Partnerships

Cities Race to Zero 

Blue Mountains City Council is partnering with other local government leaders on a number of initiatives to help accelerate emissions reduction. 

Blue Mountains City Council has proudly joined over 1,000 cities and local governments in the Cities Race to Zero initiative, paving the way to a brighter future through ambitious and inclusive climate action.

The UN-backed Cities Race to Zero is a collaboration between C40 Cities, the Global Covenant of Mayors, ICLEI, CDP, WWF, the World Resources Institute and a number of other organisations. It is a global campaign run by the COP26 Presidency to send governments a resounding signal that cities, regions, businesses, and investors are committed to taking action to halve global emissions by 2030 – keeping us below the 1.5 Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement.

Blue Mountains City Council has already made commitments and taken extensive action to reduce carbon emissions from Council operations, which sees us working towards the target of becoming a certified net zero organisation by the end of 2025. Joining the Cities Race to Zero commits to expanding our focus to encompass community emissions reduction. You can read about the Cities Race to Zero pledges here.

http://www.citiesracetozero.org

Cities Power Partnership (CPP)

In 2018 Council joined The Cities Power Partnership, a free, national program created by the Australian Climate Council that brings together towns and cities making the switch to clean energy. 

Blue Mountains City Council was among the first 100 Councils to sign up to what is now Australia’s largest Local Government climate initiative, and was pleased to be involved in the first ever national summit to develop regional climate solutions run by the CPP.

Being a part of this initiative puts Council in a strong position to accelerate emission reduction through its Carbon Abatement Action Plan (CAAP).

As part of the CPP, Blue Mountains City Council has pledged to:

• Install renewable energy (solar PV and battery storage on council buildings);
• Roll out energy efficient lighting across the city;
• Adopt best practice energy efficiency measures across all Council buildings, and support community facilities to adopt these measures;
• Encourage sustainable transport use such as public transport; walking and cycling through Council transport planning and design; and
• Set up meetings and attend events to work with other cities on tackling climate change.

Resilient Sydney

The Blue Mountains is one of 33 councils involved in developing Resilient Sydney – the first resilience strategy for metropolitan Sydney. The strategy was developed in collaboration with 100 Resilient Cities and in consultation with over 1,000 residents and 100 businesses and government organisations. Find out more.
 

The Centre for Planetary Health

Blue Mountains City Council is partnering with Western Sydney University and the Monash Sustainable Development Institute for initiatives relating to Planetary Health. 

Planetary Health is an emerging science which links the things we do, with the health of people and the health of the planet. Its aim is to provide a framework for us to reassess and adapt human practices to better support a healthy planet for current and future generations. It also includes learning from the more sustainable resource management practices that have been used by traditional peoples from around the world for millennia.