Background to Tweed Shire Council's response to climate change

TSC's climate change program and achievements

Tweed Shire Council has an active climate change response program, and has completed a range of important foundational work including:

• Renewable Energy Action Plan: blueprint to reduce Council’s emissions from grid electricity to 50% by 2025
• Climate Emergency Declaration: acknowledges the urgent action needed by all levels of government including by councils
• Climate Change Management Policy: sets an aspirational target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from Council’s operations, and to support the community to do the same
• Interim Climate Change Action Plan: describes 57 emissions reduction and climate adaptation actions in response to the climate emergency
• Analysis of Tweed’s historical climate factors and local implications of future projected climate conditions
• Climate Change Risk Assessment for Council’s assets, operations and programs

Find out more about these and other climate change initiatives at Climate change | Tweed Shire Council and Council's sustainable operations | Tweed Shire Council.

Global Covenant of Mayors

Since 2016, Tweed Shire Council has been a signatory to the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM), an international framework guiding, assessing and reporting on local governments’ response to climate change. The program has over 12,500 local government signatories.

GCoM requires councils to assess, set targets and take action on three pillars related to climate change:

• Climate change mitigation: reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and accelerating decarbonisation
• Climate change adaptation: increasing the resilience and strengthening the capacity to adapt to unavoidable climate change impacts
• Access to energy: allowing citizens to access secure, sustainable and affordable energy.

Council reports annually to the Global Covenant of Mayors to record its progress and be assessed against the program’s standards and be compared to other participants.

In 2023, Tweed Shire Council was awarded an A- score for demonstrated best practice standards across adaptation and mitigation, for ambitious goals and progress towards them.

Climate Ready Tweed

With Federal Government grant funds, Tweed Shire Council contracted Griffith University to identify local climate action strategies and support the Tweed Shire community to reduce their carbon footprint and respond to natural hazards and climate events.

In conjunction with the 2022 Sustainable Living Festival, the Climate Ready Tweed project included over 250 community responses to a comprehensive climate action survey, 29 in-depth interviews and co-design workshops with 50 people.

One of the recommendations from the final project report was to establish a Community Climate Action Reference group to:

• co-design an evidence-based agenda and priorities for climate action in the Tweed
• provide guidance and advice to Council as a key leader in community climate action.

The recommendation included drawing members of the group from the community, experts in climate science, action and engagement, and representatives of key local groups or organisations. The Community Climate Action group is in alignment with this recommendation.

Community Action Network

Tweed Shire Council has facilitated five Community Action Network gatherings to encourage community members to identify and commence community-led climate actions relating to energy, transport, food and sustainable neighbourhoods; these project ideas and the growing network of community champions will provide stimulus for community-led climate action to be delivered by the Community Climate Action group.

TSC's current and future work program

Council has considerable work ongoing, underway or scheduled in the Tweed Community Strategic Plan in response to climate change including:

• Development of a climate change adaptation plan in response to Council’s Climate Change Risk Assessment (underway)
• Development of an emissions reduction strategy for the Tweed local government area (2025)
• Development of an emissions reduction strategy for Tweed Shire Council
• Proposed raising of Clarrie Hall Dam to secure Tweed’s future drinking water supply
• Proposed raising of the Bray Park weir to avoid saltwater intrusion at Tweed’s water treatment plant intake point
• Murwillumbah industrial estate land swap underway to relocate flood-affected businesses
• Updates to the Tweed Valley Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan
• Ongoing biodiversity conservation, pest management, and waterway restoration programs to build resilience to climate change in the Tweed’s internationally-significant natural environment
• Development of an updated Tweed Coast and Estuaries Coastal Management Plan (underway)
• Implementation of the Cool Towns urban forest program to plant more street trees and reduce urban heat
• Implementation of the Tweed Pedestrian and Bike Plan
• Implementation of the Towards Zero Waste strategy including new cloth nappies rebate, and textiles recycling program
• Ongoing engagement and capacity building in the agriculture sector, including the Sustainable Agriculture small grants program
• Ongoing engagement and capacity building with community action/resilience teams and emergency services in the community resilience sector to be better prepared for future climate hazards.