2021-03-09 P&E Agenda - Item 8 - Attachment 1 - Climate Change Response Plan

What does Net Zero Emissions mean?
‘Net zero emissions’ refers to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas
emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere. Getting to
net zero means we can still produce some emissions, provided they are offset by processes
that reduce greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. For example, these could be
things like planting new native forests, or drawdown technologies like direct air capture. The
more emissions to be reduced, the more carbon dioxide we need to remove from the
atmosphere to reach net zero. The process of removing carbon dioxide is called carbon
sequestration or drawdown.

To meet the goal of net zero, new emissions must be as low as possible. This means that
we need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – and transition to renewable
energy.


Why is net zero emissions important?
Climate change isn’t a tap we can turn off once we stop using fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide,
the main contributor to climate change, will stay in the atmosphere and keep heating the
planet for years and years.

Hence, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is hugely important - but we can’t stop there.
The end goal is to balance the scales and restore the global climate to pre-climate change
levels. To get there, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero and then get
cracking on repairing past harm by drawing down past emissions.4

“Unless we act decisively to phase out the use of fossil fuels, global temperatures will
exceed a 2oC-rise above the pre-industrial levels in a few decades. By 2030 the average
increase in global temperatures will reach 1.5oC, and the Earth’s climate system is likely to
begin to unravel. If we fail to act, dramatic destabilisation will be felt when the temperature
rise breaches 2oC, sometime before 2050. Despair is not an option. Nor is selfish
complacency. Instead, this is the moment to ask what you can do.”

(Tim Flannery ‘The Climate Cure: Solving the Climate Emergency in the Era of COVID-19)


Why net zero by 2026
Even if we limit global increases to 1.5oC, we can still expect rapid and far-reaching changes
in our land and water resources, energy, industry, buildings and transport. A target of ‘net
zero emissions by 2026’ for the Noosa community is commensurate with what these impacts
mean, what the science is saying, and the urgency of the situation - irrespective of how
difficult the target is to achieve.

Achieving net zero emissions is a shared responsibility. This plan outlines how Council is
contributing to meeting this target with an increased focus on advocacy and mobilisation of
the community. More broadly, social and economic transformation is required at all levels of
government and industry.

4
 Climate Council https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/what-does-net-zero-emissions-
mean/?atb=DSA01b&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgomBBhDXARIsAFNyUqPLFjZu4r3nfCOpoZxsMo858cG_faBYzQyuPl1ocqNNKX7QSgR
rMQIaAjxCEALw_wcB


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Noosa Climate Change Response Plan - draft for council endorsement March 2021