City of Stirling joins the Climate Council’s Cities Power Partnership

The City is pleased to announce that it has recently joined the Cities Power Partnership (CPP), which is facilitated by the Climate Council.

Council committed to join the CPP in late 2020 and this pledge was further supported in the recent adoption of the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) – (Corporate) 2020-2030. The SEAP is a pragmatic and progressive plan to achieve 100 per cent of the City’s electricity from renewables and reduce overall emissions by 70 per cent by 2030.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie recently confirmed the City’s membership of the CPP had been approved, meaning the City joins a network of more than 140 local governments and over 500 cities and towns in Australia. It is the largest network of cities and towns working together to tackle climate change in Australia.

As a condition of membership, the City of Stirling was asked to state which of the CPP priorities it would work towards, and has now confirmed its commitment to actioning pledges that reduce emissions and accelerate climate action, including:

• to increase the level of renewable energy generation for City operations
• participate in a power purchase agreement for renewable energy
• adopt best practice energy efficiency measures
• support the uptake of hybrid and electric vehicles
• support the community to tackle climate change.

Mayor Mark Irwin said the pledges selected from the Climate Council’s list of recommended actions represented the priorities in the City’s SEAP (Corporate) 2020-2030, and proved the City was willing to take a leadership role in advocating for stronger action.

“Council have focused on pragmatic, practical and achievable actions we can take which reduce not only the emissions directly created by City operations, but also create efficiencies and cost savings for ratepayers, delivering a cleaner and more economical municipality,” he said.

“We have also confirmed today by joining the CPP that, under the leadership of the Climate Council, we are eager to take our place in this the largest network of similarly-minded local governments from across the country.”

This advocacy and leadership is even more important given the upcoming COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference, which will be hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy (31 October – 12 November 2021) in Glasgow. This event will likely deliver the next global pact on emissions reductions, following on from the 1997 Kyoto Protocols and the 2015 Paris Agreement, both of which Australia signed.

The release of a plan for corporate emissions and renewables, combined with the City’s acceptance into the CPP are the latest steps in a history of pragmatic actions taken by the City to address this issue as far back as 2003.

The City produced a Local Greenhouse Action Plan in 2003 and reported on this until 2009. In 2010, Council endorsed the WALGA Climate Change Declaration and the City began publicly reporting on corporate energy consumption and carbon emissions via its Annual Report.

The City has installed and run a geothermal heating system at Stirling Leisure Centres - Scarborough Beach Pool since 2018, which accounts for 10 per cent of total energy demand. The City has also been working with WALGA to undertake a joint procurement with other local governments to meet our renewable electricity target under the endorsed SEAP targets.

Deputy Mayor Bianca Sandri said she was encouraged by the practical steps Council had endorsed, which also included tree planting and canopy improvements to cool and beautify local neighbourhoods.

“Half of the City’s passenger car fleet (14 per cent of fleet emissions) are hybrid cars and the City plans to develop a business case for procuring electric vehicles, but at the community level  we have so many opportunities for people to roll up their sleeves and literally get their hands dirty,” she said.

“By 2040, the City will likely manage approximately 201,000 street trees and it is estimated that these will sequester (absorb) 3,920 tonnes of carbon per year and store 75,174 tonnes of carbon. To reach that goal, our recently passed 2021/22 budget includes programs like the community tree planting and plant and tree giveaways which continue to engage local families in this global effort.”

The City’s SEAP (Corporate) 2020-2030 is a critical and actionable set of plans to progress towards the ultimate goal – as defined by the Paris Agreement – of net zero emissions by 2050, and work is currently underway on a sustainable energy plan for the broader business and local community in order to achieve this target.

More information about the SEAP (Corporate) 2020-2030 is available on the City’s Your Say Stirling project page www.stirling.wa.gov.au/your-city/your-say-stirling/sustainable-energy-action-plan-(corporate)