Net Zero, TO BE or NOT TO BE? Do we have a roadmap without a destination, a goalless future
December 2025
Econetwork Executive
At its November 25 meeting, Council put in motion a goalless emissions future for Port Stephens.
Our Council officers recommended that Council
- amend its climate action target from ‘Carbon Neutral by 2025’ to ‘Net Zero by 2050’, with an interim target of 50% emissions reduction by 2030, in alignment with the State and Federal Government targets.
- commits to the continued rollout of Council’s Emissions Reduction Action Plan (ERAP)
- request 6 monthly reporting of ERAP’s progress
This was discussed and supported in the Environment Advisory Group.
SURPRISINGLY, Councillors did not enable that motion to be heard and instead have created a potentially goalless future. While they philosophically supported a whole of government approach to Net Zero 2050, recognising that would assist in obtaining grants, and have committed to ERAP to reduce emissions, they did not commit our Council to Net Zero 2050 or to any specific time-related goal (see 6b below), thereby potentially creating a somewhat VISIONLESS FUTURE.
Here’s the actual resolution and voting
It was resolved that Council:
- Notes that both the Australian Government and the NSW Government have legislated interim emissions reduction targets.
- Australia has committed to reducing emissions by 43 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and by 62 to 70 percent below 2005 levels by 2035.
- NSW has committed to reducing emissions by 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and 70 percent below 2005 levels by 2035.
- Notes that aligning Council’s approach with national and state interim targets supports consistency across levels of government and strengthens Council’s eligibility for future funding opportunities.
- Acknowledges that reducing emissions within Council’s operations is prudent financial management, given that operational efficiencies can reduce long term costs for ratepayers.
- Notes that under Council’s current commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025, carbon offsets would need to be purchased at an estimated cost of about $500,000 per year and that this cost is not funded.
- Notes that Council has already reduced its operational emissions by an impressive 40 percent between 2021-22 and 2022-23 through the actions in the Emissions Reduction Action Plan.
- Agrees to revoke the existing carbon neutrality by 2025 resolution and replace it with:
- An interim operational emissions reduction target of 50 percent by 2030, and
- A target of achieving the balance between the greenhouse gas emissions Council produces and the emissions removed from the atmosphere, with a Council paper in 2030 to consider the year that this target should be achieved by, with consideration of Council’s progress on the 2030 target.
- Commits to the continued implementation of Council’s Emissions Reduction Action Plan.
- Requests that the General Manager provide six monthly reporting on the Emissions Reduction Action Plan, including:
- anticipated and actual costs for each action
- anticipated and actual emissions reductions for each action, and
- Council’s aggregate progress towards the 2030 interim target.
Voting:
Those for the Motion: Mayor Leah Anderson, Rosalyn Armstrong, Giacomo Arnott, Peter Francis and Jason Wells.
Those against the Motion: Crs Chris Doohan, Nathan Errington, Paul Le Mottee, Ben Niland and Mark Watson.
The motion was carried on the casting vote of the Mayor.
While other nearby Councils are getting on with facilitating community actions toward renewables that will reduce their cost of living and reduce emissions, our Council does not seem to be taking action to educate and facilitating the community to reduce emissions. .
How is our Council trending against other NSW Councils?
An AI search reveals our Council seems to be falling well behind the average.
While an exact, real-time count varies as commitments evolve, a significant number of NSW councils, well over half of the state’s 128, have committed to net zero by 2050 (or earlier for operations), with specific figures showing over 30 councils setting these goals by 2022, and many more joining since, including major players like Sydney, Parramatta, and Tweed, with targets often split between council operations and broader community emissions.
Key Figures & Trends
- Growing Momentum: More than 85 additional councils and communities added ambitious goals between 2017 and 2024.
- Specific Examples:
- Tweed Shire Council: Aims for council operations net zero by 2030.
- Campbelltown City Council: Target net zero by 2029.
- Bathurst Regional Council: Net zero by 2050 with interim targets.
- Sydney & Melbourne: Already carbon neutral for operations, with community net zero targets.
- By 2022: 16 Greater Sydney and 18 regional councils had set net zero operational targets, with 8 and 7 respectively targeting community net zero.
