The Premier's Climate Change Council is a South Australian state government body within the

Department for Environment and Water The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) is a department of the Government of South Australia. It is responsible for ensuring that the state of South Australia's natural resources are managed productively and sustainably, while improving ...

. It was established in 2008 and is chaired by Martin Haese. The Council provides independent advice to the Minister responsible for

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

about matters related to the reduction of

greenhouse gas emission Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

s and

climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to the effects of climate change, both current and anticipated.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary[Möller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger ...

History

The Premier's Climate Change Council was established by the Government of South Australia under the ''Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007''. The inaugural council was created in February 2008, under the Rann government. The Council's membership represents the business community, the environment and conservation sector, the scientific community and state and local governments. In 2013,

Michelle Lensink Jacqueline Michelle Ann Lensink (born 20 February 1970) is an Australian politician representing the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the South Australian Legislative Council since 26 June 2003. Lensink served as t ...

MLC questioned the efficacy of the Premier's Climate Change Council, and asked the Minister for the environment, Ian Hunter about the absence of the Council's 2011-12 annual report from the Council's website. In 2013, the Council published "South Australia’s Climate Change Vision: Pathways to 2050" to advise Premier

Jay Weatherill Jay Wilson Weatherill (born 3 April 1964) is an Australian former politician who was the 45th premier of South Australia, serving from 21 October 2011 until 19 March 2018. Weatherill represented the South Australian House of Assembly, House of ...

and his government on future planning and policy directions for the state. In 2018, prominent South Australian businessman Martin Haese was appointed as chair, to begin the role in 2019. In 2019 the Council supported the development of the "Blue Carbon Strategy for South Australia". to help

mitigate climate change Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include energy conservation, conserving energy and Fossil fuel phase-out, repl ...

by protecting the state's

blue carbon Blue carbon is a concept within climate change mitigation that refers to "biologically driven carbon fluxes and storage in marine systems that are amenable to management". Most commonly, it refers to the role that tidal marshes, mangroves and Seag ...

sinks, including

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

saltmarsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It ...

es, and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s. The Council also supported the development of the "South Australian Government Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025", which was released in December 2020.

Role

The role of the council is to "provide independent advice to the Minister about matters associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. The Council also takes a leadership role in consulting with and disseminating information to sectors of the community about issues associated with climate change". The primary role of the Council as stated on the government website is to provide independent advice to the Minister for Environment and Water on reducing

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

and adapting to

Membership

Selection criteria

The Act requires the appointment of seven to ten persons by the Minister from state and local government, the business community, the environment and conservation sector, the scientific community, and from other sectors of the South Australian community. The appointment process must take account of: an individual person’s knowledge of and expertise in the subject matter; consultation with the

Local Government Association of South Australia Local government in the Australian state of South Australia describes the organisations and processes by which towns and districts can manage their own affairs to the extent permitted by section 64A of '' Constitution Act 1934 (SA)''. LGAs sorte ...

and the

Conservation Council of South Australia The Conservation Council of South Australia, also known as Conservation SA and Conservation Council SA, is an environmental organisation serving as a Peak organisation, peak body, representing over 50 member groups, representing over 90,000 indi ...

; and must ensure the minimal representation of both genders. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence.

Membership as of 2022

the membership of the Premier's Climate Change Council comprises: * Martin Haese (Chair) *Daniel Bennett *Daniel Conley *Angela Evans * Susan Jeanes *Penny Schulz * Daniel Spencer *Jodie van Deventer *Craig Wilkins

Former members

Professor Barry Brook * Kathryn Bellette * Professor Don Bursill * Bruce Carter * Rob Chapman * Dianne "Di" Davidson * Ros DeGaris * Michelle Edge * Mayor Ann Ferguson * Brian Foster * Dr Campbell Gemmell * Nicole Halsey * Fred Hansen * Dr Paul Heithersay * Allan Holmes * Tim Kelly * John Kerr * David Klingberg (Chair) * Dr Prue McMichael *

Caroline McMillen Isabella Caroline McMillen (born 23 September 1954) is an Australian medical and health academic and was Chief Scientist of South Australia from October 2018 to August 2023. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science ...

* Suzanne Miller * John O'Brien * Professor Mary O’Kane * Tim O’Loughlin * Professor Jean Palutikof * Jenny Paradiso * Pauline Peel * Julie Pettett * Sandy Pitcher * Don Russell * Verity Sanders * Joseph Scales * Professor Andrew Stock * Vienna Tran * Michelle Tucker * Jim White * Cecilia Woolford

External links

Premier's Climate Change Council

References

{{reflist Climate change policy Environment of South Australia Advisory boards of the Government of South Australia Climate change in Australia