Youth advise council to act

Members of Albany’s Youth Advisory Council lead the way on climate action.

City of Albany, Western Australia, continues to be a clean, green and sustainable city with Council endorsing the City of Albany Climate Change Declaration early last month. 

The City has been a leader in sustainable climate conscious initiatives since 2014 when its Carbon Footprint Reduction Strategy was adopted to mitigate potential climate change impacts.

More recently, in 2017 the City developed and implemented an Environmental Policy committing to acting on climate change and recognising the evidence of existing climate science.

Albany Youth Advisory Council (YAC) has driven the Climate Change Declaration presenting a petition to Council with one-thousand signatures advocating for the declaration to be created and adopted. 

Through a number of workshops with both Albany Youth Advisory Council and the City the declaration was developed to acknowledge the existence of climate change and that it required immediate action. 

Council committed to seven actions in the declaration including developing emission reduction targets, developing a climate change communications strategy and continued engagement with YAC.

Mayor, Dennis Wellington said the declaration would play an important role in Council’s response to the threat of climate change. 

“The collaboration with the Albany Youth Advisory Council in the development of this Climate Change Action Declaration has been a rewarding and insightful process with the members of YAC displaying incredible passion and knowledge when it comes to the future of our natural environment.

“The Youth Advisory Council are our next generation of leaders in the Albany community, so listening to their genuine concerns, ideas and vison for our City’s future is crucial in ensuring they have a future to look forward to”.