Agenda of Sustainability and Emissions Reduction Advisory Committee Meeting

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

What is a “Conflict of Interests” - A conflict of interests can be of two types:

Pecuniary - an interest that a person has in a matter because of a reasonable likelihood or expectation of appreciable financial gain or loss to the person or another person with whom the person is associated.

Non-pecuniary – a private or personal interest that a Council official has that does not amount to a pecuniary interest as defined in the Code of Conduct for Councillors (eg. A friendship, membership of an association, society or trade union or involvement or interest in an activity and may include an interest of a financial nature).

Remoteness – a person does not have a pecuniary interest in a matter if the interest is so remote or insignificant that it could not reasonably be regarded as likely to influence any decision the person might make in relation to a matter or if the interest is of a kind specified in the Code of Conduct for Councillors.

Who has a Pecuniary Interest? - a person has a pecuniary interest in a matter if the pecuniary interest is the interest of the person, or another person with whom the person is associated (see below).

Relatives, Partners - a person is taken to have a pecuniary interest in a matter if:

· The person’s spouse or de facto partner or a relative of the person has a pecuniary interest in the matter, or

· The person, or a nominee, partners or employer of the person, is a member of a company or other body that has a pecuniary interest in the matter.

N.B. “Relative”, in relation to a person means any of the following:

(a) the parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, lineal descends or adopted child of the person or of the person’s spouse;

(b) the spouse or de facto partners of the person or of a person referred to in paragraph (a)

No Interest in the Matter - however, a person is not taken to have a pecuniary interest in a matter:

· If the person is unaware of the relevant pecuniary interest of the spouse, de facto partner, relative or company or other body, or

· Just because the person is a member of, or is employed by, the Council.

· Just because the person is a member of, or a delegate of the Council to, a company or other body that has a pecuniary interest in the matter provided that the person has no beneficial interest in any shares of the company or body.

Disclosure and participation in meetings

· A Councillor or a member of a Council Committee who has a pecuniary interest in any matter with which the Council is concerned and who is present at a meeting of the Council or Committee at which the matter is being considered must disclose the nature of the interest to the meeting as soon as practicable.

· The Councillor or member must not be present at, or in sight of, the meeting of the Council or Committee:

(a) at any time during which the matter is being considered or discussed by the Council or Committee, or

(b) at any time during which the Council or Committee is voting on any question in relation to the matter.

No Knowledge - a person does not breach this Clause if the person did not know and could not reasonably be expected to have known that the matter under consideration at the meeting was a matter in which he or she had a pecuniary interest.

Non-pecuniary Interests - Must be disclosed in meetings.

There are a broad range of options available for managing conflicts & the option chosen will depend on an assessment of the circumstances of the matter, the nature of the interest and the significance of the issue being dealt with. Non-pecuniary conflicts of interests must be dealt with in at least one of the following ways:

· It may be appropriate that no action be taken where the potential for conflict is minimal. However, Councillors should consider providing an explanation of why they consider a conflict does not exist.

· Limit involvement if practical (eg. Participate in discussion but not in decision making or vice-versa). Care needs to be taken when exercising this option.

· Remove the source of the conflict (eg. Relinquishing or divesting the personal interest that creates the conflict)

· Have no involvement by absenting yourself from and not taking part in any debate or voting on the issue as of the provisions in the Code of Conduct (particularly if you have a significant non-pecuniary interest)

RECORDING OF VOTING ON PLANNING MATTERS

Clause 375A of the Local Government Act 1993 – Recording of voting on planning matters

(1) In this section, planning decision means a decision made in the exercise of a function of a council under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979:

(a) including a decision relating to a development application, an environmental planning instrument, a development control plan or a development contribution plan under that Act, but

(b) not including the making of an order under that Act.

(2) The general manager is required to keep a register containing, for each planning decision made at a meeting of the council or a council committee, the names of the councillors who supported the decision and the names of any councillors who opposed (or are taken to have opposed) the decision.

(3) For the purpose of maintaining the register, a division is required to be called whenever a motion for a planning decision is put at a meeting of the council or a council committee.

(4) Each decision recorded in the register is to be described in the register or identified in a manner that enables the description to be obtained from another publicly available document, and is to include the information required by the regulations.

(5) This section extends to a meeting that is closed to the public.

BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Staff Reports - Sustainable Environment and Economy 4.1

Staff Reports - Sustainable Environment and Economy

Report No. 4.1 Sustainability Projects - Updates

Directorate: Sustainable Environment and Economy

Report Author: Julia Curry, Sustainability and Emissions Reduction Officer

File No: I2021/1199

Summary:

This report provides a short update on the key sustainability and emissions reduction projects across Council. Project managers will speak to their items.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Sustainability and Emissions Reduction Advisory Committee notes the report.

