Curtin’s Pathway to Net Zero - Feb/Mar 2024

Last week, we launched our community driven report, Curtin’s Pathway to Net Zero report. 

Most of us understand that we need to do more to address climate change, but now we know what this actually means for our community living here in Curtin. 

The report provides a snapshot of Curtin’s current emissions, what we are doing now and what needs to happen to decarbonise, with specific asks for all levels of government and individual actions. 

In Curtin, half of our emissions come from electricity, a third from transport and the rest from waste, gas and industrial processes. 

There are five themes to the decarbonisation actions we need to take: electricity, building, transport, urban greening and waste. 

The fully-referenced 70 page report is practical, easy to read and optimistic.  

There are a lot of reasons to be excited about a decarbonised Curtin – reduced cost of living, more affordable housing, improved physical and mental health, and restored biodiversity. 

It also contains simple changes you can make today to play your part in  decarbonisation. 

This is an example of community-driven politics at its best.  A group of more than 50 Curtin residents volunteered their time and expertise over the last year to put together this report – engineers, policy-makers, architects, lawyers, transport planners, ecologists and academics.   

It shows what communities can do when people feel they have a say and can contribute to something positive together.  Because the Net Zero Pathway was developed by a multi-disciplinary community team, it is not driven by vested interests or political legacies.  The five working groups had robust discussions about priorities, based on the current evidence and technology. 

I will use the report to guide my climate priorities in Canberra this year, and if climate change is important to you, you can use the report to advocate to your representatives at the state and local level too. 

I want to send a huge thank you to Claire Gardner from my team who coordinated the report, and the Curtin residents who contributed their time to this exciting piece of work. 

If you would like to volunteer with Curtin’s Pathway to Net Zero this year, or if you would like a free hard or soft copy of the report, please go here.