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Opportunities for local government to accelerate climate action: Perspectives from Aotearoa New Zealand

Local governments around the world are critical to accelerating climate action. Cities account for over 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and 83% of cities already face significant climate hazards (e.g., extreme heat, drought, and heavy rains). But, many local governments struggle to implement their climate plans and remain off-track to deliver on national and international goals. Given this, we’ve been wondering what the greatest pain points are for local governments today and what kinds of support would be most effective in helping them to deliver ambitious climate action.

In partnership with Amy Armstrong of Weaver Collaborations, we decided to dig into this question in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is an interesting and important place to explore this question. In the last five years, Aotearoa New Zealand has implemented key national climate policies, including its first Emissions Reduction Plan and National Adaptation Plan, as well as the creation of a national Climate Change Commission. Its local governance, undertaken by councils at the regional, territorial (city), and unitary levels, is highly centralised. 

To better understand the challenges and opportunities local governments face in delivering on climate action,  we recently spoke with people in and around local councils in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this blog, we share five key challenges that came up in our conversations. If you work in local government, get in touch to explore how we can work together to tackle these challenges in your context, whether in Aotearoa New Zealand or beyond.

What we’ve learned

1. More transparency on climate risks is needed to catalyse action

Kiwis are increasingly aware and concerned about climate issues, and severe weather events – like the devastating flooding in 2023 – are bringing the local impacts of climate change into sharper focus for councils and residents alike. 

Despite polls showing growing recognition, this isn’t always translating to greater political will or action. Many of the people we spoke with suggested that councils simply don’t have the tools to talk about climate or engage the public in productive ways. They noted how more transparent and creative communication around climate risks and possible responses could fill a key gap.

At CPI, we’re exploring social imagination as one approach to engaging community members on climate action. In partnership with the City of Melbourne and Hinterland Lab, we brought together people in Melbourne’s Southbank community to reimagine how we might collectively tackle the climate crisis.

Eden Park was underwater during the 2023 Auckland floods
Eden Park underwater during the floods. Credit: NZ Defence Force [NZDF Photographers Sergeant Vanessa Parker, and Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn]

2. Coordination, coherence, and community engagement are critical in developing future climate adaptation policies

Climate adaptation policies, such as managed retreat, will be a crucial area of focus for local governments in the future. With the increasing frequency and severity of major weather events, it will likely become prohibitively costly and unsafe to maintain settlements and infrastructure in some vulnerable areas (as seen in parts of the U.S. recently devastated by two major hurricanes, where questions around how to adapt are growing). 

Despite a lack of coherence and direction at the national level – a critique we heard from councils – Aotearoa New Zealand could be well positioned to lead on these complicated questions of managed retreat. The experience of “red zoning” and buy-outs of residential property following the major earthquake in Christchurch in 2011, as well as several flood events across the country, shows that local councils are innovating in this space. There are also discussions on how to design “managed retreat” or “community-led relocation” policies in ways that are equitable and respect Māori community and lands. 

Ultimately, for local governments (in concert with iwi and hapū) to step into these new, uncertain policy spaces, they need more clarity on liability and financing, coordination among all levels of government, and engagement with communities to develop just and appropriate approaches.

3. Standardising data processes and localising climate targets could improve efficiency, collaboration, and accuracy in local planning and deliver

Many we spoke with shared how councils would benefit from more standardised, cost-effective, and precise data and modelling on climate mitigation and adaptation actions. Many councils lack the capacity and resources for modelling, and the national government only offers voluntary guidelines for councils to follow. 

As a result, each council takes its own approach, often hiring external consultants to conduct such work (e.g., carbon footprint modelling or integrating climate projections into infrastructure plans). This is costly and inefficient; prevents knowledge-sharing; discourages local capability-building; and leads to inconsistencies across councils. 

Furthermore, councils lack clarity on how they are expected to bear differing responsibilities in delivering national targets (e.g., one would assume that denser areas should have more aggressive targets for reducing transport emissions in order for the country to meet its average national target, but that hasn’t been articulated in guidance). This ambiguity and lack of accountability impede the ability of councils to plan and make decisions accurately.

 

4. Funding remains a key barrier to local climate action

Unsurprisingly, lack of funding came up in our conversations as a challenge. Local councils are eager to explore innovative ways to raise additional, steady funding for climate action. This resonates with our research on closing the urban climate finance gap with the TransCap Initiative and EIT Climate-KIC, from which we’ve developed a systemic and innovative approach to climate finance to pilot with cities. 

We also heard some interesting and innovative examples in this space, such as the Wellington Regional Council generating carbon credits from the restoration of parklands to finance further emissions reduction activities.

 

5. Structural and cultural shifts are needed to enable whole-of-council climate action 

Climate teams within local councils are often small and oversee limited budgets. Their remits can be siloed; they often lack influence over councils’ budgeting and decision-making; and there tend to be few formal structures that hold other departments accountable to climate goals. For example, we spoke to a climate office that had a budget to analyse where solar panel installation on public buildings would produce the most energy savings, but no implementation authority over capital expenditures, so action was never taken. This siloed approach will not deliver the strategic and transformative actions needed to make meaningful progress toward climate targets.

Climate mainstreaming is “the systematic integration of climate considerations throughout a city’s entire strategy and operations. It makes climate mitigation and adaptation considerations routine and integrated into departments’ day-to-day work.” While not a new concept, we heard significant desire and momentum from councils to show how this idea can be implemented now. 

Looking broadly at the national context, many of the known enablers for mainstreaming climate approaches already exist in Aotearoa New Zealand: active professional organisations provide institutional support and connection for local councils; there is substantial knowledge and information to draw from (e.g., a decade-long collaboration as part of the Resilience to Nature’s Challenges); national policy frameworks and bodies like the Climate Change Commission acknowledge the need for mainstreaming; and champions are putting forward enabling organisational processes and regulatory pathways, as reflected in many council policies and planning documents (see, for example, Ōtepoti Dunedin’s Zero Carbon Plan; Northland, which intends to establish a Climate Action Plan as central to the council’s long-term plan).

For climate to be truly embedded, councils must do the hard work of breaking out of siloes, changing organisational cultures, and adapting and integrating new decision-making structures.

It is a picture of pine timber being cut in New Zealand. It has a pile of cut timber at the bottom and an open sky at the top. It signifies deforestation.
Pine timber being exported from Wellington, New Zealand. Credit: James Anderson, World Resources Institute.

What’s next?

CPI’s expertise in partnering with local governments to deliver bold new ways of working is unique and highly relevant to these challenges and opportunities. The context in Aotearoa New Zealand makes it a compelling place to pilot new approaches and show the world what is possible.

We’re looking for partners in Aotearoa New Zealand who are up for tackling these challenges with us. Do you work in a council or philanthropy in Aotearoa New Zealand? Does your organisation want to transform how local governments deliver ambitious climate action?

If so, contact Thea Snow and Amy Armstrong! 

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