Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has resolved to join other councils on the CASBE (Council for Alliance of Sustainable Built Environment) project to advance ESD (Environmentally Sustainable Development) planning policy in Victoria, to achieve net zero carbon and climate resilience development.
“This is another major step that supports our Climate Emergency Plan. This plan was adopted in the last council term and supports calls from our community to take action against climate change,” said Mayor Despi O’Connor (pictured).
Zero carbon developments are new buildings that have no net carbon emissions. They are typically designed and built to be highly energy efficient and to not use gas or coal fired electricity through a combination of rooftop solar and buying off-site renewable energy.
This project is supported by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and driven by CASBE, the City of Moreland and City of Yarra. It builds on previous work by CASBE and several councils over the past decade to raise environmental standards in public and private built form.
“The Plan also requires new council builds to be fitted with electrical appliances powered by renewables and looks to transition our community to renewable energy, not buying it or subsidising it for them, but advocating on their behalf. It also supports the facilitation of competitive offers to encourage community uptake of solar panels, and electrical equipment to replace gas appliances, if they choose that path,” Mayor O’Connor said.
“Contrary to some misunderstanding in the community, Tuesday night’s resolution did not see council vote to phase out natural gas from homes but rather to keep pursuing alternatives to finite resources such as gas, to achieve economic and environmental benefits for the community”.
The Climate Emergency Plan is available online at mornpen.vic.gov.au/climateemergency