- Common Targets: For operational emissions, 2030 and 2050 are the most frequent target years for NSW councils.
Where to Find More Details
- The 100% Renewables website and NSW Net Zero Commission provide detailed lists and updates on these commitments for Australian local governments, including many in NSW.
At this stage, our Council is still working within the framework of its own operational business. Several Councils have already set themselves targets for reducing their community’s emissions or are educating their communities. For instance, Newcastle, Maitland and Lake Macquarie council’s teamed up to help community make the switch to solar and batteries. Our Council has seemingly not made any steps in facilitating community to reduce emissions.
August 2025
EcoNetwork supports Council’s proposal to move to Net Zero by 2050 ~ it’s a Win Win for all
By EcoNetwork Executive
EcoNetwork is outlining our understanding of Council’s intent to reduce its carbon footprint, and what we believe is the best position for the environment and financially for community and Council moving forward.
Since the Port Stephens Council meeting on 8 July 2025 there’s been confusion in the community about Emissions, Carbon Neutrality and Net Zero.
There’s also been confusion around the costing of Carbon Neutrality and Net Zero.
We’ll try to address these.
Climate impacts are disrupting our lifestyle, costing community considerably, and impacting our ecosystems.
NOTE: click on > below if you’d like more information
How climate is impacting us, our environment and our costs
Recent weather events have been overwhelming
Prolonged drought, devastating fires then floods, have been more severe than ever before, wreaking havoc economically and socially on communities, as well as environmentally. These disasters bring massive financial and social burdens on communities.
Hotter and drier: In 2019 conditions were drier and hotter than any other NSW drought in the last 120 years. From January 2017 to December 2019, rainfall was the lowest on record. The 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 calendar years were among the warmest on record.
Prolonged drought: At the end of 2020 we had seen up to four years of drought across large parts of NSW – worse than the 1940s drought or the Millennium drought in many areas.
Black Summer bushfires: Severe and widespread bushfires ravaged Australia during the 2019-2020 summer season, unprecedented in their scale, intensity, and duration
Extreme floods: Floods have been the most damaging disasters in Australia over the last decade. Floods are New South Wales deadliest disaster and cause more injuries than other extreme weather events.
The increasing frequency and severity of extreme events means communities are facing successive disasters with little time in between to recover. For example, the Mid Coast Local Government Area has experienced back-to-back disasters over the last six years, needing support for disaster recovery on 13 occasions,
Port Stephens climate has trended warmer and wetter over just the last 45 years alone:
- Slightly warmer temperatures on the average, with 0.6 degree increase
- More precipitation on the average, about 9.4% increase.
- The linked graphs pictorially exhibit these trend.
ABOVE TEMPERATURE GRAPH: The top graph shows an estimate of the average annual temperature for the larger region of Port Stephens. The dashed blue line is the linear climate change trend. The trend line is going up from left to right showing the temperature trend is positive and it is getting warmer.
In the lower part the graph shows the so called warming stripes. Each coloured stripe represents the average temperature for a year – blue for colder and red for warmer years.
ABOVE PRECIPITATION GRAPH: The top graph shows an estimate of average total precipitation for the larger region of Port Stephens. The dashed blue line is the linear climate change trend. The trend line is going up from left to right, the precipitation trend is positive and it is getting wetter in Port Stephens.
The lower part the graph shows the so called precipitation stripes. Each coloured stripe represents the total precipitation of a year – green for wetter and brown for drier years.
Sea levels are rising and coastal erosion is costing dearly in many ways
According to Adapt NSW, “a sea level rise of 3.7mm/year has already led to increases in inundation of streets in some NSW coastal communities… Sea-level rise by 2100 is projected to be 24–56cm under a low-emissions scenario and 50–91cm under a high-emissions scenario… Communities, infrastructure and natural ecosystems are expected to be increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise in the future.”
Coastal erosion is costing our Council dearly with regular beach nourishment to maintain our coast where it threatens infrastructure such as the Shoal Bay Road and Conway Park amenities. Shoal Bay beach nourishment estimates are at $250,000 annually (Port Stephens Coastal Management Program (CMP) p54.
Port Stephens coastal erosion is rated extremely high in a property evaluation tool
A new tool analyses coastal erosion, flooding, and bushfire data to rank suburbs most at risk, now and in 30 years’ time ~ the list targets homebuyers, and their property lawyers and conveyancers.
