Webinars

Climate Emergency Australia runs regular webinars to help councils learn from one another and build their capacity to respond to the climate emergency.

If you want to be on the webinar alert mailing list, please contact us. You can also check out our upcoming webinars.

You can watch previous webinars below:

Innovative funding models for council climate action
In this webinar we highlight two innovative ways that councils are finding alternative funding for their climate action. The Greater Bendigo Climate Collaboration is a community partnership funding local climate action in Bendigo. Ian McBurney shares the journey Bendigo has been on with this very local, forward-looking and place-based funding model. Auckland's Green Bonds and Sustainability-Linked Bonds by contrast have been able to bring investment from much further afield into Auckland and have helped the council fund large projects, enabling strong accountability both to investors, and tangible benefits to the community. Sophie Bailey tells us how it works! You can watch the recording and view the presentations.

Spotlight on Noosa's Climate Emergency Response
Innovative partnerships are the backbone of Noosa Shire Council's success in a range of areas, from biolinks, to regional resilience, to sustainable tourism. We heard from Shayan Barmand and Sion Zivetz about this council’s journey in responding to climate change in the most disaster-prone state in Australia.

Noosa Council was the first Council in Queensland to declare a climate emergency in 2019, and their Different by Nature ethos has led developing key strategic partnerships that have been instrumental in achieving big goals including in the South-East Queensland Climate Resilience Alliance (SEQCRA). In 2024 Noosa Shire Council also signed the Kabi Kabi commitment, an historic commitment to sustainable custodianship of the lands and waters of Noosa, as part of their longstanding partnership with Kabi Kabi People's Aboriginal Corporation. It invites all residents and visitors in Noosa to care for Country.

Community outreach: two very different methods
Sarah Hussein, Community Outreach Officer, Sustainable Communities from from Merri-bek City Council shared about a hyper-local, place-based community outreach pilot project with Merri-bek’s multicultural communities in Fawkner. Lily Dempster, CEO, founder and creator of One Small Step, showed us how councils can use the power of apps to engage their communities in sustainable behaviours and measurable climate action. Two completely contrasting approaches, each with some really great outcomes. With an extended Q&A!

A Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty could move us beyond local battles against fossil fuel expansion, and protect people from the threat fossil fuels pose to our climate, our health and our future. Led by Pacific nations, a growing number of countries and subnational governments are saying it's time for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. A treaty could provide a global roadmap to halt the expansion of fossil fuel; phase out coal, oil and gas; and lay the foundations for an equitable and just energy transition in which no worker, community or country is left behind.

You can now catch up on the recording of this recent webinar and access the presentations shared by Dr Kumi Naidoo, President of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative and Rob Law of WWF Australia, along with resources for councils who want to support the Treaty initiative.

Climate Emergency UK Scorecards: the key to implementing climate emergency action?
Isaac Bevor from Climate Emergency UK talked to us about CEUK's ongoing research into how councils in the UK are delivering on their climate emergency plans and what success factors they have observed across several years of surveys. You can read their previous scorecard reports and see where they are up to with their current research.

Isaac also shared some great case studies from Bristol and Abundance Investment highlighting community municipal investment (CMI) projects, also known as climate bonds or green bonds.

Debriefing Summer 2024-2025
Kimberley Kueh at Campbelltown City Council (SA) updated us on how their Cool Places project progressed over the summer of 2024-2025. We also heard from Natalie Jamieson from Darebin City Council (VIC) about a project rolled out recently to provide direct, in-home interventions for people living in public housing and struggling with hot homes. Sally Bamber from Newcastle highlighted the Beresfield Placemaking and Climate Resilience project, how Newcastle has been using FLIR cameras, and their recent Cool Homes event.

Multicultural Perspectives on Climate Change
Wesa Chau and Manjot Kaur from the Multicultural Leadership Initiative present the findings of MLI's groundbreaking research into perspectives on climate change within multicultural communities. This research included the largest national survey ever conducted on this subject, interviews with experts and consultations with communities. The findings dispel a number of myths around multicultural communities' interests in climate solutions. Multicultural Australia cares deeply about climate, but in different ways than conventional climate groups do.

Building Community Resilience in Disasters: Toolkit and training for your community
Dr Lai Heng Foong from Bankstown Hospital describes her approach to disaster preparedness and why community resilience is so important. She gives us an overview of her toolkit and training for Building community resilience in disaster preparedness, which takes an ‘all hazards’ approach. Melinda Stephen from Campbelltown City Council (NSW) presents on the Resilient Campbelltown Project. Campbelltown City Council has been partnering and collaborating with local Pacific community leaders as well as Dr Foong, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW SES, and Australian Red Cross to help communities build their disaster preparedness in the most culturally appropriate ways.

Climate, health and community resilience
The closing plenary of Day 2 of the Climate Emergency Conference explored recent research about communities dealing with climate impacts, and approaches to building preparedness and resilience in communities experiencing these impacts.

Dr Tafadzwa Nyanhanda, Victoria University - CALD communities’ perceptions of extreme heat (see link to pre-recorded presentation in video description or view now)
Blanche Evans, Resilience and Recovery officer, East Gippsland Shire Council - Supporting a community hit by multiple climate disasters
Dr Lai Heng Foong, Bankstown Hospital Building community resilience to disasters (see link to pre-recorded presentation in video description or download directly)
Candace Jordan, City of Melbourne Heat Lab: heat safety and neighbourhood resilience

Adaptation in Action: Council projects and collaboration across Australia
Co-hosted by Climate Emergency Australia and Victorian Climate Resilient Councils, this online forum featured a collection of council case studies highlighting innovative and collaborative adaptation initiatives including:

Merri-bek’s Climate Risk Strategy and case study of the Brunswick Early Years Hub climate risk assessment
Campbelltown’s Cool Spaces for Summer Trial
Greening Darwin Research collaboration

Preparing for an El Niño summer

Dr Masoud Edraki, Technical Lead Extended Prediction, Bureau of Metereology: What can Australia expect this summer?
Emma Bacon, Sweltering Cities: Why our communities need cool, safe spaces
Manveer Nijjar, Sustainability and Climate Resilience Officer, Blacktown City Council: Creating cool centres in Western Sydney
Major-General (Ret) Peter Dunn, Emergency Leaders for Climate Action: how can communities prepare for bushfires and other disasters?