How we travel
Fewer cars, more electric vehicles, active transport and safer travel routes, more accessible transport options, and better public transport.
Yarra's Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030
At the Council Meeting on 9 July 2024, Yarra City Council adopted our second Climate Emergency Plan with scaled up ambition and a focus on supporting communities most at risk from climate impacts.
Yarra’s new Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030 is our assurance that we’ve heard the calls from our community for greater climate action, and for a more equitable and just society.
We're proud to continue to be a leader on climate action in the local government sector and we are committed to embedding climate action in everything we do.
The new Plan recognises that the scale of ambition must match the scale of the problem to realise our vision of a climate safe, sustainable and just society.
Visit the Yarra City Council website to read more about our ambitious new Climate Emergency Plan.
Climate Action Plan 2024-2027
Between 2024 and 2030 we will deliver two three-year Action Plans, which will map the actions we plan to take to achieve these transformations.
5 key perspectives
In the plan, we've integrated 5 key perspectives which respond to current and emerging challenges across our community, natural environment, and economy:
- Centering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences and knowledges
- Fostering social justice and equity
- The rights of young people and future generations
- The rights of nature
- A commensurate climate emergency response.
These key perspectives inform the strategy, transformations, objectives and the action plan that will help us meet the ambitious targets set in the Climate Emergency Plan.
7 Transformations
The Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030 focuses on 7 key areas:
- Embedding proactive climate responses in the ways we govern and work and supporting our community to do the same in their everyday lives.
- Prioritising support for community members at greater risk from climate impacts to ensure they are connected, supported, and empowered to build resilience.
- Building partnerships and empowering our community to advocate for stronger climate policies, targets and actions and an equitable future for all.
- Achieving net zero emissions by 2035 by delivering innovative programs and initiatives that reduce energy use and support the transition to all-electric homes, businesses, industry and transport.
- Collaborating with Traditional Owners as decision-makers and partners in caring for Country, connecting our community with nature, and improving biodiversity and climate resilience in the natural environment.
- Ensuring everyone in Yarra lives and works in comfortable and climate-safe homes and buildings, supported by climate resilient public spaces and infrastructure.
- Transitioning to a circular economy by supporting our community to consume less, repair, share, and repurpose more and send less waste to landfill.
Each transformation has objectives, indicators and 2030 targets to help guide our actions and make sure we are delivering a strong climate emergency response.
Community engagement
In April and May we asked you to share your thoughts on our ambitious draft Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030.
The draft plan was developed using feedback from the first stage of community engagement in late 2023, where we heard your ideas, stories, comments and suggestions about the future you want to see and what taking strong action looks like to you.
You can read more about both stages of community consultation in the sections below.
Take Climate Action
Learn about what we are doing to combat climate change and how you can participate.
This consultation is closed - thanks to everyone who contributed. Your feedback helped shape the draft Climate Emergency Plan 2024-2030.
Our current Climate Emergency Plan 2020-2024 is ready for a reboot. It's time to develop the next plan which will underpin our response to the climate crisis in the years to come and ramp up our ambition.
We know addressing the climate crisis is a top priority for the Yarra community and that you want us to do more. We want our community to be part of the climate solutions we develop, every step of the way.
In late 2023 we asked you to provide feedback as by:
- sharing your ideas, stories, comments and suggestions about the future you want to see and what taking strong action looks like to you
- completing the online survey
We used your ideas, suggestions and contributions to develop a draft Climate Emergency Plan which we will share with the community for feedback in April-May 2024.
Who did we hear from?
- 24,000 people were reached via email, social media & face-to-face interactions.
- 138 people particularly vulnerable to climate impacts or working in partnership with people experiencing vulnerability were consulted.
- More than 2000 visits were made to this page.
- 203 contributions to the online survey and ideas board.
What we heard
We’ve heard from the Yarra community that you want us to be bold and ambitious in our response to the climate emergency. This was made clear through your submissions to the online survey, and in the range of insightful public comments on the ideas board below.
Through the consultation we gained a clearer understanding of community priority areas, which led to a reshaping of the 8 key themes into the 7 transformations that appear in the draft Climate Emergency Plan.
Tell us your ideas!
We’ve heard from the Yarra community that you want us to be bold and ambitious in our response to the climate emergency. To help us get there we want you to tell us your ideas and suggestions.
We've identified these 8 themes to help guide us in our climate emergency response:
-
-
The homes we want
Equitable, energy efficient, sustainable and accessible housing that is affordable.
-
A resilient and just community
We are equitable, inclusive, collaborative and care for each other and we learn from First Nations knowledge.
-
Nurturing nature
Yarra has a beautiful, inviting urban forest and healthy waterways that support biodiversity. We invite water into our landscape and capture it for reuse.
-
Developing a circular economy
We are on our way to zero waste thanks to repair, sharing, reduced consumption, and vastly improved recycling and reuse systems.
-
Transforming our energy system, reducing emissions
Yarra is all electric and zero emissions. We use and share energy equitably so everyone has what they need.
-
Strengthening our food systems
We produce food locally and ensure everyone has access to healthy, affordable food. We embrace low carbon, low impact eating, including vegetarianism and veganism.
-
Council leadership in the climate emergency
Yarra is leading the climate emergency response and collaborating with neighbouring councils to amplify our impact.
Think about these themes and tell us what sort of future you want to see. What does taking strong action look like to you?
Share your ideas, stories, comments and suggestions! Use the button below to post your story.
Please Note: This tool uses a moderation system so you may not see your response right away.
All responses received will be recorded and kept in line with our Privacy Policy. All responses, regardless of their presence in the public realm will be kept and considered as part of this consultation.
Some responses may not be published if there is specific wording used that may be deemed offensive to some people or the question contains personal or sensitive information. Responses that do not directly relate to the climate emergency will also not be published.
Any comments that fall outside of this topic should be directed to Council's traditional customer services channels.
