Wodonga councillor Kat Bennett has flagged re-visiting the organisation's aim to achieve the statewide goal of net zero emissions by 2050 agreed to earlier this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On her return from a period of extended leave, Cr Bennett said strong community feedback she had received to the release last week of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report and its findings meant the city could do more.
Cr Bennett raised the matter in general business on Monday and follows council adopting a climate change policy including a net zero emissions by 2050 target in March when she was on leave.
"It is an international body of leading climate scientists," Cr Bennett said.
"They have said the level of CO2 is more than it has ever been for the past two million years.
"It is unequivocal that human interference has caused this.
"These leading experts have studied this their whole lives and I will take their word on that."
IN OTHER NEWS
The IPCC is a United Nations body and its report states: "Each of the last four decades has been successively warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850".
Cr Bennett flagged a review of council policy fearing net zero emissions by 2050 was not a strong enough position when other Victorian councils had a more pro-active stance.
"It is what our council has said is still our target," she said.
"I've seen other councillors comparable to ours, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, have better targets in place.
"Even Alpine (Shire) down the road has a goal 2023 for all council operations to be net zero emissions.
"Let's watch this space and see when Sustainable Wodonga comes back up and we can follow all that evidence of literally world leading scientists and improve our net emissions target."
Instead councillors recognised "that climate change is one of the most significant issues that will impact the social, cultural, economic and environmental health and well-being of our community" and and agreed to "act accordingly with all" council policies and programs.
The objectives of Wodonga's climate change policy include reducing greenhouse gas emissions through appropriate mitigation strategies, apply risk management to develop adaption strategies and conserve natural resources and promote a safe, healthy community.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark https://www.bordermail.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @bordermail
- Follow us on Instagram @bordermail
- Follow us on Google News