Attachments:

1 Report 05/08/2021 Council (Planning) Preparing for Climate Active carbon neutral certification 2025/26 - establishing Council's emissions boundary, I2021/860 , page 4 ⇩

Report

Sustainability Team

Climate Emergency Australia Membership

Council has signed up for a one year trial membership with Climate Emergency Australia (CEA). CEA is a network of local governments working together to have all levels of government acknowledge and respond to the climate emergency. It was formed as a response to the over 90 municipalities across Australia declaring a climate emergency, and represents the collective LGAs in the movement.

It is hosted by the City of Melbourne, and run under contract by the Victorian Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action (Hume City Council) with funding from 13 founding councils. After successfully operating for one year, CEA has now launched a membership program to enable a more sustainable operating model.

As a member, Council is given access to numerous benefits, including:

· Full access to webinars (and recordings) to build capacity to govern in a climate emergency;

· Access to online training for councillors and staff on climate change and the roles and responsibility of local government;

· Participation in specialist topic working groups (e.g. community engagement, adaptation) to improve skills of staff and councillors; and

· Participation in CEA developed projects to improve local government capacity to respond to the climate emergency.

Council Operations Emissions Boundary

Council is in the process of preparing for Climate Active certification in FY 2025/26, in line with resolution 19-634 and our net zero emissions target.

The steps to achieving certification are:

1. Boundary: determine emission sources for Climate Active Inventory (2020/21),

2. Inventory: collation of data and calculation of carbon footprint (2021/22 onwards),

3. Offsets: establish offset policy (2021/22 or 2022/23, depending on resourcing) and facilitate purchase of suitable carbon offsets (2025/26),

4. Trial Year: practice run of calculating emissions in line with Climate Active (2024/25),

5. Finalise: finalise Climate Active deliverables and publish public statement (2025/26).

The Sustainability Team has completed step one. The boundary includes all scope 1 and 2 that we already track and (fugitive emissions from landfill and sewage treatment plants, general and streetlight electricity, fleet and bottled gas) and adds missing scope 1 missions (HVAC refrigerants) and relevant scope 3 emissions.

Scope 3 emission sources were identified using the Climate Active “relevance test”. The process helps us to determine if a source should be included. For more information regarding Council’s emissions boundary see the attached Council Report (Attachment 1).

Climate Clever Partnership

· Council is participating in a one year trial partnership with Climate Clever. All schools and residents in the Byron Shire can access a 50% discount on their subscription for the next year (trial has commenced).

· Staff conducted an Expression of Interest with all schools in the Shire and received three on-time submissions, from Byron Community Primary School, Brunswick Heads Primary School and Mullumbimby High School. (Byron Bay High School submitted a response two weeks after the due date and thus was not counted.)

· Mullumbimby High School was selected as the recipient of the subsidised subscription and has plans to implement the program in Term 3.

· Despite being promoted via radio, social media, e-newsletters and in print, the take up of subscriptions has unfortunately been very low.

ICLEI Membership and other partnerships

Byron Shire Council currently pays an annual fee of approximately $1,100 for membership to ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.

ICLEI were contacted to discuss how this fee could be more appropriately directed toward benefitting Oceania members (reporting process is northern hemisphere focussed, leading to misleading report results for BSC). Response was that ICLEI would provide enhanced support for Oceania Councils during reporting period through webinars and ‘helpdesk’ support. In addition, more strategic support for the Oceania region has been put in place in 2021.

Council’s ICLEI membership will remain in place for now and reviewed at the end of 2021.

Climate Adaptation Plan

Council’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan was adopted by Council in August 2021.It is a five year plan that aims to:

· Reduce the risk of climate impacts through actions within Council’s control, and

· Enhance community resilience and ability to adapt before, during, and after climate events.

The Plan was development in consultation with experiences local climate change experts and community organisations through a peer-review process. To download a copy of the Plan head to this webpage – Climate Change Adaptation Plan - Byron Shire Council (nsw.gov.au).

Council STP Solar Update

In December 2019, Council installed solar PV systems at the Byron, Brunswick Valley and Bangalow Sewage Treatment Plants. The table below summarises the positive savings, emissions reductions and return on investment for each PV system in 2020:

	Byron STP	Brunswick Valley STP	Bangalow STP	Byron STP (Old Roof Mounted System)
Year Installed	2019	2019	2019	2015
System Size (kW)	152	99.3	50.8	51.5
Project Cost ($)	$275,256.92	$136,883.01	$76,030.38	$76,500
2020 Electricity Savings ($)	$25,892.34	$17,543.50	$8,936.67	$7,938
2020 Earnings from Solar Feed-In Tariff ($)	$378.43	$437.96	$336.57	NA
2020 Total ROI ($)	$26,270.77	$17,981.46	$9,273.24	$7,938
Payback based on 2020 ROI (years)	10.5	7.6	8.2	8.3
2020 Electricity Produced (MWh)	208.3	145.8	74.8	44.1
2020 Emissions reduction (tCO₂e-/year)	168.7	118.1	60.6	35.7

Myocum Resource Recovery Centre Methane Gas Flare

Council has been reviewing the operation of the methane gas flare at the Myocum Resource Recovery Centre in light of the net zero emissions target. This is also Action C6 in Council’s Net Zero Emissions Action Plan and was 20/21 OP Activity 3.2.1.4.

