Climate Action Plan

The Climate Action Plan was adopted by Mansfield Shire Council at it's ordinary meeting of Council on 21 February 2023. The plan details how Council will address its contribution to climate change and work towards achieving zero net emissions by 2025.

A copy of the adopted plan can be found on Council's website - mansfield.vic.gov.au/ClimateActionPlan

The draft Climate Action Plan is ready for your feedback - the Plan identifies the key climate change priorities for our community and was developed after extensive community consultation.

Council recognises that climate change is a real threat to our community’s way of life as we know it.

To help respond to this threat, last year Council used this Engage Mansfield page to ask the community what they thought Council should do.

There was a tremendous community response. Thank you.

To see all the suggestions and how Council responded to them, please see our Climate Change Ideas Paper.

Based on this and other community engagement, Council has produced a draft Climate Action Plan that outlines how Council will act to significantly reduce the emissions of Council operations.

The key actions that Council propose to implement are:

• upgrades of Council street lighting to energy efficient bulbs
• energy efficiency upgrades to Council buildings
• installation of solar cells on Council buildings
• Council purchase of 100% Renewable Electricity by 2023
• purchase of offsets to cover remaining emissions from 2023

The plan's objective is that Council will reach net zero emissions by 2023.

These climate actions are justified on economic, efficiency and environmental grounds as well as by the emission reductions generated. This means that by 2030 when all these emissions reduction actions are implemented, they will annually generate average savings of about $75,000 as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about the equivalent of 1,160 tCO2.

However, while Council is playing its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Council operations only produce about 0.4% of the total emissions from the Mansfield Local Government area. Council’s draft Climate Action Plan also makes recommendations about how Council can support the Mansfield Community to act on climate change.

Key areas proposed in Table 1.

Table 1: Proposed community emissions reduction action areas

To share what you think of the draft Climate Action Plan, what actions you've taken and how you think that we can support your household or business reduce greenhouse gas emissions, please see below and leave your comments by 2 December 2022.

Thanks once again to all those who have already provided Council with suggestions on the draft Climate Action Plan.