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Tweed Shire Council has received global recognition for the strong foundations put in place to tackle climate change.
Tweed is one of just 11 councils in Australia to achieve full compliance in the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy program (GCoM) for its work in 2021.
GCoM is the largest global alliance for city climate leadership, with more than 11,700 cities and local governments – representing more than 1 billion people across 6 continents – committing to act collectively to reduce global emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change.
To be fully compliant, Council has received mitigation and adaptation badges after demonstrating meaningful action in:
Mitigation (reducing emissions):
Tweed Shire Council has developed an emissions inventory, set emissions reduction targets and is developing and implementing emissions reduction actions in accordance with this plan. Action includes cost-saving solar installations at Council facilities, switching street lighting to LEDs and holding workshops to help the community reduce energy bills and shift to solar.
Adaptation (improving resilience to climate change):
Council is currently updating the Tweed’s climate risk assessment, setting adaptation goals and putting plans in place to meet those goals. For example, Council has led a mosquito monitoring and response program to improve resilience to the climate change-driven threat of increased mosquito-borne disease in the Northern Rivers.
Mayor of Tweed Chris Cherry said participation in the program was useful to help provide a single benchmark and guidance to help Council shape its response to climate change.
“We’ve seen the devastating impacts climate change can have on the community through the recent flooding events,” Cr Cherry said.
“We are absolutely committed to doing what we can to address climate change and this recognition from the Global Covenant of Mayors is acknowledgement of that great effort.
“Not only are we one of just 11 councils in Australia compliant with all aspects of the standard, but we are also the smallest regional recipient of this accolade, putting us up there with respected leaders in our sector such as the City of Sydney, Melbourne, Yarra City, Adelaide and Newcastle.
“We are proud to be taking action alongside others across the world to address the climate crisis. I’m pleased to see we’ve put some good foundations in place and we will continue to implement, monitor and report local climate actions to strengthen our community’s response to climate change.
“Taking action on climate change and minimising our community’s risk is very important to our community and something people want to see leadership from Council on.”
