The Hepburn Shire Council says its Sustainable Hepburn Strategy (2022-2026) is making encouraging progress.

The strategy adopted in 2022, considers matters such as the natural environment and biodiversity, beyond zero emissions, climate resilience and the target of becoming a low waste shire.

At the mid-point of the strategy a high number of the planned actions are either completed or on track for completion, the council says in a prepared media statement.

Mayor, Cr Brian Hood says that in the past year, Hepburn Shire has run a successful sustainability expo with approximately 700 attendees.

“The Shire has moved to 100% renewable electricity; launched the Circular Hepburn – Business Toolkit; offered a weekly food and garden organics kerbside collection service; conducted wildlife corridor mapping to support Township Structure Planning and … endorsed the next annual Solar Savers program,” he said.

The new Sustainable Hepburn Community Advisory Committee has met twice since November last year.   

 A progress report indicates the priorities for the next six months. These include conducting an assessment of the council’s climate emergency readiness across the organisation and reviewing its ecologically sustainable design principles in the Planning Scheme.

The council also plans to continue improving the shire’s transfer stations with several initiatives being investigated to avoid valuable resources going into landfill and strengthening local circular economy aspirations.

Last financial year saw a further 18% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from Hepburn Shire Council operations, and good progress on community-wide emissions, the council has reported in the latest edition of its Sustainable Hepburn newsletter.

The council’s Sustainable Hepburn newsletter, final edition for 2023 reported: “Here in Hepburn Shire, we are continuing to make big strides on reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as a host of interrelated sustainability and circular initiatives through our Sustainable Hepburn and Hepburn Z-NET strategies, and the community-council partnerships that help us drive climate action together across the Shire.”

The newsletter also reported: “The latest global climate summit COP28 saw solid progress on the road to eliminating fossil fuel use globally, giving us a chance of limiting global heating to less than 1.5 degrees celsius. Catch up on all of the details from the COP28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates online.”