Our Climate Actions

The transformation to a zero-emission light vehicle fleet by 2027 was a key goal of the Council’s  Climate Change Response Plan . Currently, 54 of the City’s 114 light vehicles are hybrids.

As we aim to transition our vehicle fleet to zero emissions vehicles, its important to plan forward for this huge shift. We now have two electric Renault Kangoo zero emission vans, with a range of more than 200 kilometres being used by Council’s amenity cleaners. The vans are recharged in six hours overnight at the Belmont depot, via a newly installed EV charging station.

A further four electric vans, and two electric commercial ride-on mowers are now in use. As most of the world's car manufacturer's committed to the phasing out of the internal combustion engine, we expect prices of electric vehiles and hybrids to fall, providing greater access to more people throughout the community. You can check out how green your vehicle is via the  Green Vehicle Guide .

The City received a $48,000 grant from the Victorian Government to help deliver the charging infrastructure, via the EV Charging for Council Fleets program. Two dual port 22.5kW EV chargers – with the capacity to charge up to four vehicles simultaneously – have been installed at both Belmont and Corio depots.

There are already five dual port charging stations across Belmont, Corio and Drysdale depots, which help run six electric vans. Further, public charging stations have been installed in Leopold Hub, Armstrong Creek East Hub, Cunningham Pier, Leisurelink Aquatic and Recreation Centre, and the North Bellarine Aquatic Centre, allowing residents and visitors to our region to contribute to our approach to a low carbon future.

EV charging sessions have doubled from 2021 to 2022 with investigations into more charging infrastructure across the City being explored.

Did you know the average car trip in Greater Geelong is only 7 kms,  according to Google Data . To ease congestion and improve our physical wellbeing, the City has been invested in developing more bike paths and increasing them by 6 km since 2021, shared paths increased by 12 km and footpaths by 27 km; a total increase of 45 km in our path network.

The City has completed construction works for Stage 1 of the Southern Link from Malop Street to the Barwon River. In addition, Council approved the tender process for Stage 2 in March 2022 with detailed design continuing. Across April and May, the City engaged with more than 260 people on the completed sections and Stage 2.

 The Building Better Bike Connections  project provides routes that are designed to be used by cyclists of a wide range of ages and abilities to safely ride to destinations like shopping areas and key employment precincts. This is critical in enabling residents shift from shorter trips in cars to safer cycling. The City is working hard to deliver the Integrated Transport Policy after extensive community engagement.  More to come... 

In 2021, the City began one of the largest street light upgrade programs in Victoria. The City and Powercor are replacing the first of about 25,000+ residential street lights with LED luminaires  over 3 years . Each and every streetlight!

The huge reduction in energy consumption saves more than 8000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, 50% of Carbon Reduction from the upgrade to LEDs, about the same as taking more than 1,700 cars off the road annually. Redirecting about $2 million annually, from the lower energy and maintenance costs, into other public services and 98% of replaced lights are recycled.

From January 1, 2022, all energy purchased to power all of the City's facilities have switched to the Victorian Energy Collaboration, meaning that all power consumed from these buildings is 100% renewable.

The 9.5 year contract with Red Energy will continue to protect councils from record high wholesale prices in the coming years, and help to increase the stability of the state’s energy system. By joining the collaborative buying group of 51 Councils, Council has reduced its electricity costs by at least 25 per cent in combination with 2MW of rooftop solar on Council owned facilities. This has all but elimininated our electric source emissions.

The City has also conducted an assessment of its existing gas using equipment such as boilers, to convert to electric systems (hot water heat pumps) to take advantage of price stability and lowering the City's overall utility spend to reinvest into other public services.

Did you know that over roughly 27% of rooftops in Greater Geelong are equipped with solar pv? Going all-electric can be a daunting and confusing task as information overload abounds.

That's why the City of Greater Geelong and Geelong Sustainability co-designed and developed the  Electric Homes Program . After huge success in 2023, the Program is back for 2024 bigger and better.

As energy prices and the need for climate action both increase, we all need to move away from gas and toward renewable energy. In 2023, the investment in this program has resulted in $220,000 saved per year by participating households and $5.3 million over the life of the installed products. Not only have we avoided carbon emissions, but we've put money back in the Geelong economy, generating about $2 million of renewable investment. Learn more  here .