The delivery of Stage 1 of the landfill capping plan at the Myocum Resource Recovery Centre is expected to be completed later in 2021. This capping is likely to have an effect on the efficiency of the gas flare and subsequently the implications of selling or surrendering the ACCUs (Australian Carbon Credit Units) created from the project.

The Sustainability Team has been working with the Resource Recovery Team to obtain projections of the capping’s effect on the gas flare, with a view to developing a cost benefit analysis for selling or surrendering the generated ACCUs.

Staff have received a draft of the future projections of the landfill capping’s effect on the gas flare and is in the process of reviewing it. A report will be provided to council later in 2021 on recommended courses of action.

Introduction of Fees for Council’s Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Council has provided free electric vehicle charging stations at the Byron Bay Library and Mullumbimby Council Administration Building since 2017 and 2019, respectively.

From 30 September 2021, Council will now charge a small fee to cover operating costs, maintenance and repair of the charging stations.

o Mullumbimby – 0.20 c/kWh fee will apply.

o Byron Library – 0.40 c/kWh fee will apply.

These have been decided on from thorough research across different NSW and Qld LGAs as well as from recommendations within the electric vehicle industry.

Event Sponsorship Funding

The Sustainability Programs budget was used to support two sustainability-related events in the Byron Shire, through Council’s Community Events and Sponsorship Fund. Both Zero Emissions Byron’s EV Forum and Renewfest received $2,500 each.

Utilities Key Projects Update

Bioenergy Facility

· The Facility’s development application was on public exhibition period 14 July – 24 August 2021. DA Clarifications are now being processed by the project planners.

· Council has completed its application for the Building Better Regions Fund Round 5 grants.

· Council has been successful in proceeding to the more advanced application stages of other Commonwealth grant programs.

Dingo Lane, Myocum Solar Farm Project Update

· The updated business case for the Dingo Lane 5MW solar farm was reported to Council at the 22 April 2021 Ordinary Meeting.

· Council resolved that “Option 3” was the preferred option – this is where Council owns and operates the Solar Farm and retires LGCs (Large Generation Certificates) for its own benefit, and to progress the development application in order to progress the project to shovel ready status.

· Council also requested a further report following the results of the Bioenergy Facility grant applications.

· To find out more please refer to the meeting minutes on page 25 - https://byron.infocouncil.biz/Open/2021/04/OC_22042021_MIN_1266.PDF

Strategic Considerations

Community Strategic Plan and Operational Plan

CSP Objective		L2	CSP Strategy		L3	DP Action			L4	OP Activity
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.1	Implement the Net Zero Emissions Action Plan for Council Operations 2025
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.2	Prepare Annual Emissions Inventory to determine progress towards 2025 Net Zero Emission Target.
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.4	Investigate Council's methane gas flare and Australian carbon credit unit generation in line with net zero emissions target
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.5	Council decision for 'Go/No Go' on construction for Bioenergy Facility, subject to State/Federal authorities
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.6	Monitor Solar Performance at STP and provide annual report
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.7	Finalise and commence implementation of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.8	Report annually on sustainability partnerships, such as Cities Power Partnership.
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.12	Monitor Council's solar assets.
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.1: Work towards Council's zero-emissions target			3.2.1.13	Undertaken an energy usage audit of Council's utilities services
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.2: Support community environmental and sustainability projects			3.2.2.7	Implement Brunswick Valley (Vallances Rd, Mullumbimby) Vision and Roadmap
Community Objective 3: We protect and enhance our natural environment	3.2: Strive to become a sustainable community			3.2.2: Support community environmental and sustainability projects			3.2.2.9	Support community's emissions reduction efforts.

If there are no relevant activities identified in the current Operational Plan it is likely the report will give rise to a new activity which will need to be considered and endorsed by Council. Include details of how the proposed activity links back to the Delivery Program and add any proposed additions to the Operational Plan to the resolution.

Recent Resolutions

· 17-086

· 18-680

· 19-634

Legal/Statutory/Policy Considerations

Byron Shire Council Net Zero Emissions Strategy for Council Operations 2025

Byron Shire Council Net Zero Emissions Action Plan for Council Operations 2025

Note: Reports with legal implications or those which propose that the report is to be dealt with in Confidential Session require approval from Legal Counsel. If so, click ‘Report Data’ on the InfoCouncil Toolbar and add Ralph James as an authoriser before your Director.

Financial Considerations

This is a project update report only. Financial considerations for individual projects have been or will be considered on a case by case basis.

Note: Reports with financial implications require approval from Manager Finance. If so click ‘Report Data’ on the InfoCouncil Toolbar and add James Brickley as an authoriser before your Director.

Consultation and Engagement

Manager Utilities, Infrastructure Services

Senior Project Manager, Infrastructure Services

Environmental Programs Officer, Infrastructure Services

Venue	Conference Room, Station Street, Mullumbimby
Date	Thursday, 30 September 2021
Time	11.30am