City of Newcastle will charge towards a goal of net zero emissions by 2030 with a roadmap featuring 77 actions that address the root causes of climate change.
Councillors voted last night to endorse the Newcastle Climate Action Plan 2026 – 2030, ensuring climate action will be considered across all City of Newcastle operations, including maintaining a 100% renewable electricity supply, expanding our battery network, and transitioning our fleet, plant and equipment to electric or low emission alternatives.
City of Newcastle’s Executive Manager Environment and Sustainability Marnie Kikken said achieving meaningful emission reductions requires rapid, transformative change.
“To achieve net zero emissions in our operations, we’ll need to invest an additional $42 million over the next five years,” Ms Kikken said.
“We’ll be seeking at least 50% of this through state and federal grants, commercial partnerships and other funding mechanisms.
“City of Newcastle has already secured $5 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to deliver a battery deployment program, including a 10MWh battery at the Summerhill solar farm, and another 3.8MWh in 11 batteries across our facilities.
“If the Climate Action Plan can be fully implemented, it’s estimated City of Newcastle would see a return of between $3.5 million to $4 million per year from 2030 thanks to revenue from the Community Energy Precinct, savings from solar and Battery energy storage systems, fuel savings and gas to electric savings.”
“The plan not only outlines City of Newcastle’s pathway to net zero emissions by 2030, but also supports a Newcastle wide transition to net zero by 2040, in alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
“The Climate Action Plan adopts a holistic approach to addressing climate change with a focus on creating flourishing lives for all Novocastrians. Climate action is not only about reducing emissions and managing risks, but also about supporting a healthy, resilient, inclusive and liveable city.”
The plan was developed using economic modelling, scientific research, cost-benefit analysis and extensive community consultation.
“Our community needs to see the Climate Action Plan as credible and deliverable so we’ve made amendments to the plan based on their feedback,” Ms Kikken said.
“A total of 239 submissions were received during public exhibition, with almost 80% agreeing climate action is a high priority, and 83% supportive of nature-based solutions, such as urban greening, tree planting and ecosystem restoration.
“Public feedback showed more than 70% of respondents agreed with the science-based targets contained in the plan.
“City of Newcastle is also conducting a feasibility study for a Community Energy Precinct at the Astra Street landfill site at Sandgate, which was supported by the community.”
The 60-hectare site operated from 1974 to 1995 before City of Newcastle started extensive environmental remediation to safeguard the water quality of surrounding wetlands, increase biodiversity and promote long-term native plant growth.
The proposed Astra Street Community Energy Precinct resonated strongly with respondents as a tangible project that brings together several priorities supported by the community including renewable energy, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, and smart repurposing of underutilised land.
