By Goya Dmytryshchak
Hobsons Bay council last week declared a climate emergency and will accelerate a range of actions to reduce emissions, in response to a petition from community group Transition Hobsons Bay.
Actions will include fast-tracking the installation of solar panels on council buildings to achieve zero net emissions by next year.
Darebin council was the first to declare a climate emergency in 2016 and the number of councils signing up is being tracked by advocacy group Climate Emergency Mobilisation.
Cr Angela Altair told last week’s council meeting that local government couldn’t wait for others to act.
“We have a pretty good record about how we have responded to the issues of climate change and how we are doing much to reduce our own emissions,” she said.
“In the 20 years I’ve been here I’ve seen this council pioneer a lot of strategies including, may I say, we were the first western region council to adopt a greenhouse strategy and a biodiversity strategy.”
Transition Hobsons Bay’s petition gained 1111 signatures. Group spokesman Gavin Mountjoy praised the council’s stance.
“We look forward to working with council in the future on reducing emissions and taking a leadership role.”
