Waverley Council signs historic climate change declaration

30 April 2020 | Media Release

Waverley Council has signed the Safe Climate Declaration to actively reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and further prepare for the impacts of climate change.

The historic declaration calls for a new approach to climate action in Australia, a response to match the scale of the threat as climate-warming impacts escalate across Australia and around the world.

It comes after the Council this year achieved its target to reduce its own corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 30% based on 2003/04 levels.

Mayor of Waverley, Paula Masselos, said the declaration sets out some key actions for the Council to deliver including cutting greenhouse gas emissions rapidly to zero and ceasing all fossil fuel expansion immediately.

“The declaration will act as a roadmap for the Council to implement a further range of environmental initiatives including the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, strategies to reduce methane emissions and measures to restore a safe climate and repair ecosystems,” Mayor Masselos said.

"In December 2019, our Council unanimously declared a State of Climate and Biodiversity Emergency which states that with urgent collaborative action it is still possible to help prevent the most serious environmental, social and economic impacts. Through the Safe Climate Declaration, Waverley Council is sending an even stronger message to the community about how serious we are about tackling climate change for future generations.”

The declaration was drafted earlier this year at the Climate Emergency Summit in Melbourne which Mayor of Waverley, Paula Masselos, attended on behalf of the Waverley community. It now has more than 3280 signatories from across Australia.

“I also invite our community to sign the Declaration, as well as set a goal for net zero emissions by 2030, as a show of support for a safe climate future. We do this for our children and our children’s children,” Mayor Masselos said.

Waverley Council has for many years been actively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the organisation and in the community through collaboration with key stakeholders. The Council has reduced emissions through a range of initiatives including:

For more about the Safe Climate Declaration, visit: https://www.climateemergencysummit.org/declaration

For more about the Council’s environmental sustainability initiatives, visit https://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/environment