The Blue Mountains is the third council in NSW to declare a climate emergency, behind Byron Bay and the Upper Hunter.
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At Tuesday night's council meeting the declaration put forward by Greens councillor Brent Hoare was passed, but not without controversy.
Liberals Brendan Christie, Kevin Schreiber and Daniel Myles voted against, with Cr Myles staunch in his opposition.
"As far as empty declarations go, this is not a bad one," he said.
Cr Myles said controlling Australia's ever-expanding population must be addressed, and labelled Australia's housing crisis a "product of immigration."
"The cutting down of trees to accommodate them is something you should be concerned about," he said.
"A lot more hard surface is a terrible thing. Until you can address this you have lost me."
The declaration recognises the planet is in a state of climate emergency that requires urgent action by all levels of government, including local councils.
“Declaring a climate emergency is borne of a recognition that Australia is doing nowhere near enough, fast enough,” Cr Hoare said.
“As the level of government closest to the people we need to show the leadership that has been lacking at the NSW state and federal levels."
He said Australia must act now.
“We will never solve the climate problem by driving down emissions without the support of all levels of government, but there is much that we can do at the local level. Declaring a climate emergency is the strongest statement we can make that climate action being taken at state and federal levels is completely inadequate," Cr Hoare said.
“Ten years ago, Australia’s greenhouse emissions started going down, yet since 2013 they have been steadily rising. We have no time to waste to turn this around."
Mayor Mark Greenhill spoke of the need to put a price on carbon for the sake of their children.
"We have a generation that comes after us that's going to inherit our inaction," he said. "I look at my kids and I feel guilty."
He said the extreme weather associated with climate change was already impacting the Blue Mountains.
"Perched on a long ridge and surrounded by the magnificent forests of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area puts us on the frontline of threats from increasingly frequent and severe bushfires and storms. Climate change is indeed the great moral challenge of our time," Cr Greenhill said.
Labor councillor Don McGregor spoke in support, and urged other councils to get on board.
"We need to address emissions reduction … these challenges are titanic. They're huge. They require a whole of government response … if we want to keep temperatures beyond tipping point."
Greens councillor Kerry Brown said there was a lot council could do to reduce the Blue Mountains' carbon footprint such as getting rid of plastics at festivals, and council committing to becoming a net zero carbon organisation.
