As with many local Councils around Australia, Randwick Council in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs has been developing and delivering comprehensive environmental programs via an innovative environmental levy program for 8 years. Many of these programs involve close collaborations with neighbouring Councils and are targeting community and operational initiatives aimed at responding directly or indirectly to the impacts of human-induced Climate Change.

Over the years these initiatives include: providing financial incentives for energy changes in local homes; the first attempts to establish carbon trading between 12 NSW Councils; installation of 1330kilowatts of renewable energy including small scale wind; recycled and waste water re-use projects saving around 450 million litres of potable water a year; and major programs aimed at achieving measurable behavioural change in community sectors coving households, businesses and schools.

Working on the practical responses that respond to Climate Change issues is not always premised or articulated around Climate Change. The measures underway and their results however are often those identified by researchers and policy-makers as fundamentally important or necessarily creative as a means of responding to changes underway from increased greenhouse gases altering our climate over coming decades.

Peter’s presentation brings forward the practical responses underway and some of the results of projects and measures implemented ‘on-the-ground’ by Randwick City Council, more often than not in the face of uncertainty surrounding Climate Change scenarios, scepticism by decision-makers at different levels, and strong expectations by the community and other tiers of government that the changes that need to be made to adapt and respond to Climate Change will be implemented primarily at the Local Government level around Australia.

Mr Peter Maganov, Manager, Sustainability and Strategic Waste, Randwick City Council, will present at:

Two Conferences! Three Days! One Location!

The Sustainability Conference: “Taking Care of Business: Sustainable Transformation 2” will be held in conjunction with the 6th Making Cities Liveable Conference, in a new era of collaboration, information sharing and professional networking. The conference is being held from the 17th – 19th June 2013 at Novotel Melbourne St Kilda.