Mayor of Tweed Shire Chris Cherry has taken out a national award for her advocacy on climate change.
Cr Cherry was honoured as the 2023 Climate Ambassador award winner in the Cities Power Partnership Awards held in Melbourne last night. Now in its fifth year, the Cities Power Partnership awards recognise councils demonstrating climate mitigation action across the listed 38 action pledge items under the Cities Power Partnership.
The award was recognition for her leadership in driving climate action and keeping climate on the national agenda in the wake of the devastating 2022 floods and ongoing flood recovery.
Cr Cherry said she was honoured to win the Climate Ambassador Award for her advocacy through the media, the community and all levels of government.
“Over the past five years, our region has seen back-to-back devastating floods, drought and bushfires,” Cr Cherry said.
“I take every opportunity to reinforce the fact that climate change is worsening these events and that we have power as a Council and a community to make a difference.
“While I am in the fortunate position through my role as Mayor to advocate on this issue, this award also belongs to the broader Council organisation, my fellow Councillors and our community. Through our combined actions, we can and do make a difference.”
The award judges said Cr Cherry had been a tireless advocate for flood resilience and climate action – whether she was advocating for funds to assist flood victims or championing her council’s climate initiatives.
“Chris has featured in countless media articles from ABC’s The Drum and the Sydney Morning Herald to the local ABC North Coast radio station. She consistently takes every opportunity to help people understand that climate change is worsening extreme weather events, and that we have power to make a difference,” the judges said.
In addition to her flood advocacy, Cr Cherry was recognised for advocating on a range of climate change-related topics including: sustainable procurement, the recent Climate Ready Tweed project, advocating for grants to address the gap in public EV fast chargers across the region, recycling, clean up events, discouraging the use of bottled water and her work with environmentally-focused events such as World Environment Day, the Tweed Sustainability Awards and the Tweed Eco Fest.
Cr Cherry said she was proud Tweed Shire Council was on track to achieve net zero by 2030 for its operations.
“Just last week, I launched the Tweed’s largest solar array at the Banora Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, which adds to the Tweed Shire’s position as the top adopter of solar energy on the North Coast of NSW,” she said.
“And this week, construction started on the innovative Industry Central Land Swap project, which is a practical and creative solution to improve flood preparedness in the face of a changing climate.”
The award comes on the back of another climate change accolade. In November 2022, Tweed Shire Council was recognised by the Climate Disclosure Platform for achieving an A rating for leadership on climate action, the only regional area among six other Australian cities recognised with this award.