Only the top 5 excerpted here, and whether or not the tool has widespread acceptance, coastal erosion data is being used in the property market. This was also reported on NBN News (public facebook link).
Meanwhile our precious coastal trees and vegetation are being eroded and falling, a massive environmental and aesthetic cost to our foreshores. The coastal charm of Port Stephens bay is being constantly degraded.
Coastal erosion is costing us aesthetically, environmentally, and economically, and ultimately will impact our. tourism.
Climate impacts can be detrimental for wildlife and ecosystems
Iconic species like koalas, Tasmanian tigers and platypus are already vulnerable. We all saw the impacts of drought on thirsty koalas in 2019, unable to obtain sufficient water and nutrient from drying eucalypts. Locally our koalas are in decline, we’re seeing far fewer than 10 years ago.
Climate impacts can exacerbate the effects of habitat loss from land clearing,
With habitat loss from land clearing, climate impacts make it harder for species to move between fragmented areas to find more suitable habitat. This also more readily facilitates invasive species. CSIRO discusses species on the move, toward the poles or to higher altitudes ~ though that is only possible if habitat is not fragmented, and favourable corridors link the patches..
As well as the substantial impacts of land clearing on koala populations, climate change also poses significant threats through
- habitat changes, loss and degradation,
- increased frequency of extreme weather events ~ koalas are particularly vulnerable to heat stress and dehydration during droughts and heatwaves
- reduced nutritional quality of their food source, eucalyptus leaves.
- increased susceptibility to diseases like chlamydia, as climate change-related stresses like heat stress and habitat fragmentation can weaken koalas’ immune systems.
“These factors are contributing to declining koala populations and increasing their risk of extinction.” More details DCCEEW
Climate extremes impact the health of wildlife
Climate impacts can worsen the impact of diseases like chytrid fungus which is devastating frog populations.
Wildlife Health Australia fact sheet (pdf) details the impacts of climate change on the health of Australian wildlife.
These impacts all contribute to Australia being responsible for the greatest number of extinctions in the world. A very dubious claim to fame!
Climate not only impacts health of wildlife and ecosystems, but also the health of our community, in particular from heat stress as well as economic costs to us personally and to Council.
Climate disruption is increasing our costs ~ personally, as a community and to Council
Climate change is significantly impacting the cost of living through increased food, energy, and insurance costs, as well as exacerbating existing inequalities, The Australia Institute found.
Already mentioned is the financial cost of coastal erosion in preventing loss of infrastructure and the environmental cost of tree loss impacts our community.
Insurance alone escalates our living costs from climate impacts.
NRMA Insurance tallies more claims in 2025 than all of 2024, with a quarter of Australians affected by extreme weather this year. Cyclones, floods, storms, damaging winds, and a dust storm in South Australia contributed to the spike in claims. AI has brought together on this topic.
Climate impacts are forcing up food costs
The Cost of Climate Change at the Checkout report outlines the impact: floods like those in Queensland, drought in western Victoria, destructive storms, and bushfires during the Black Summer in Gippsland and NSW These events are damaging crops, disrupting supply chains, and leaving supermarket shelves emptier and prices higher. A recent Farmers for Climate Action poll of 1000 Australians found that 65 per cent believe climate change is a major factor driving up food costs
Energy pricing is higher with fossil fuels
“Meanwhile, Australia’s energy sector is using expensive fossil fuels and there is serious underinvestment in renewable energy solutions which provide far cheaper electricity.”
Australia is better off than other advanced economies in having the most abundant and cheap renewable energy. The wholesale prices in the NEM (National Energy Market) are 40% renewable energy and around 60% coal and gas as we transition. The wholesale prices of solar and wind are around ⅓ and ½ of the cost of coal power, respectively. The biggest influence on wholesale prices are fossil fuels. Retail prices are set by our privatised electricity retailers.
There is widespread community support for climate action to reduce our carbon footprint
- More than half of Australians (56%) believe urgent action is needed to combat climate change, or we risk failing future generations, according to Ipsos’ 2025 People & Climate Change study.
