Moira Were 
You are probably on Kaurna land as you read this so I’d like to acknowledge that: Marni ngadlu tampinthi ngadlu Kaurna yartangka inparrinthi.
Kaurna have nurtured, protected and cared for Kaurna Yerta and I am very grateful for the lessons and knowledge as we work together to address the climate changes impacting our land, water, sea, nature, people and all the connections between now and in the past that will help us to our shared future.
We’re aware that we all need to do everything we can to reduce emissions, build our resilience and get climate ready. The City of Onkaparinga has declared a climate emergency recognising that urgent action needs to be taken. The Council meeting this decision was disrupted and made the news! Your councillors were determined to keep going and our Climate Change Response Plan 2022-27(PDF, 2MB) (incl additional actions) sets out 99 actions, providing clear evidence-based strategic direction to inform council’s role in helping the city mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.
We’ve set a target to reduce our corporate emissions by 80 per cent by 2030 and aim to be net zero by 2040. Our Towards Zero Corporate Emissions Roadmap and net zero infographic show how we will continue to reduce our operating budget by lowering the ongoing costs of fuel and electricity, while increasing the resilience of the organisation as we transition to a low carbon economy. See Our carbon footprint City of Onkaparinga (onkaparingacity.com) and Climate Change Response Plan | Your Say Onkaparinga
Climate risk is also built into our risk assessment and factored into the work of the Council’s Audit and Risk Committee and we now have people with expertise in insurance on that Committee.
Climate doesn’t pay attention to council boundaries and so it is wonderful to work with our friends and neighbours in the Cities of Holdfast Bay, Mitcham and Marion as part of joined up responses in a Resilient South Regional Climate Action Plan. This plan has been in place since 2011 and has just been refreshed. Our shred vision is for a southern Adelaide region that is climate resilient, with healthy and diverse natural environments, low emissions and connected communities. Together our 4 councils make up 21% of South Australia’s population. One in ten South Australians live in City of Onkaparinga, so we can make a real difference by working together.
We are already experiencing warmer temperatures, and more frequent and intense heat waves, more days of extreme fire danger, increased rainfall intensity, but less rainfall overall and sea level rises, with more coastal erosion and more frequents and higher storm surges.
There are four priorities in this plan:
- Grow cooler, greener, biodiverse environments
- Create climate resilient neighbourhoods
- Transition towards a low carbon region
- Reduce climate risk
In the City of Onkaparinga we are setting about on actions that we can do as a member of Resilient South to strengthen and increase our impact. Here are just a few things we are working on in relation to low emissions development:
- Advocating for changes to State Planning policy including the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan, Planning and Design Code and the National Construction Code. We want to see more promotion and action around higher performing low emissions, climate resilient, nature positive and community focussed development
- Education our staff, developers, builders, contractors housing providers and community members ad groups to encourage high performing climate resilient development that exceeds the minimum standards and can showcase demonstration projects and approaches.
- Making our voices heard and our residents experiences visible to state and Federal governments so we can advocate to retrofit existing homes and businesses to increase energy efficiency.
To find out more and all the list of actions, how we will measure our success and how you can contribute see Resilient South
Moira Were AM
Mayor
www.onkaparingacity.com
Main picture: L-R: The Hon Dr Susan Close MP – Deputy Premier, Mayor Moira Were AM – City of Onkaparinga, Mayor Amanda Wilson – City of Holdfast Bay, Mayor Kris Hanna – City of Marion, Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross – City of Mitcham
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