Our story so far

In December 2016 Darebin City Council made the world's first climate emergency declaration. Since then more than 100 Australian councils have followed Darebin’s lead, representing over 11 million Australians. South Australia and the ACT have also made declarations, as have over 2,300 national, subnational, regional and local government bodies around the world. Local government showed it could lead the way on climate.

Initiated in early 2020 out of a National Climate Emergency Summit, Climate Emergency Australia (CEA) has become a network of councils around the country who have acknowledged and/or are responding to the climate emergency.

We build the capacity of the local government sector to respond to the climate emergency.

• Almost 600 council officers across Australia interact daily on CEA’s online forum.
• We closed out 2024-2025 with 43 member councils, but these represent just a fraction of the councils who engage with our online forum and our  resources and events.
  • In 2024-2025 we held seven webinars, four discussion forums and three climate cafes with approximately 600 live attendees and over 450 views after the fact on YouTube. Including collaborative events we contributed to, we reached over 800 live attendees and nearly that number again on YouTube. You can follow our YouTube channel, check out our past webinars or our upcoming events.
  • So far we have trained 48 senior local government leaders in Governing in the Climate Emergency.
  • In 2024 we co-organised a Climate Emergency Conference - you can access many of the recordings and presentations. 
  • We hold monthly Climate Cafes to support the emotional resilience and wellbeing of local government officers and councillors.
• We provide a voice for councils responding to the climate emergency through our advocacy.

​We invite you to join us! 

• ​Check if your council is a member and if not find out how to become a member.
• All local government officers, regardless of membership, are welcome to join our online forum.