Darebin
The first council to recognise the climate emergency
Darebin, a council located in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne, has led the way on the Climate Emergency. On December the 5th 2016, at the urging of local climate groups, the newly elected Councillors recognised we are in a Climate Emergency at their very first meeting. The motion was "Council recognises that we are in a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government, including by local councils." MOVED: Cr. Trent McCarthy SECONDED: Cr. Steph Amir
Link to original minutes (see 2016, December 5th, Minutes, p.46).
Link to original minutes (see 2016, December 5th, Minutes, p.46).
cHow the campaign started
The campaign to get Darebin to take emergency action on climate began in 2013, when the members of the political party called Save the Planet decided that it would be more likely to get a local government to respond to the climate emergency seriously than a state or federal government. A group lead by Philip Sutton and including Paul Cutler, Tiffany Harrison and CACE's Adrian Whitehead was formed to develop the ideas around what this would mean. You can still see the original documents that were developed on Save the Planet's website.
In 2016 the idea for an Climate Emergency Declaration came about and the group was formed to support this campaign including Philip Sutton, Margaret Hender, Mik Aidt, Tony Gleeson and Jane Morton. This camapign was originally focused on State and Federal politicians however in 2016 it was adapted to be used for local government.
In late 2016 these two campaign ideas combined in the Darebin local government election, with Save the Planet running climate emergency framed candidates and lobbying other candidates directly to undertake a climate emergency mobilisation at council, while the Climate Emergency Declaration campaign to get councillors to publicly commit to making a climate emergency declaration was being run by to local claimte action group DCAN (Darebin Climate Action Now).
Ultimately the combination of the lobbying and public pressure was effective enough to get the newly elected council to pass a motion to acknowledge we are in a climate emergency.
The campaign to get Darebin to take emergency action on climate began in 2013, when the members of the political party called Save the Planet decided that it would be more likely to get a local government to respond to the climate emergency seriously than a state or federal government. A group lead by Philip Sutton and including Paul Cutler, Tiffany Harrison and CACE's Adrian Whitehead was formed to develop the ideas around what this would mean. You can still see the original documents that were developed on Save the Planet's website.
In 2016 the idea for an Climate Emergency Declaration came about and the group was formed to support this campaign including Philip Sutton, Margaret Hender, Mik Aidt, Tony Gleeson and Jane Morton. This camapign was originally focused on State and Federal politicians however in 2016 it was adapted to be used for local government.
In late 2016 these two campaign ideas combined in the Darebin local government election, with Save the Planet running climate emergency framed candidates and lobbying other candidates directly to undertake a climate emergency mobilisation at council, while the Climate Emergency Declaration campaign to get councillors to publicly commit to making a climate emergency declaration was being run by to local claimte action group DCAN (Darebin Climate Action Now).
Ultimately the combination of the lobbying and public pressure was effective enough to get the newly elected council to pass a motion to acknowledge we are in a climate emergency.
Darebin's early action
From the initial acknowledgement till July 2018 Darebin Council has began to prepare their emergency response by adopting a range of initiatives including:
However after July 2018 it started to become more and more apparent that our hope the Darebin would enter a full emergency mode was looking less likely.
- a redrafting of their Climate Change Action plan
- providing input to a federal government review of vehicle emission standards
- approving the first public electric car charges in Darebin
- including the climate emergency in the first sentence of their strategic plan (December 2017)
- adopted a climate emergency plan (August 2017)
- choose to establish Climate Emergency Darebin as an entity to facilitate the implementation of the Darebin Climate Emergency Plan (February 2018)
- Climate Emergency Darebin advisory committee first meeting. (April 2018)
- Created a budget of $250,000 to support the climate emergency role out
- Employed an Executive Officer to support the work of Climate Emergency Darebin. (July 2018)
- Commenced planning for a Climate Emergency conference in September and "climate emergency" messaging.
However after July 2018 it started to become more and more apparent that our hope the Darebin would enter a full emergency mode was looking less likely.
Campaign priorities post acknowledgement
- Ensuring the Darebin Climate Emergency Plan is a full and genuine Climate Emergency Plan - COMPLETED
- Building community recognition of action on the Climate Emergency ahead of establishment of the Climate Emergency Darebin Advisory Committee - COMPLETED
- Getting Darebin to formally declare a Climate Emergency and enter full emergency mode - ONGOING
1. Getting the Darebin plan right
Darebin Council now has its new Climate Emergency Plan. The draft is a very significant improvement on earlier drafts and in general the document has captured most of the key elements needed to drive a climate emergency response but has made some significant omissions including limited focus on diet, consumption and draw down.
