Just weeks after Friends of the Earth launched the People's Climate Strategy for Victoria, a project with over a thousand contributors, the Andrews government is calling for community input on the state's first Adaptation Action Plans.

When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, it's obvious that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

The bulk of Friends of the Earth's climate justice campaigning has been, and remains, on securing policies that deliver deep emissions reductions. We're campaigning for offshore wind, improved public transport, and greater protection of native forests.  

Unfortunately, due to the slow pace of action from governments, we must now prepare for climate impacts that are now locked in.

That means we must now have an eye on climate adaptation policies to ensure they help communities and ecosystems cope with intensifying heatwaves, bushfires, extreme weather, and rising sea levels. 

The Victorian government is now preparing the state's first Adaptation Action Plans... Will you make a submission? 

With the process not being highly-publicised, it's crucial for you as community members who contributed to the People's Climate Strategy to add your voices.

Time is running out for Australia to lift its 2030 climate target before the COP26 summit in Glasgow.

With Victoria's climate targets announced and the People's Climate Strategy delivered, Act on Climate are turning our attention to the Morrison government.   

Here’s a quick update on our efforts over the last month and upcoming actions...


POLITICIANS ACROSS VICTORIA RECEIVE PEOPLE’S CLIMATE STRATEGY:

Friday 18 June was our statewide Delivery Day: the day community members met with political representatives from every political party in every region of Victoria to deliver them copies of our People's Climate Strategy. 

Victoria is in lockdown again as the state tackles another COVID-19 cluster. But it hasn't shaken Act on Climate's commitment to climate justice. We're about the take the final steps in our year-long People's Climate Strategy project and pivot to the national arena. 

Here’s a quick update on our efforts over the last month and upcoming actions...


MOMENTUM BUILDING TOWARDS DELIVERY DAY, FRI 18 JUNE:

The community has written the plan for how to tackle the climate crisis and we're on the cusp of delivering it to every state and federal MP in Victoria.

But due to the statewide lockdown, we made the decision to delay the mass delivery by a fortnight. The rescheduled Delivery Day will now occur on Friday 18 June (fingers crossed).

With a bit of extra time on our hands, we may as well use it to our advantage. 

We're a little short of our crowdfunding target of $5,000 to cover printing and organising costs. And we're still looking for community champions to deliver the climate strategy to their local MPs on the big day.  

Watch this video, chip in to the crowdfunder, and sign up for Delivery Day to get involved.  

The School Strike 4 Climate movement has been a global phenomenon. It has intensified pressure on governments to tackle the climate crisis. School students around the country will return to the streets for their first strike action since 2019. Friends of the Earth are proud to share this message from School Strike 4 Climate ahead of their National Day of Action on Friday 21 May: 

I’m Anj, a 17 year old school striker and I’m urging you to join me at your local Climate Strike on our National Day of Action this Friday May 21.

The federal budget came out last week and as expected, our government funnelled a further $51bn of public money into coal, oil and gas projects, and our renewable industry, which we need to be investing in at this time, received no direct funding.

We don’t have time for this. We are in a climate crisis.

After a marathon grassroots campaign of almost four years, the Andrews Labor government has finally announced the state's first Climate Strategy and interim Emissions Reduction Targets. 

Here’s a quick update on our efforts over the last month, our response to the big announcement, and upcoming actions...


VICTORIA'S CLIMATE TARGETS ANNOUNCED: 

The Andrews government has announced Victoria’s climate strategy including Emissions Reduction Targets of 28-33 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 and 45-50 percent by 2030.

Friends of the Earth and allies campaigned to secure science-based climate targets for Victoria since 2017. 

We were pushing for a world-leading cut of 75 percent by 2030—a target that scientists say is necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C—and ended up with a commitment to halve Victoria's emissions over the next decade.

We understand that there are differing views on what level of ambition is acceptable given the dire state of the climate crisis. We will hold an online forum on Thursday 13 May to unpack the announcement. 

Read our initial response and my analysis of why the targets represent a breakthrough for climate policy and politics.

The Andrews government has announced its long-awaited and highly-anticipated interim Emissions Reduction Targets. It committed to reduce emissions by 28-33 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 and 45-50 percent by 2030.
Friends of the Earth and allies campaigned to secure science-based climate targets for Victoria since 2017.

We were pushing for a world-leading cut of 75 percent by 2030—a target that scientists say is necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C—and ended up with a commitment to halve Victoria's emissions over the next decade.

While the 2030 target adopted by the Andrews government was not what we were calling for, it is a significant outcome for national climate policy and politics. Here’s why.

BIG NEWS: The Andrews government has announced that Victoria will reduce its emissions by 45-50 percent by 2030.

Friends of the Earth and allies such as Environment Victoria campaigned to secure science-based climate targets for Victoria since 2017. The decision was delayed multiple times so the campaign ended up being a marathon of almost four years.

Friends of the Earth say that communities are looking to the Victorian government to show greater leadership on climate after Prime Minister Scott Morrison failed to hit the reset button at President Joe Biden's World Leaders Climate Summit.

The high-powered summit—which saw the United States announce an increased target to reduce emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030—was seen as an opportunity for the Morrison government to make a course correction on climate and energy policy. 

"Prime Minister Scott Morrison had a chance to leave behind the Coalition's ideological opposition to tackling the climate crisis, but he failed to show leadership when it mattered," said Leigh Ewbank, Friends of the Earth climate spokesperson. 

"The increased ambition we're seeing from the United States and other counties shows that momentum is building to take the climate crisis seriously."

"While a heavier lift is needed to align current Emissions Reduction Targets with climate science, these announcements are a welcome step forward and give communities hope." 

As you know, Friends of the Earth and the Act on Climate collective have been campaigning for Victoria to set science-based Climate Targets since 2017.

The state government was required to set the targets for 2025 and '30 in March 2020... It's now April 2021 and we're still waiting for an announcement. It's time to raise the heat on the issue to break the stalemate. 

Here’s a quick update on our efforts over the last month and upcoming actions to secure them...


TAKE ACTION: WHERE ARE VICTORIA'S CLIMATE TARGETS?

The United States will announce its 2030 Emissions Reduction Target at President Joe Biden's World Leaders Climate Summit on Thursday 22 April... When will the Andrews Labor government announce Victoria's targets?

We need your help to break the stalemate and secure the announcement. Ambitious targets will continue the rollout of renewable energy, drive greater investment in Public Transport, require greater protection of native forests, and more. 

We've pulled together an online action that allows you to email your local member of Parliament to ask a simple question: Where are Victoria's climate targets? We believe that mass participation in this action will shake things up. 

CLICK HERE to email your local MP today.

Today, EnergyAustralia, the owner of the coal-burning Yallourn power plant in Victoria, announced that the facility will close in mid 2028.

Friends of the Earth say the proposed 2028 closure date for Australia's most polluting power plant is "too little too late" on climate:  

"The best available science tells us that countries such Australia must reach zero emissions as soon as possible," said Leigh Ewbank, Friends of the Earth’s campaigns coordinator.

"In the context of the climate emergency, EnergyAustralia's proposed 2028 closure date is too little too late."