- 65% of Australian voters believe climate action will lead to personal health benefits, 2022
- National polling, commissioned by the Climate Council, 2024, showed widespread support for climate action in environmental law:
- More than two thirds of all voters (68%) support including the consideration of climate change and the potential impact of carbon pollution from new projects in a new national environment law.
- 73% of Australians agree that our national environment law should be designed to protect from the impacts of climate change. This surges to 83% amongst Labor voters.
- 73% of voters agree that updating the law to address climate change is something the Federal Government is expected to do. This includes 86% of Labor voters and 63% of Coalition voters.
- 74% of Australians agree that the law should be updated to help get much-needed new clean energy projects up and running.
- 71% of voters agree that assessing the potential impact of carbon pollution from new projects should be a standard part of environmental approval processes.
Council’s intent to reduce its carbon footprint is a responsible action, meeting a legislative mandate.
While there is no legislation requiring an Emissions Reduction Action Plan, under the Local Government Act (Sections 7 & 8), Councils must work within a sustainable framework and protect the environment, with driving principles matching those of Ecological Sustainable Development.
There certainly is a moral requirement as expected by the majority in our community, and for future generations, as well as making sense economically for Council and for us as rate-payers.
We all benefit by reducing our carbon footprint ~ community, Council, our children and their children. We are all in this together. It is the only responsible move in a caring society.
Reducing these impacts and our carbon footprint is critical ~ what’s best?
With the impacts we are experiencing from our changing climate, along with others in society, we must reduce our carbon footprint and do our bit to help relieve the burden. We cannot be selfish and expect others to act, while we delay. However we need to work in a way that is staged and feasible, without imposing significant costs and benefit from the savings.
Essentially there are two broad options to reduce our carbon footprint.
1/ Nuclear ~ which is unacceptable on cost, delivery timing and community acceptability, and is unreliable in hot conditions
EcoNetwork has outlined previously why nuclear is not a feasible option in Australia’s transition away from fossil fuels, if only from a timing and cost perspective.
This was resoundingly rejected in the Federal 2024 election; community do not support this action.
Recent European summers have seen up to half of Europe’s coal and nuclear plants shut for periods due to difficulty cooling steam turbines in the increasing heat. Fortunately, Europe has a significant amount of renewable energy that’s not affected by extreme heat.
2/ Move to either Carbon Neutrality or Net Zero ~ what’s the difference?
What is the difference between the two proposals?
- Carbon Neutrality sounds good, but does not require Council to actually reduce its emission, though Council did choose to do so.
Under Council’s voluntary commitment to Carbon Neutrality, if Council has not met neutrality, it would need to offset its emission liability by paying into the offset scheme ~ potentially this is very costly for Council and us. In 2025 this could amount to nearly $500,000 p.a. for Council, which is not budgeted (As per council’s report 8 July 2025, funding has not been identified for the costs associated with purchasing offsets for Carbon Neutrality (estimated at $500,000 PA).
- Net Zero requires Council to actively reduce its emissions progressively until the target, proposed as 2050. This accords with State and National targets, for which NSW has bipartisan support.
- Although a commitment to Carbon Neutrality or Net Zero is currently optional for Council, it offers alignment with State and Federal Government commitments.
This diagram explains the difference between the Carbon Neutrality and Net Zero
In October 2021, under the previous Mayor and Council, Council had proposed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. Since 2021 to now, Council has been reducing its emissions with considerable financial savings. Financial savings and grants are invested into Council’s Sustainability Reserve and Grants, specifically to provide for further emission reductions.
Here’s some projects funded from Council’s Sustainability Reserve and Grants which reduce costs and emissions.
Solar systems
- Installing a solar photovoltaic system on Council’s Administration Building, reducing our annual energy consumption by 25%.
- Installing solar photovoltaic systems on many of our libraries, community centres and Rural Fire Service buildings.
- Installing solar pool pre-heating at Lakeside Leisure Centre, Tomaree Aquatic Centre and Tilligerry Aquatic Centre.
- Installing solar photovoltaic system and water tank at Salamander Waste Transfer Station.
The return on investment for solar, for example, is higher for businesses, including Council, than home users because they can maximise the solar output during office hours.
