What Is Climate Change?
Climate Change describes a change in the average conditions, such as temperature and rainfall in a region over a long period of time. Global climate change refers to the average long-term changes over the entire planet.
These include warming temperatures and changes in rainfall, as well as the effects of warming such as rising sea levels, shrinking mountain glaciers, ice melting at a faster rate than usual in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic, and changes in plant and flower blooming times.
Earth’s climate has constantly been changing - even long before humans came into the picture. However, multiple scientific studies have observed unusual changes recently. For example, Earth’s average temperature has been increasing much more quickly than they would expect over the past 150 years.
Global air temperatures at the Earth’s surface has warmed by over 1 °C since reliable records began in 1850. The past five years have been the warmest five years in centuries.
How will Climate Change affect the Latrobe Valley?
According to the ‘CSIRO and State of Victoria’s Gippsland Climate Change Projections 2019’,
- Maximum and minimum daily temperatures will continue to increase over this century (very high confidence).
- By the 2030’s. increases in daily maximum temperature of 0.9 to 1.8°C since the 1990’s are expected.
- Rainfall will continue to be very variable over time, but over the long term it is expected to continue to decline in winter and spring (medium to high confidence) and autumn (low to medium confidence), but with some chance of little change.
- Extreme rainfall events are expected to become more intense on average through the century (high confidence) but remain very variable in space and time.
- By the 2050’s, the climate of Traralgon could be more like the current climate of Bairnsdale, and Bairnsdale more like Cowra in NSW.
Council’s position on Climate Change
Council acknowledges that climate change is real and impacts our community. We also recognize the international scientific consensus that climate change is a result of increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, influenced principally by human activities.
The Latrobe City Council Position on Climate Change and its Impacts is available for you to download and share. At the Latrobe City Council, Ordinary Council Meeting on 2 March 2020, Councillors passed a motion to review the adopted position on climate change that was established in 2010. This review will inform a discussion paper which will be presented at a council briefing session, ahead of the presentation of a report to a future Council Meeting.
As the home of 90% of Victoria's power generation, we understand the significant challenges that our community and Victoria faces into the future. Positioning Latrobe City for a Low Carbon Emissions Future(PDF, 360KB) is one way that Council is working to maintain the economic sustainability of our region.
At the Latrobe City Council, Ordinary Council Meeting on 2 March 2020, Councillors passed a motion to review the adopted position on climate change that was established in 2010. This review will inform a discussion paper which will be presented at a council briefing session, ahead of the presentation of a report to a future Council Meeting.
Council actions
We are decreasing our greenhouse gas emissions by changing our habits, retrofitting existing facilities to be more sustainable, and switching to more efficient equipment and vehicles.
We are building our new facilities with higher environmental standards, and purchasing products that are more environmentally sustainable. Each year on National Tree Day, we plant native vegetation to offset the emissions produced from our vehicle fleet, and we are a member of the Gippsland Climate Change Network.