Community transition to zero-net emissions – the MAS Z-NET program
As you all know, MASG has held a long term ambition to develop a master plan for community-wide zero-net emissions.
We are very excited to say that this project has now launched and we will be working on the initial stages of assessment and data collection over the next year with a master plan ready to release in 2021. The master plan will be developed in full consultation with the community and will provide a framework for how to proceed over the coming years so that we can reach our target of zero net emissions as quickly as possible.
Partial funding for this program has been secured from Sustainability Victoria under the Zero Carbon Community Transition Program and Mount Alexander Shire Council. The program is being led by Renew in collaboration with the community and Council. Renew led the Hepburn Z-NET program which was developed as an open-source model and all of the developed resources are being shared for the Mount Alexander Shire program. A community steering group has been established to guide the program in this first phase.
We need your help!
Whilst it is challenging to start such a program during the COVID-19 restrictions, there are ways that the project can start collating important information online so please assist us, in particular, to get the household survey out to as many homes in the shire as possible.
Click here to fill in the household survey
The survey will help us understand how you as the community of Mount Alexander Shire currently use energy in your homes, how you travel and use water and waste. By completing this survey you will be providing very valuable bottom-up and localised data into the Z-NET project and helping guide the Mount Alexander Shire’s transition. Please answer the questions in accordance with your ‘typical’ behaviour, rather than your behaviour during COVID-19 restrictions and only one respondee per household.
Please share the survey link with everyone you know in the shire and to all of your local groups. We are hoping to attract over 700 responses from across the shire to get data that is as accurate as possible about our current energy usage and emissions. All data collected is confidential and will be used only for the purposes of this project.
Other ways you can get involved
We want to hear your ideas about how we can transition into a zero net emissions shire.
A collaborative platform called OurSay is being set up in order to harvest community climate action ideas and projects. This platform will include existing projects, the ideas submitted to the Council’s Climate Change Forum late last year, and will also be open for all community members to add new ideas and vote on their priorities. We will let you know about it as soon as it is ready to go.
Hear more about it
Taryn Lane (Hepburn Znet) and Terry White (MASG) discuss the project in more detail in the latest episode of Saltgrass the podcast. Have a listen as they discuss what zero net emissions really means and how a shire like ours can get there.
