Thank you for helping us shape a sustainable and more resilient tomorrow.

Your feedback will help us develop the final documents and make sure that Banyule remains the vibrant, green and thriving community we all love. These documents will be available for community comment in March 2025.

View the 'community engagement' section below to read about what you told us during recent consultation activities.

From 15 January to 24 March 2024, we asked the community to help us shape a sustainable and resilient community.

145 people provided feedback through an online survey. We also heard feedback through a variety of other engagement activities including:

• community forums
• presentations with Banyule Advisory and Population Committees
• in-person engagement at Eco Festival.

View the full findings report take a look at a summary of what we heard below.

When asked 'What should Banyule Council do to support Climate Change?', the community told us:

What you told us about the Corporate Emission Reduction Plan

• 83% of respondents were aware that Council has a target to become a carbon neutral organisation by 2028.
• 62% of respondents think Council should be 'a risk taker, early adopter and industry leader' when investing in new technologies to reduce emissions.
• The majority of respondents would prefer Council to procure offsets which have a local benefit, even if that meant they would cost more.
• The majority of respondents suggest that if offsets were to be purchased, the preference would be for projects that avoid and reduce emissions in the first instance (e.g. using renewable energy and stopping deforestation), rather than projects that remove already emitted carbon emissions from the atmosphere using carbon capture technologies.
• There was a strong awareness of emission reduction goals and a desire for sustainable practices including:
  • renewable energy adoption
  • active transportation promotion
  • waste management improvements.
• Concerns highlighted were:
  • climate change impacts
  • a call for decisive action
  • community involvement in mitigation efforts.

What you told us about the Climate Adaptation Framework.

• Over 80% of respondents are extremely concerned or very concerned about the possible impacts of climate change.
• Almost 60% of respondents stated that their level of preparedness for the impacts of climate change is 'fair to good' and that they'd like to see Council do more work in this space.
• The community is most concerned about the following (listed in order of concern):
  • the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events
  • loss of biodiversity
  • rising temperatures and heatwaves
  • the impact on agriculture and access to food.
• The community's top priorities are (listed highest to lowest):
  • increased tree canopy cover to reduce heat in built up areas
  • strengthening biodiversity and habitat conservation
  • the natural environment.
• In the next two years, a majority of respondents are planning to implement new actions to help reduce the impacts of climate change.

Feedback on the Adaptation Framework emphasised the community's concern for climate change impacts and the need for proactive adaptation measures. Suggestions included infrastructure resilience, biodiversity preservation and sustainable transport initiatives. The feedback reflected the desire for effective climate action and community involvement in resilience-building efforts.

To achieve Banyule's ambitious targets of becoming a carbon-neutral organisation by 2028 and municipality by 2040, we developed the Corporate Emissions Reduction Plan (2020-23) and the Community Climate Action Framework, which have led to significant progress in responding to climate change including:

• working with other Councils to purchase electricity from renewable sources and eliminate all carbon emissions from power usage
• developing Banyule’s first Urban Forest Strategy which will increase our population of trees and plants, draw carbon emissions from the atmosphere and enhance and protect the environment for future generations
• assisting over 250 households with energy efficiency upgrades to their homes including installing solar systems, energy efficiency audits and changes to make homes cooler in summer and warmer in winter
• installing solar panels on over 75 Council buildings, helping to reduce our carbon footprint, cutting costs and moving away from traditional energy sources.

But there's more work to do to be achieve the targets.