City of Newcastle becomes ICLEI Oceania’s first Pioneer City for the Malmö Commitment

As a pioneer city of the Malmö Commitment, the City of Newcastle continues its long-standing dedication to addressing and taking action to confront climate change.

The Malmö Commitment was launched on 12 May 2022 during the high-level dialogue “Putting people at the heart of local sustainable development: The Malmö Commitment” at the ICLEI World Congress “Malmö Summit.” The commitment is designed to empower local and regional governments to prioritize all people and place social equity at the core of local sustainable development.

City of Newcastle’s Lord Mayor, Nuatali Nelmes said, “Helping our community foster a just transition and adapt to a changing climate is essential to City of Newcastle's long-term plan to address the many issues arising from climate change, including reduced water resources, risings sea levels, warmer average temperatures, longer and more extreme periods of high bushfire risks and more frequent and intense extreme weather events including heat waves, storms and flash flooding.”

The City of Newcastle’s impressive leadership has been reinforced recently by the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Newcastle Declaration which was endorsed at the Pathways to Sustainability International Conference in 1997. Over the course of the last decade, the city has made significant and sustained progress in limiting its carbon emissions and working with the community on mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. The city was one of the first local governments in New South Wales to switch to 100 per cent renewable energy with their 5-megawatt solar farm and power purchase agreement with Sapphire Wind Farm, they are a signatory of the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international agreement on climate change, they are a longtime member of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability and they are a signatory of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

Go to Malmö Commitment - ICLEI World Congress to find out more about what the Malmö commitment means and how to get involved.