A petition asking for greater leadership within the community to help residents and business owners reduce their carbon emissions will be received by Wagga City Council on Monday night.
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Climate Rescue of Wagga Inc (CROW), Climate Action Wagga (CAW), and Wagga Wagga Fridays for Future aligned to bring forth the petition, stating that since council adopted a target of net zero emissions by 2050, no plan to achieve this has been adopted.
CROW Chairperson William Adlong said the steps council has already taken to address emissions have been welcome, but it is time for them to back up their ambitions.
"The last [community strategic plan] came out in 2016, and since then, the community has become more sensitised to the effects of climate change," he said.
"We've had unprecedented fires, severe drought, severe flooding, and this really highlights the need to move pretty ambitiously."
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The petition, which garnered 319 online and 71 physical signatures, will be submitted to councillors at tonight's ordinary meeting with the recommendation from staff it be received and noted, and that a further report be received in response at the April 11 meeting.
It asks that council develops a plan to reach 50 per cent emissions by 2030 in line with the NSW Government's target and that they actively consult the community on how to economically achieve emission reductions.
According to the report prepared for council, just over one-third of the 390 signatories were from the Wagga local government area.
Last month, deputy mayor and Greens councillor Jenny McKinnon put forward a notice of motion to council, asking for a review and report into community net-zero emissions.
With that motion passed, Cr McKinnon said she is in support of Mr Adlong's petition as it aligns with what she is already working towards.
"The community is not getting enough leadership, and not getting enough information and education about what the targets mean for the community, and how the community can go about achieving those targets," she said.
"I think that's what the group wants to achieve with this, and that's why I agreed to put their petition forward to the council."
Mr Adlong said the passing of Cr McKinnon's motion was a positive sign that Wagga's fresh-faced council is working to look beyond its corporate targets.
"We're actually really quite enthusiastic about this current council," he said.
"Looking at it that way, we're just kind of adding to the direction council's already going in."
While supportive of actionable measures to tackle climate change, new councillor Richard Foley has raised some concerns in regards the state and federal funding.
"Unless we've got across the board assistance - federal and state assistance - how can you achieve it on a shoestring budget?" he said.
He also argued that there has been considerable consultation between council and the community.
It also last year adopted a community target of net zero emissions by 2050, a corporate target of the same by 2040, and renamed the Sustainable Energy Reserve as a New Zero Emissions Reserve to fund future programs for carbon offsets, among other measures.
A draft corporate net zero strategy is scheduled to be tabled to a councillor workshop later this month for strategy and action considerations.
It is expected to result in a final draft for council consideration before being placed on public exhibition.
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