Supplementary document: robust and just decision making for local government climate response

Introduction

Local government in Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ) plays a key role in environmental planning and regulation, transport, infrastructure, and responding to natural hazards and extreme weather events. Consequently, regional and district/city councils have an important role in responding to climate change. There is some national guidance, legislation and policy to support councils in undertaking these responsibilities. However, councils are relatively new to climate change response and this – combined with rapid policy shifts, outdated legislation, and increasing extreme weather events – creates uncertainty about their exact roles and responsibilities (Iorns 2022; Lawrence et al. 2022). This document supports councils to take climate response that is informed by robust and just decision making. The document:

• identifies recent climate response by participating councils
• describes associated impacts and benefits of these actions
• provides guidance on aspects for councils to consider when making decisions about climate response.