I would like to see Port Macquarie – Hastings Council become carbon neutral.

My recent campaigning led to Council reducing carbon emissions from electricity by 79% through purchasing renewable energy.

Council has made significant progress and shown considerable leadership in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Having achieved most and exceeded some of the goals in the old Greenhouse Abatement Strategy, it is time to consider moving to the next level.

I will be launching the vision for a Carbon Neutral Council at the Climate Change Australia Hastings Branch AGM at Sea Acres in Port Macquarie on Saturday 25 August from 2 pm.

Council can further reduce greenhouse pollutants by transitioning the fleet to hybrid electric cars and using bio-diesel in heavy vehicles.

We can capture carbon from the atmosphere by revegetating cleared areas, such as the banks of all waterways in the Hastings, also improving water quality.

Increasing the capacity of the Cairncross Waste Treatment Facility to compost food scraps and garden waste will reduce the green waste that rots in the landfill turning into methane, which is a greenhouse gas many times worse than carbon.

Being carbon neutral means that Council diverts at least as much carbon from the atmosphere as it releases through the use of fossil fuels.

At the next Council meeting I will be calling for a report on the feasibility and mechanisms for Council becoming carbon neutral.

My aspiration is that Council become carbon neutral by 2010.