2021-08-10 Planning & Environment Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                             10 AUGUST 2021


Community comment                                         Proposed response
Need strong budget commitment to support                  Council has attracted significant grant funding for
implementation of the plan. While community groups        climate risk and resilience in recent years amounting
are happy to work in conjunction with Council to          to over $3million in project funding. Council has also
implement the plan, they also need significant            allocated budget for commencement of year 1
resources to be able to assist Council to the level       projects in the CCRP. This includes a new grant
needed to reach net zero emissions by 2026.               program for emissions reduction. A detailed
                                                          implementation action plan will be developed in the
                                                          coming months to assist with identifying budget
                                                          requirements and funding opportunities.
Need strong climate action throughout Council             Actions in the CCRP have been expanded to
culture and employee performance and embedded             highlight the need to incorporate climate change
in staff KPIs and resource allocations.                   considerations across all areas of Council including
                                                          staff roles and responsibilities and in performance
                                                          planning.
Noosa is fast being overtaken by other destinations       Wording added to plan regarding Council being a
in Australia who are leading the way on climate           regional and state leader for climate action and its
change. Noosa needs to be at the cutting edge of          role in helping to advocate for zero emissions
climate initiatives and act on climate change as a        policies at Federal and State government levels.
matter of urgency.
Theme 2: Energy efficiency and renewable energy
Council needs to look at alternative energy retailers     The CCRP includes an action to complete a
for its energy use and new ways of doing things eg.       renewable energy investigation to assess
using its buildings/sites as virtual power providers      opportunities, barriers and financial models within
(VPPs), doing peer to peer energy trading between         and outside the shire for community owned
buildings, and use of battery technology. Also            renewable energy projects, such as solar farms,
recommend        that   Council     encourage     the     micro grids, solar gardens, community batteries for
establishment of community-based social enterprise        solar storage. This work has commenced and is an
energy companies that support locally generated,          extension of work already carried out by ZEN Inc on
stored and distributed energy.                            renewable energy opportunities.
Consider increasing renewable energy target from          Council will continue to track progress against its
100% to over 100% to provide offsets for transport        targets, including further detailed modelling, and
emissions that are unlikely to fully decarbonise by       consider what opportunities there may be to improve
2026.                                                     the targets over time as more information and
Need to prepare detailed modelling to show how the        technology solutions become available.
net zero emissions targets for Council and                Further information has been added to the CCRP
community can be achieved.                                summarising Noosa’s projected ‘pathway to zero’.
Energy efficient lighting and appliances should be        Council will continue to advocate to the State
mandated for rental properties in Noosa Shire.            Government for more stringent requirements in
Owners of rental properties should be encouraged to       building standards for energy efficiency and
install solar hot water systems and solar PVC             renewable energy. Education and support for renters
panels.                                                   and landlords are identified within the plan
Council should explore strategies for making solar        The plan provides for the completion of a Zero
power installations, solar hotwater systems and           Emissions Pathways Study to identify effective and
energy efficient lighting and appliances more             least cost emissions abatement opportunities for the
affordable for low-income homeowners. This                Noosa community. Community grants are available
includes lobbying state and federal governments for       through the Council for energy efficiency and solar
grants and subsidies.                                     projects by community groups. A further grant
Expand strategic priorities and actions to specifically   category for emissions reduction to support
include landlords and strata tenants in energy            households, landlords, businesses and community
efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.              groups is also to commence this financial year.




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