Call for “climate trigger” in state planning laws as floods spread to Victoria

The leader of the Greens in Victoria, Samantha Ratnam, has called for a climate trigger to be included in the state’s planning laws, to ensure decisions on major projects assess their climate impact and adaptability.

After two weeks of flooding across Victoria, triggered by what is shaping up to be the state’s wettest October on record, the impacts of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change are front of mind, once again.

Victoria’s Labor government has just ratcheted up the state’s emissions and renewable energy targets, but the Greens say what’s missing is a requirement for planning authorities to consider how climate impacts could be exacerbated by major projects.

Under the Greens’ plan for a climate trigger to be including in planning laws, developers would have to ensure proposed projects do not contribute unnecessarily to climate change through excess pollution, reduction in open space or reduction in green spaces.

The changes to planning laws would also ensure projects are assessed against disaster risk, and will not  exacerbate the impact of events on the area.

“Being prepared for the future means building for what we know is coming, and not making our future problems  worse,” says Ratnam.

“Victorians would probably be horrified to realise there’s no current climate requirements in our planning laws. This is how we end up with a racecourse on a flood plain protected by a flood wall, while the neighbours are rescued from their flooded homes in rubber dinghies.

“A climate trigger in our planning laws would ensure multi-million dollar developers consider the climate consequences of projects,” Ratnam added.

“There is currently no intersection between planning and climate at all in Victoria. There are environmental protections, but no requirement for major road, building or infrastructure projects to consider their impacts or adaptability to climate change events.”