CITY of Vincent council has supported the Western Australian Local Government Association’s (WALGA) draft Climate Change Policy Statement despite calling the document disappointing and ‘cringeworthy’.
WALGA in November released a discussion paper on the review of its Climate Change Policy (adopted in 2009) which acknowledges the science of climate change, the threat to human societies and the Earth’s ecosystems and calls for urgent mitigation action and adaptation and resilience planning.
Changes under the review included strengthened language around the urgency of climate change action, greater emphasis on the need for state and federal governments to play a stronger leadership and co-ordination role, and engage in long-term planning on climate change and call for evidence-based action.
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READ NOWBut Mayor Emma Cole and councillor Roslyn Harley were not impressed with WALGA’s document.
“This is an incredibly disappointing document,” Cr Harley said.
“They need to do better, need to be more specific and need smart objectives and action plan in there.”
Ms Cole said it needed a lot of work.
“I read this and cringed at the format, language and structure,” she said.
“It is not a shining moment in policy writing… but I do not disagree with the intent.”
Council resolved to support the document “in principal”.
At the April 4 meeting, council affirmed its support for addressing climate change within the City and updated its Sustainable Environment Strategy to include a target of zero net carbon emissions and plans for an electric vehicle fleet.
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