The key points are:
- the context for the goal and the goal itself have an inconsistency and the plan needs to include stronger messaging on negative emissions in the context
- diet is not one of the key priorities deserves a separate section
- consumption emissions are not a key priority deserves a separate section
- drawdown though mentioned has no detail and deserves a separate section
- the methodology of local carbon emission accounting needs complete revision to include other sources of emissions such as diet and consumption and may include double accounting of renewable energy produced locally
- the divestment focus is too narrow and only relates to fossil fuels.
- the plan is proposing to dump green power without a concrete proposal to replace it with an alternate renewable energy option
- community engagement is not ambitious enough
- suicidal state and federal targets are included in the plan
- a new section is required clearly identifying phasing and priorities
- the plan proposes to by hybrids rather than the currently available electric cars with range extenders
Since the release of the Darebin Climate Emergency plan, CACE member Adrian Whitehead was a member of the Darebin Interim Advisory Board which was set up to facilitate the establishment of a new Council supported group to help facilitate Darebin Council's emergency response. The new group is called Climate Emergency Darebin which is currently an advisory committee to Darebin Council. CACE is represented on this board through CACE member Adrian Whitehead.
Darebin Council now has its new Climate Emergency Plan. The draft is a very significant improvement on earlier drafts and in general the document has captured most of the key elements needed to drive a climate emergency response but has made some significant omissions including limited focus on diet, consumption and draw down.
The key points are:
- the context for the goal and the goal itself have an inconsistency and the plan needs to include stronger messaging on negative emissions in the context
- diet is not one of the key priorities deserves a separate section
- consumption emissions are not a key priority deserves a separate section
- drawdown though mentioned has no detail and deserves a separate section
- the methodology of local carbon emission accounting needs complete revision to include other sources of emissions such as diet and consumption and may include double accounting of renewable energy produced locally
- the divestment focus is too narrow and only relates to fossil fuels.
- the plan is proposing to dump green power without a concrete proposal to replace it with an alternate renewable energy option
- community engagement is not ambitious enough
- suicidal state and federal targets are included in the plan
- a new section is required clearly identifying phasing and priorities
- the plan proposes to by hybrids rather than the currently available electric cars with range extenders
Since the release of the Darebin Climate Emergency plan, CACE member Adrian Whitehead was a member of the Darebin Interim Advisory Board which was set up to facilitate the establishment of a new Council supported group to help facilitate Darebin Council's emergency response. The new group is called Climate Emergency Darebin which is currently an advisory committee to Darebin Council. CACE is represented on this board through CACE member Adrian Whitehead.
2. Building the Community Campaign
CACE is undertook a series of five public meetings designed to educate people about the Climate Emergency and build support for a Climate Emergency Declaration. The project included leafleting the 1000's of homes in Darebin. The five meetings were:
Big Thanks
A special big thanks to the following community organisations for providing venues for free:
Our supporters for these community events included
CACE is undertook a series of five public meetings designed to educate people about the Climate Emergency and build support for a Climate Emergency Declaration. The project included leafleting the 1000's of homes in Darebin. The five meetings were:
- Westgarth - Feb 17
- Preston - Feb 17
- Thornbury - Feb 17
- Fairfield - May 17
- Alphington - Jun 17
Big Thanks
A special big thanks to the following community organisations for providing venues for free:
Our supporters for these community events included
- Sustainable Living Foundation;
- Research and Strategy for Transition Initiation (RTSI);
- Less Meat Less Heat;
- Great Forest National Park campaign;
- Darebin Climate Action Now;
- Climate Emergency Declaration Campaign;
- Transition Banyule;
- Beyond Zero Emissions;
- Save the Planet.
3. The Climate Emergency Declaration / Entering Full Emergency Mode
CACE is continuing to supporting Darebin Council in its preparation to formally declare a Climate Emergency through representation on the Climate Emergency Darebin Advisory Committee and supporting community initiatives as they are developed.
CACE is continuing to supporting Darebin Council in its preparation to formally declare a Climate Emergency through representation on the Climate Emergency Darebin Advisory Committee and supporting community initiatives as they are developed.
Unfortunately the council no longer seems interested in emergency emergency mode and CACE is restarting a community campaign to get the council into full emergency mode.
