Local councils from around Australia are calling on the federal government to establish a national fund to help foot the bill for the soaring costs of climate adaptation and disaster management – and to finance it through a Climate Pollution Levy on the coal, oil and gas industry.
In a motion that will be put forward by the City of Sydney and backed by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) at a National General Assembly next week, councils will ask for a dedicated funding stream to match the scale of mounting climate costs.
Renew Economy believes ALGA is seeking around $400 million a year in federal funding for local government climate adaptation and $900 million a year for disaster management capacity.
The motion, which will be put to a vote at the meeting in Canberra next week, calls for the creation of a National Climate Compensation Fund with a dedicated funding stream for local governments.
To help finance the fund, the councils want the federal government to identify taxes or levies on the coal, oil and gas industries that align with the damage their products and operations cause.
