HOW WE TACKLED CLIMATE CHANGE
'Our challenge now is to build our understanding of the impacts of climate change.'

We acted to protect our changing environment
We designed our climate change programs to ensure that we are stimulating climate change mitigation action and building resilience into natural and business systems.

What we did
Our role has been as leader in monitoring, measuring and protecting the Victorian environment for almost 40 years. Over that time we have adapted our thinking and our processes to manage ever-evolving challenges.

The environmental implications of climate change are becoming clearer. The research that we have done on river health and air quality and the impact of drought and bushfires on our environment, demonstrate that we need to act now.

This will involve working collaboratively with our community, including our business partners and government, to identify, assess and respond to the risks and opportunities of a changing climate.

EPA is already helping businesses to act now on climate change through a range of voluntary carbon reduction programs. As well as this, EPA helps all Victorians respond to reduced water availability by providing support and guidance on the use of alternative water sources.

A major focus of our work during the year was to research how climate change will affect the way we protect the environment. Our report – Protecting our future environment in a changing climate – outlines our findings.

Our challenge now is to build our understanding of the impacts of climate change on the quality of our environment so that we can contribute to making our environment more resilient in the face of this change.
At the same time, we will continue to have a role in helping business prepare for the changes needed to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate.

Our approach aims to embed climate change as a core business. It also ensures that our climate change strategies, programs and research remain flexible to reflect the dynamic nature of the climate change problem.

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