City pledges continued action on climate change

City of Newcastle continues to demonstrate its leadership in addressing climate change, with Councillors voting to join the international Cities Race to Zero and Cities Race to Resilience campaigns at Tuesday's Council meeting.

Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said that by taking the Cities Race to Zero and Cities Race to Resilience Pledges, City of Newcastle has reinforced its stance on the urgent need for real action on climate change and a commitment to action in the lead up to the International Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow in 2026.

"City of Newcastle is a leading government authority in Australia with regard to implementing strong and decisive initiatives to address climate change, which is why we have already formally committed to the principles and targets of the Paris Climate Agreement," Cr Nelmes said.

"We're committed to a sustainable future for our city, and to becoming a net zero emissions city by mid-century which is in line with global efforts to limit global warming. City of Newcastle is leading by example and will reach net zero emissions for operations by no later than 2030.

"By taking the Cities Race to Zero Pledge, we join over 750 global cities who are advocating for stronger action on climate change and resilience, and commit to continued climate change action in the lead up to COP26."

The international Cities Race to Zero campaign is an avenue for local government to showcase climate leadership, advocate for and commit to stronger action in support of Race to Zero, a global campaign which rallies leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.

Cities Race to Resilience is a sister campaign to Race to Zero which focuses on building resilience to climate change and provides an opportunity to showcase action within a local context.

City of Newcastle is a member of number of committees and programs formed to prioritise climate change action. Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes Chairs the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, and City of Newcastle is a founding member of ICLEI, a founding member of the Business Renewables Centre, a member of the Cities Power Partnership and recently became a Pioneer City for ICLEI’s CitiesWithNature program.

Cities Race to Zero aligns to Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) commitments and the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) GreenClimateCities program, and allows City of Newcastle to report its climate change action progress through an existing CDP-ICLEI reporting mechanism.

In January 2020, City of Newcastle became the first New South Wales Council to be powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity and the city's Climate Action Plan 2021-2025 was endorsed by Council in July 2020. The Climate Action Plan acts as a roadmap for achieving positive impacts such as increasing clean energy, continuing resource efficiency, reducing emissions in our supply chain, supporting sustainable transport and addressing important issues such as setting targets for net zero emissions and building a vision for a low carbon economy.