Glen Eira City Council is committed to taking action in response to the climate emergency. 

Since declaring a climate emergency in 2020, we have taken significant steps in reducing our carbon emissions. This includes the electric Council cars you see driving around the municipality, to building more sustainable infrastructure and protecting our urban forest.

We’re taking a bold step forward, going beyond simply purchasing offsets and instead focusing on direct action to reduce our emissions at their source.

Our goal now is to work towards achieving zero direct Council emissions by 2031. This means turning our focus to making tangible changes that will reduce the emissions in our direct control. 

In a practical sense, this means investing in technology which permanently reduces our emissions instead of purchasing offsets. 

This includes progressing our Getting Off Gas program to move Council facilities, such as Carnegie Library and Community Centre and Glen Eira Town Hall, from natural gas sources to electric. Importantly, as all of Council’s facilities are powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity sources, all electricity usage has zero associated emissions.   

Gas currently contributes to 67 per cent of Council’s overall emissions and transitioning away from gas is a key part in achieving emissions reductions. A key milestone in the Getting Off Gas program is Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre, our largest single emissions producer. This work is underway, and we are seeking Australian Government funding to support the implementation.

Another important part of the pathway, is transitioning Council’s vehicle fleet to electric vehicles. As the fleet contributes to 14 per cent of our overall controllable emissions, the swap is an important step to achieving zero controllable emissions.

With full implementation of these strategies, we will reduce Council’s controllable emissions from the current figure of 3,360 tonnes per year to zero by 2031. This is equivalent to taking 1,230 cars off the road. This means 81 per cent of Council’s emissions will be reduced to zero.   

The remaining 19 per cent is from sources of emissions that Council doesn’t control. This is the emissions associated with services and products provided by external providers and includes things like equipment and machinery used by contractors. We know our work doesn’t simply stop here and we’ll continue to do all that we can in this space, including working with external providers to encourage sustainable practices and solutions for the long-term.

This shift in approach will also see Our Climate Emergency Response Strategy 2021–25 | Dhumbali Wurrungi-biik Parbin-ata amended to reflect new target.

For more information about the August Council meeting, visit www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/about-council/meetings-and-agendas

For more information about Our Climate Emergency Response Strategy 2021–25 | Dhumbali Wurrungi-biik Parbin-ata, visit www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/about-council/sustainability-initiatives/our-environmental-strategies