Bundy Council commits to climate change fight

19 July, 2017. LOW-LYING areas along Bundaberg’s coastline will be under threat from flooding if climate change is ignored.

In a report released by the Climate Council to the NewsMail yesterday, Bundaberg is named along with Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin as areas that are likely to “experience very large increases in the frequency of coastal flooding events” if greenhouse gas emissions are not rapidly reduced.

Coastal flooding has been described as a sleeping giant by the Climate Council, which said sea levels had already risen and continued to rise due to climate change.

Aside from coastal flooding, the report released publicly today also found parts of Australia were at risk from bushfires and extreme heatwaves due to worsening climate impacts.

Bundaberg Regional Council is one of only three councils in Queensland to participate in the Climate Council’s Cities Power Partnership program, which aims to transform the future of Australia’s energy output.

Mayor Jack Dempsey said the council was already heavily engaged in using renewable energy and curtailing greenhouse gas emissions and it made excellent sense to partner with the fledgling national program.

Cr Dempsey said one of the areas the council had implemented emission reductions was at the waste facilities where gas flaring converts harmful methane gases into less environmentally damaging carbon dioxide.