Innovative reuse
- In a first for the Hunter region, we used recycled glass ‘greencrete’ in the upgrade of Tanilba Bay roundabout. This is a great example of finding new ways to reuse materials as part of a circular economy..
Systems to reduce energy use
- Installed Building Management System and Programmable Logic Controller at our Administration Building, Lakeside Leisure Centre and many sports and community buildings to deliver energy efficiencies and lower operating costs.
- Installing variable-speed drives (VSD) at Lakeside Leisure Centre plus Kangaroo Street and Stockton Street flood pumps to save energy consumption.
- Installing energy-saving LED field lighting at Ferodale Netball Courts, Tomaree Netball Courts and Tomaree Sports Complex fields 4 and 5.
- Installing energy-saving LED lighting at our Administration Building, Tomaree Library and Community Centre, Council works depots, Birubi Surf Club and a number of community centres and halls.
Water-saving systems
- Installing water-saving irrigation and stormwater harvesting at Medowie Park and Kindlebark Oval.
Additional savings through purchasing renewable energy
Council reduced energy costs through participating in a Power Purchasing Agreement for purchase of renewable electricity, which is at a far lesser cost than purchasing electricity from other means. The comparative costs for various sources of electricity are documented by the National Energy Market.
The savings in operational costs obviously gives Council more money to work with in the medium to long term. Deferring these cost savings will have a negative effect on the council budget in the medium and long term.
Net Zero is preferable to Carbon Neutrality for 2 reasons
1/ Net Zero enables Council to transition gradually and economically through making better choices in its approach to business as usual.
This means an ongoing attrition of old technology with continued updating with new technology and approaches ~ enabling ongoing changes to reduce emissions by the proposed target of 2050.
For example: consider the vehicle fleet. With each Council purchase, Council would consider whether the purchase such as an electric vehicle is efficient and appropriate to achieve the task. A commuter car may be appropriate, a grader may not. Thus Council will reduce emissions as part of its normal business, efficiently transitioning to Net Zero.
2/ Carbon Neutrality allows buying carbon offsets, which is costly, without necessarily reducing emissions
Carbon Neutrality was adopted by PS Council in 2021 with a target of 2025. This was ambitious and at the time without a roadmap, though the sentiment was admirable.
Above we have outlined many projects Council undertook to reduce its emissions, however these alone were insufficient to reach its 2025 target.
The commitment to reach neutrality relied on Council purchasing carbon offsets, which would amount to some $3-500,000/year based on their current emissions. Clearly this is not affordable, likely never the intent, and there was never budget allocated for offsets. More importantly, offsets do not achieve the desired emissions reduction.
The responsible action is to move to Net Zero by 2050 (or desirably by 2040), negating the need for costly carbon offsets, reducing Council’s everyday running costs, and concurrently reducing carbon emissions. This is a WIN WIN for everyone
Everyone needs to play their part in bringing down carbon emissions.
Council’s Emissions Reduction Action Plan (ERAP) is a good road map set to achieve Net Zero by 2050 with a good return on investment,
The measures in ERAP, as well as reducing emissions, have a very good rate of return. While the ERAP document did not fully assess financial savings, Beyond Zero Emissions estimates that savings from these types of projects can range from 16-50% – a far higher rate of return than any other financial investments.
The actions under the ERAP are funded through existing budgets, grant programs and, where possible, Council’s existing Sustainability Reserve. These ERAP actions can help Council work towards either Carbon Neutrality or Net Zero targets, whilst also undertaking smart business decisions. Whilst the ERAP actions are not compulsory for Council to complete, they do provide a guideline to help Council identify and investigate opportunities for sustainable alternatives, and access to cost and energy savings
The State and Commonwealth governments, as well as most neighbouring councils, have similar plans. Newcastle Council has documented the huge savings from their actions.
ERAP has an interim target of 50% emissions reduction by 2030, in alignment with the State and Commonwealth targets.
It is an excellent and comprehensive document, which will reduce emissions and save Council substantial amounts of money in energy costs if carried forward.
A vote for Council’s Emissions Reduction Action Plan is
- a vote to save Council money in the longer term
- a vote to benefit our environment
- a vote for our children, our grandchildren and future generation
- a vote of confidence in Council’s leadership and caring concern for a healthy, lower cost future.