City of Greater Dandenong has taken out a national local-government award for its climate change self-assessment tool.
The council’s first-of-a-kind tool won the Innovation category at the Cities Power Partnership Awards – which recognizes “climate hero” local governments.
The tool is used to address climate change in asset and infrastructure project funding bids.
Greater Dandenong city planning director said the aim was to develop a “robust and straight-forward” tool to assess how well a project responds to climate change.
“(It) provides a holistic assessment against 10 sustainability themes and assesses the contribution of a proposed capital improvement project towards Council’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions across all operations by 2025.”
Cities Power Partnership director Dr Portia Odell said the winning entry was a shining example of innovation in a competitive field of entrants.
“Greater Dandenong’s initiative shows a commitment to embedding emissions reduction across all council processes, and it demonstrates the power of innovative thinking when it comes to reducing council emissions.”
The awards celebrated local governments’ achievements in renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transport, community engagement and individual climate champions.
Dr Ordell said the awarded solutions were “tangible proof that Australian communities are rising up to meet the challenges of climate change”.
“The best part is that when one council finds a solution, many more can follow.
“As we see through innovative renewable energy deals or novel ways to help the community transition to net zero emissions, this sector is leading the way with practical local climate solutions.”
