Yarra Climate Action Now - YCAN

08/10/2026

Port Phillip Council has officially backed the call for a Climate Compensation Fund 🎉 👏🏻

Last night, Councillor Justin Halliday moved - and Mayor Alex Makin seconded - a motion calling on the Federal Government to set up a dedicated fund to help councils and communities cope with the rising costs of flooding, storm surges and sea level rise.

And the vote was unanimous!

The numbers tell the story: climate disaster costs are now 12× higher than they were 20 years ago. Local government revenue? Only 3×. The cost is being borne by communities - not by the coal, oil and gas corporations driving three-quarters of Australia's climate pollution.

A quarter of our council area - St Kilda, Elwood, Albert Park, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne - is at high risk of flooding as sea levels rise. Residents like Louise Kyle, who waded through waist-deep floodwater in Elwood in 2011, know this isn't theoretical.

As Mayor Alex Makin said: "This isn't Port Phillip going it alone. Councils right across the country are sending the same message to Canberra."

Port Phillip is now the 14th council to back the CommunitiesForClimateCompensation campaign, joining City of Sydney, Darebin, Bass Coast and others.

30/09/2026

Subscribe to Yarra Environment News -latest edition here.

30/09/2026

For our growing numbers of apartment residents.

What's your building's biggest headache? 🤔

Maybe it's rising energy bills, or residents asking about EV charging. Maybe your committee can't agree on solar, or the hot water system is on its last legs and you're not sure what to replace it with.

Tell us in the comments 👇

On Saturday we'll have experts, suppliers and fellow apartment residents in one room at the High Life Expo, ready to help you work through it.

📅 Saturday 3 October
📍 Melbourne Town Hall
🎟️ Free, but you need to book: link in the comments :)

27/09/2026

On now!

Riverfest returns in 2026 with 70+ events from the source to the sea and it’s tributaries.

From walks, talks and paddles to art, music, storytelling, wildlife spotting and tree planting — there's something for everyone! https://www.riverfest.org.au/ or link in bio.

Birrarung Riverfest is presented by the Yarra Riverkeeper Association with support from Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo collaboration and Water4Good.

26/09/2026

The Up Community have a great monthly routine for collection. Look out for these items and drop them in on October 1st at Span Community House.

10/08/2026

We hope that Yarra Council will join this nationwide campaign to tax oil and gas companies for a climate compensation fund to cover the growing costs of climate disasters.
We returned to Gleadell St on Saturday to spread the word. Thanks to all who signed the campaign petition and stopped to chat. The YCAN team will be at the Yarra Council meeting on Tuesday to make a submission on the issue.

Here's a link to the petition. Please sign and share.
https://www.act.tippingpoint.org.au/.../make-big... See less

18/07/2026

Rally early Tuesday morning outside the Federal Court to support ACF's court challenge on the Woodside NorthWest shelf gas project.

Labor approved a climate monster when it greenlit the extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf project late last year. So, we’re taking them to court.

16/07/2026

Please support this campaign to stop the Browse Gas project

Got 30 seconds? Help us stop one of Australia's biggest fossil fuel projects. In less than a week almost 5,000 people have taken action, and you can join us too by following the link in bio.

Need a bit more context? Woodside's Browse project is a massive offshore gas plant that would produce around 1.6 billion tonnes of climate pollution over its lifetime.

It's hard to fathom just how much that is - but it's a hell of a lot of pollution which will make the climate crisis worse.

This is the first time in 8 years the government has allowed people to have their say - so what are you waiting for?

https://www.acf.org.au/our-work/climate/speak-up-to-save-our-reefs?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=nature&utm_content=browse-submission

02/07/2026

Here's a local initiative which will make good use of your unused stationery.

10/06/2026

Plastic is a blight on our planet . Come along to this event and find out more

One of the groups that formed from our Climate Voices program is hosting a movie screening and event this Sunday at CNLC. See details below.

Hi all, the Plasticless People campaign are hosting a film screening THIS SUNDAY 11am-1pm at the CNLC.

We got a grant at the start of the year to run some community awareness raising events and this is our first event to kick off our campaign! Very exciting and thankful for Tony’s and Yarra City Council’s support.

We’d love for you to all come along and support our campaign and help raise community awareness of this important issue. There will be a short discussion after the film and free food!

Annie

https://events.humanitix.com/community-film-screening-the-plastic-detox