are the first two Councils we know of that have been through this process. Responding to the climate emergency still remains an urgent challenge for them, with the dire predictions of climate scientists becoming a reality; increases in heatwave frequency, average temperatures, bushfires/exposure to smoke from bushfires, severe storm frequency and lower average rainfall are already being felt in their municipalities.
The version two climate emergency plans still have a sharp focus on leadership, community engagement/mobilisation, zero emissions, energy efficiency, transport, adaptation and resilience, and have ambitious targets attached. So what has changed and evolved since the first iteration of climate emergency plans?
Embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences, cultural knowledge and custodianship. An acknowledgement that caring for and healing Country and self-determination benefits everyone and maintains a thriving, resilient natural environment.
Rights of Nature: Protection and enhancement of biodiversity, minimising harmful environmental impacts while acting to improve the stability and resilience of local ecosystems.
Climate justice/intra and inter-generational equity: Supporting those most impacted by climate change today - including youth - and remembering the rights of future generations.
Greater focus on community resilience through heat health, community cooling centres and greening of streets.
Circular economy: An evolution of previous waste minimisation priorities through keeping products and materials in circulation and decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.
Upping the ante on action, with responses commensurate to the scale, urgency and severity of the crisis at hand.
Prominent voices of community in documentation, reflective of thorough community engagement processes to create the plans.
Guidance for, and an expectation of, Council officers to integrate climate emergency principles into Council thinking, strategic framework and policy.
Simple steps which the community can take to help address the climate emergency (City of Darebin).
2030 future community scenario if the climate emergency plan is a success (City of Yarra).
These additions are based on the experiences and learnings of the two Councils since they first declared a climate emergency. They reflect a growing understanding of the need to keep ahead of community needs (future-proofing) and the opportunity to transform society's systems and create communities where every person and nature thrives, while striving for zero emissions cities.
Congratulations to City of Darebin and City of Yarra for the community engagement, research and thought that went into creating V2.0 of their respective Climate Emergency Plans.