2021-08-10 P&E Agenda - Item 7 - Attachment 1 - Climate Change Response Plan

          Noosa Shire Council




  What does Net Zero                                          Hence, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
                                                              is hugely important - but we can’t stop there.
  Emissions mean?                                             The end goal is to balance the scales and
  The target of ‘net zero emissions’ by 2026 for              restore the global climate to pre-climate change
  Council and the community refers to achieving               levels. To get there, we need to urgently reduce
  an overall balance between greenhouse gas                   greenhouse gas emissions to zero and then get
  emissions produced and greenhouse gas                       cracking on repairing past harm by drawing
  emissions taken out of the atmosphere.                      down past emissions.4

  Getting to net zero means we can still produce              “Unless we act decisively to phase out the
  some emissions, provided they are offset by                 use of fossil fuels, global temperatures will
                                                              exceed a 2oC-rise above the pre-industrial
  processes that reduce greenhouse gases
                                                              levels in a few decades. By 2030 the average
  already in the atmosphere. The more emissions
                                                              increase in global temperatures will reach
  we produce the more carbon dioxide we need
                                                              1.5oC, and the Earth’s climate system is likely
  to remove from the atmosphere to reach net
                                                              to begin to unravel. If we fail to act, dramatic
  zero. The process of removing carbon dioxide                destabilisation will be felt when the temperature
  is called carbon sequestration or drawdown.                 rise breaches 2oC, sometime before 2050.
  To meet the goal of net zero, new emissions must            Despair is not an option. Nor is selfish
  be avoided or as a minimum, maintained as low               complacency. Instead, this is the moment to ask
  as possible. This means that we need to rapidly             what you can do.”
  phase out the use of fossil fuels – coal, oil and           (Tim Flannery ‘The Climate Cure: Solving the
  gas – and transition to renewable energy.                   Climate Emergency in the Era of COVID-19)


  Why is net zero emissions                                   Why net zero by 2026
  important?                                                  Even if we limit global increases to 1.5oC, we
  Reaching and sustaining net zero emissions is               can still expect rapid and far-reaching changes
  important in order to restore the Earth’s energy            in our land and water resources, energy,
                                                              industry, buildings and transport. A target of
  balance and halt further global warming. The
                                                              ‘net zero emissions by 2026’ for the Noosa
  total amount of emissions released up until the
                                                              community is commensurate with what these
  point of reaching net zero will then determine
                                                              impacts mean, what the science is saying, and
  the level of warming that will result for decades
                                                              the urgency of the situation - irrespective of
  to come. The longer we wait, the harder it will             how difficult the target is to achieve.
  be to reach, and the more warming that will
  result.                                                     Achieving net zero emissions is a shared
                                                              responsibility. This plan outlines how Council
  Climate change isn’t a tap we can turn off once             is contributing to meeting this target with an
  we stop using fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide, the             increased focus on advocacy and mobilisation
  main contributor to climate change, will stay in            of the community. More broadly, social and
  the atmosphere and keep heating the planet for              economic transformation is required at all levels
  years and years.                                            of government and industry.



  4
   Climate Council https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/what-does-net-zero-emissions-me
  an/?atb=DSA01b&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgomBBhDXARIsAFNyUqPLFjZu4r3nfCOpoZxsMo858cG_
  faBYzQyuPl1ocqNNKX7QSgRrMQIaAjxCEALw_wcB


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