Climate Change Mitigation Plan

View our Draft Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023-2030

We've prepared a draft Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023-2030 and invite your feedback on the plan by 30 October 2023.

The plan builds on work already done to reduce emissions. It has been informed by what we heard from the community and confirms our pathway to Net Zero. We have suggested actions under three pillars - Communities in action, Empowering communities, Leading by example.

We invite you to visit the project page and provide your feedback on the plan.

We have been preparing the next stage of the Wollongong City Council Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023-30. The plan will map the pathway for how Council and the community can work together toward a net zero Wollongong.

A big focus of the new plan will be on electrification, energy efficiency and renewable energy generation. That means encouraging households and businesses to switch from fossil fuel appliances and vehicles to efficient all-electric alternatives that are cleaner, cheaper to run and better for the planet.

We have set up an Electrify Wollongong hub on the Wollongong City Council website. Head there to learn more about the 'how' and 'why' of electrification and then make a plan to upgrade to electric appliances and vehicles when your current ones are due for replacement.

Stay tuned for updates of the Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023-30. We are currently circulating an internal draft and preparing for public exhibition soon.

Community engagement to inform the development of the Climate Change Mitigation Plan wrapped up earlier this year, after an extensive and successful campaign.

We received around 400 responses to the community survey, over 200 responses from local businesses, and spoke to many community members directly through pop-up stalls, targeted discussions with community groups, and special events.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak with us, attended an event, or completed the survey.

We’ve spent the last few weeks collating all of the feedback data and finding themes and trends in what you told us. This feedback is helping us to determine where best we should focus our energy to help the community reduce emissions.

Key Findings

We've learned a lot from the information shared with us during the engagement, including:

• There is a high level of understanding around the impacts of climate change in the community, however, there is a knowledge gap in terms of practical things the community can do to reduce emissions.
• 96% of survey respondents supported the adoption of a 2030 interim community emissions reduction target to support our net zero by 2050 target.
• The top three emissions reduction themes residents and businesses already contribute to were; waste diversion, energy efficiency, and sustainable transport. However, the areas participants thought we need to focus on most were; community renewable energy solutions, household solar and battery, and electrification.

What's next?

We’ve briefed the Councillors on the outcomes and potential abatement actions for Council’s new Plan and we’re currently busy conducting internal consultation to draft the action plan. Once the new document is finalised, we'll submit a report to Council seeking to exhibit the new Plan for further community feedback. We're aiming for this to happen around July 2023. We'll give you another update around this time and you'll be invited to view the document and tell us your thoughts.

We are also still actively implementing actions from the existing Plan, such as investigating options for community batteries through the Federal Government’s Community batteries program.

Look out for our Electrify Wollongong campaign later this month promoting the cost-saving and emissions-reduction benefits of electrification.

Take our community survey and help shape Wollongong's climate future.

Your input will help us identify the key priorities of Wollongong’s Climate Change Mitigation Plan 2023-2027 so our community can achieve zero emissions by 2050.

If you would like to complete the survey via an alternative method, please phone (02) 4227 7111 and a project team member will assist you.

The community survey is open until 19 December 2022.

Come along to one of the following pop-up events to ask questions about the project, chat to the team and let them know your thoughts and ideas.

Picnic in the Park – Sunday, 6 November 2022, 10.00am – 12.00pm
McCabe Park, Wollongong

Seaside Scavenge (Luv the Lake) - Sunday, 6 November 2022, 10.00am – 12.00pm
Reddall Reserve, Shellharbour Rd and Reddall Parade, Lake Illawarra

North Wollongong Park Run – Saturday, 12 November 2022, 8.00 – 10.00am
Fairy Meadow Beach Reserve, Fairy Meadow

Port Kembla Beach Park – Sunday, 13 November 2022, 9.00 – 11.00am
Cowper Street, Port Kembla

Botanic Gardens Native Plant Sale – Friday, 18 November 2022, 7.30 – 10.00am
Wollongong Botanic Garden Nursery, 65 Northfields Ave, Keiraville

Dapto Ribbonwood Centre Garage Sale Trail – Saturday, 19 November 2022, 9.00am – 11.00pm
93/109 Princes Hwy, Dapto

Crown St. Markets – Friday, 25 November 2022, 9.00am – 12.00pm
Crown Street Mall, Wollongong

Coledale Markets – Sunday, 27 November 2022, 9.00am – 12.00pm
Coledale Public School, 699 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Coledale

Green Fest – Corrimal – Sunday 4 December 2022, 10.00am – 1.00pm
Corrimal High School, 88B Murray Rd, Corrimal

We hope to see you at an event soon!