At the recent Local Government Professional Awards, southern Tasmanian councils were acknowledged as proac­tively working together on cli­mate change action as part of the Regional Climate Change Initiative (RCCI), through the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority (STCA).

The STCA is a joint authority where councils work together on issues that impact the re­gion to find improved solutions across municipal boundaries.

The Partnership and Collab­oration Award, sponsored by JLT Public sector, celebrated the groups work on climate change initiatives over the past decade – Brighton, Clarence, Central Highlands, Derwent Valley, Glenorchy, Glamorgan Spring Bay, Hobart, Huon Valley, Kingborough, Southern Midlands, Sorell and Tasman councils.

The RCCI works on challenges in the following mitigation and adaptation areas:

• Climate change science – Providing regional and municipal climate profiles informed by the Antarctic Climate Ecosystems Coop­erative Research Centre, available on each council’s website.
• Emission reductions – Providing Regional Com­munity Carbon Emissions profiles to each council to show emissions sources locally, trends in energy use and new technologies such as electric vehicles and rooftop solar take up. In addition, developed Corporate Energy Green­house Gas profiles as a foundation for councils to better manage energy assets, find bill savings and develop a pathway towards zero emissions.
• Responding to the impacts of climate change – devel­oped Southern Regional Climate Change Strategy and council climate action plan templates to incor­porate mitigation and adaptation action progress and developed the Region­al Strategy – Adapting to a Changing Coastline in Tasmania 2022, to guide coordinated and consis­tent coastal adaptation planning through a set of principles across southern Tasmanian councils.
• Previously have organ­ised bulk buys for energy efficiency products and climate change communi­cation material as well as the Home Energy Audit Toolkits, currently avail­able from each council

For further information see the STCA’s website at: www.stca.tas.gov.au/rcci

On the same evening Brighton Council was also honoured to receive the Local Govern­ment Professionals Award for Environmental Leadership and Sustainability (sponsored by Regional Development Austra­lia) for the successful intro­duction of our FOGO (Food Organics, Garden Organics) Service and Waste Wise Edu­cation program.