Climate Summit for Local Government

Sept 6-8, 2023 | Melbourne

At the inaugural Cities Power Partnership summit held on 18-19 October, we saw over 150 participants from local government across Australia show up in a united call for climate action.

As part of this local government summit, an awards evening was held to recognise the incredible action councils are taking to tackle climate impacts. Wow, do we have amazing things going on in the Cities Power Partnership. It gives us no end of pleasure to award these particular organisations for their outstanding work in the below categories.

  1. Renewable Energy Achievement Award

Winner: Solar my School  – 3 Council Program Randwick, Waverley & Woollahra Councils (New South Wales)

Solar my School is an initiative helping schools make the switch to solar by providing free independent expert advice and support, saving schools thousands of dollars on their power bills.

So far, 90% of the 64 schools in the region have signed up to the program, contributing to $260,000 each year in energy savings for schools. On top of this, the program has been able to reach and inspire more than 20,000 students with a real-life lesson on renewable energy.

For more information about the program, click here.

  1. Energy Efficiency Achievement

Winner: Newcastle Museum Energy upgrade – The City of Newcastle  (New South Wales)

The Newcastle Museum Energy Upgrade Project, implemented lighting upgrades in several sections of the building to maximise energy saving, saving thousands on power bills, in addition to a 100kW solar panel installation.

Their Smart Buildings Smart Workforce project has also implemented energy efficiency upgrades at various social, cultural and recreational facilities that Newcastle residents use every day, as well as council operational buildings. These projects are all helping council save money on electricity bills and power towards council’s goal to have 30% of its electricity generated from low-carbon sources by 2020.

For more information, click here.

  1. Sustainable Transport Achievement

Winner: Transition to Zero Emissions Vehicles Action Plan 2018-21 & implementation- ACT Government 

The Transition to Zero Emissions Vehicles Action Plan 2018-21 is assisting Canberra to meet its target of 100% renewable energy by 2020 with actions like: ensuring Government passenger fleet vehicles are zero emissions vehicles, requiring all new multi-unit and mixed use developments to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure and investigating incentives to encourage the use of electric bikes in place of cars.

For more information, click here.

  1. Community Engagement Achievement

Winner: Council owned & community funded floating solar farm – Lismore City Council (New South Wales)

The floating Solar farm is Australia’s largest and entirely community funded floating solar farm.

Born from a partnership with Farming the Sun (Australia’s largest community solar energy initiative), a unique community funding model was created that brought together community, private and government stakeholders to get the project off the ground.

For more information, click here.

  1. Knowledge Sharing

Winner: South East NSW Councils buddy group (NSW)

The South East NSW Councils buddy group is made up of Shoalhaven, Eurobodalla, Wingecarribee, Bega Valley and Kiama Councils, who together, are collaborating to develop a strong, regional climate response for South-Eastern New South Wales.

Previous to the group’s inceptions, these councils were all working separately on their climate strategy despite dealing with very similar concerns. Working with other councils is one of the most powerful tools councils have to reduce their climate impact as learnings from other’s experience is helping these councils fast track powerful climate solutions.

For more information, click here.

  1. CPP Ambassador

Winner: Clr Ken Keith, Mayor, Parkes Shire Council (New South Wales)

Mayor Ken Keith was recognised for his fierce commitment to the public climate debate.

Parkes Council was a founding member of the Cities Power Partnership, and Mayor Keith led Parkes Shire to be an early adopter of solar. On top of this, he is committed to sharing his learnings and experience on council and community solar projects with others councils to assist their transition to renewables.  

For more information, click here.

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