Beach-nesting birds are some of the most threatened birds in the world. As a community, we have a responsibility to support the survival of beach-nesting bird species. The hooded plover (Thinornis cucullatus cucullatus), locally know as “Hoodies”, is one such vulnerable species that lives and breeds on the surf beaches within the City of Greater Geelong.

In 2013, the City facilitated the formation of a multi- representative working group, the Hooded Plover Working Group. Representatives from local coastal management agencies who manage hooded plover breeding areas make up the group. Our collective aim is to work towards National Recovery objectives developed by BirdLife Australia and to ensure a strategic approach toward all aspects of hooded plover management.

For more information head to the  Hooded Plover Conservation Action Plan .

In 2019 the Ocean Grove Community Association (OGCA) organised a public forum to discuss future developments between the townships of Point Lonsdale and Ocean Grove.

A Master Plan for the entire Southeast Bellarine region including the natural foreshore from Ocean Grove through to Point Lonsdale Lighthouse Reserve, plus the Lonsdale Lake Wildlife Reserve and adjoining land will be drafted. For more information, head to the  Master Plan , and while you're there click on Southeast Bellarine Coastal Strategy Social Map Tool to learn more of our community's feedback.

The Bellarine Catchment Network comprises representatives from key catchment and coastal organisations (both government and non-government) with an integrated catchment management focus. This includes environment groups, ‘Friends Of’, Landmanagers, Landcare and Coastcare groups.

The purposes of the Association are to work on behalf of its members towards:

1.  Healthy, well-connected and resilient wetlands, waterways and native vegetation ecosystems;
2.  Sustainable agricultural and land management practices;
3.  Healthy marine and coastal environments; and
4.  A community which is engaged in protecting the natural environment and minimising threatening processes.

Head to  BCN  to learn more about their projects and endeavours.

The City launched a $3 million garden organics composting facility in 2018 that is able to recover 35,000 tonnes of green organics per year.

Compost from the Geelong Garden Organics Composting Facility will be used on council land, such as parks and ovals, and local farmers. It will see an abatement of 49,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

With the launch of the new facility, kerbside organics collection services have resulted in an average abatement of 81,621 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

As part of our focus on the long-term sustainability of our beautiful region, the City has set a target of diverting 100 per cent of kerbside household waste away from landfill by 2030.

At the moment, around a third of the waste in our red-lidded landfill bins is food waste. From 2021-2023, about 1500 Lara households participated in a food waste trial to divert food waste from landfill.

The trial collected approximately 3.5 tonnes of food waste every week, material that would have otherwise gone to landfill. Findings from the trial will help inform a combined food and garden waste collection service by 2030, when the City will have more food waste processing capacity in place.

In co-operation with the City, LMS’ Drysdale Renewable Energy Facility converts landfill methane gas to energy and is capable of powering up to 4,000 individual electricity users in the local community per annum.

Since commissioning in December 2018, the facility has generated approximately 5,500 MWh of base-load renewable electricity, and abated approximately 37,000 tonnes (CO2e) of carbon as of November 2019 and an estimated 52,000 tonnes per annum.

The City has saved the equivalent of 3500 kilograms of plastic from landfill through a trial of PlastiPhalt, a new form of durable asphalt made from recycled plastics. The microplastic-free asphalt was used on 1,100 metres of road on Roslyn Road in Highton, Moorabool Street in Geelong and Purnell Road in Corio earlier this year.

8,745 tonnes of recycled asphalt materials to build and renew roads, footpaths and street furniture and recycled nearly 6548 tonnes of concrete. Plastic bags and tyres that were destined for landfill are among the materials that have been recycled to reconstruct a road in Geelong’s south. The City is trialling the use of recycled fine crushed rock (FCR), Polyrock aggregate kerb mix and crumbed rubber asphalt in the rebuild of Maple Place, Waurn Ponds.

The Maple Place project is part of the City’s  clever and creative ‘Recycled Roads’ program , which incorporates a variety of materials collected via kerbside recycling. Recycled rubber has been used for the construction of a roundabout in Geelong, a first for south western Victoria.

The Our Coast project is a partnership with community, all levels of government and coastal  management agencies to successfully respond to the challenges of climate change.

The Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula region is one of four Victorian coastal regions involved in undertaking Local Coastal Hazard Assessments. These assessments expand on previous climate change coastal hazards research the Victorian Government has done, and will assist coastal communities, councils and government to plan and respond together. 

The full report and and a summary version are available on the  Resource  page