Mayor's Message: Celebrating two years of climate action at Council

By Bass Coast Shire Council Mayor Cr Michael Whelan

On Saturday, Phillip Island’s first neighbourhood battery, AusNet’s Phillip Island Community Energy Storage System (PICESS), was switched on to provide additional power for 8000 homes, while stabilising the Island’s energy supply during peak periods. 

This is a firm step towards cutting Bass Coast’s carbon emissions and realising Phillip Island’s bold vision to become a fully sustainable tourism hot spot. PICESS will increase our renewable capacity as it will be recharged using solar, allowing more renewable energy to join our electricity network, while delivering year-round energy security.

Council provided the land that houses the system, which was built by energy supply company AusNet as part of the State Government’s Neighbourhood Battery Initiative. 

As we recognise Earth Day this week, we celebrate this example of the exciting, collaborative work happening in Bass Coast, since Council’s Climate Change Action Plan was endorsed two years ago. After declaring a climate emergency in August 2019, this plan set out how we will reach net zero emissions by 2030 – and we are well on our way! 

Achievements so far include:

• 100 per cent renewable energy sourced for all Council buildings, facilities and street lighting, reducing our carbon emissions by around 2,000 tonnes. This is thanks to the Victorian Energy Collaboration (VECO), a collective of 51 councils sharing costs, representing the largest emissions reduction project ever undertaken by local government in Australia.
• Over 316,000 plants in the ground for our Biolinks Project in the last 12 months, estimated to store 58,634 tonnes of carbon over 25 years.
• More than 8000 Bass Coast homes and businesses reducing emissions, while enjoying cheaper electricity, thanks to rooftop solar - plus over 10,500 properties using efficient solar or heat pump hot water heaters.
• $40,000 in Climate Action Community Grants available each year to fund community-led climate action initiatives.

We’re proud of our community’s progress, but we need to move faster. 

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was a stark warning cry. Human-made greenhouse gas emissions have surged to record levels, with global temperatures likely to reach 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels by 2030.

As we know only too well here on the Bass Coast, these rising temperatures are driving widespread, rapid global changes - including sea level rise, coastal erosion and extreme weather – resulting in widespread harm to lives, livelihoods and natural systems.

Yet, despite the climate crisis worsening, we can still act to stem the damage.

Council’s Urban Forest Strategy is critical. Our goal is no net loss of vegetation on private land, plus to increase our urban canopy cover to 40 per cent by 2040. Council will plant 1500 trees a year, including a large range of natives and smaller group of exotics, while encouraging residents to join us in planting more trees at their properties.

This month Council finishes our Building Asset Management Plan. We will have more to say on this world-leading initiative soon, but we are proud to be one of the first councils worldwide to draw on climate science to inform how we manage and maintain our buildings.

We drew on data from the South-East Councils Climate Change Alliance (SECCCA), who identified how climate change will impact our infrastructure, including buildings, for several temperature rise scenarios.

We know this challenge is big, but thousands of small actions combined make a huge impact.

We can work together to make Bass Coast a shining example worldwide.