Agenda of Climate Change Working Party - Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Climate Change Working Party

31 August 2022

Climate Change Working Party Agenda

Meeting to be held in the Council Chamber

36 Water Street, Whangārei

on Wednesday 31 August 2022, commencing at 9.30am

Please note: working parties and working groups carry NO formal decision-making delegations from council. The purpose of the working party/group is to carry out preparatory work and discussions prior to taking matters to the full council for formal consideration and decision-making. Working party/group meetings are open to the public to attend (unless there are specific grounds under LGOIMA for the public to be excluded).

MEMBERSHIP OF THE Climate Change Working Party

Chairperson, Councillor Amy Macdonald

Councillor Joce Yeoman	Councillor Jack Craw	Councillor Marty Robinson
Councillor Penny Smart	TTMAC representative Mira Norris	TTMAC representative Rowan Tautari
TTMAC representative Lynette Wharerau	Te Rūnanga o Whāingaroa Rihari Dargaville

KARAKIA

RĪMITI (ITEM) Page

1.0 Ngā Mahi Whakapai/Housekeeping

2.0 Ngā Whakapahā/apologies

3.0 Ngā Whakapuakanga/declarations of conflicts of interest

4.0 Reports

4.1 Record of Actions – 25 May 2022 4

4.2 Receipt of Action Sheet 7

4.3 Climate Change Commisssion Update - Presentation

Matt de Boer - Senior Analyst from the Climate Change Commission | He Pou a Rangi will be presenting an overview of the work the Commission has undertaken and will be undertaking.

4.4 Government Reforms Progress Update 9

4.5 Progress of Ngā Taumata o Te Moana Implementation Plan 12

4.6 Climate Change Governance Review 25

Climate Change Working Party item: 4.4

31 August 2022

TITLE:	Government Reforms Progress Update
From:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience; Tom Fitzgerald, Climate Change Manager and Jan van der Vliet, Natural Hazards Advisor
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience, on 22 August 2022

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

Central government is undertaking large legislative, policy and national plan reforms, reviews and development over the next few years and these changes will have an impact upon our climate change response actions into the future.

This agenda item will provide an update on legislative change progress and impacts for the council climate change work programme.

Staff will give a verbal update on aspects of the reforms.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommended actions

1. Updates will be brought to future Climate Change Working party meetings as reforms progress.

Background/Tuhinga

Central government legislative, policy and national plan reforms, reviews and development are underway concurrently. Attachment 1 outlines the timing and progress of these reforms and updates in comparison to each other while impacting on local government. These include:

o Local Government Statutory Planning and reporting

o Future for LG Review

o Three Waters Reform

o Resource Management Act Amendments and Reform

o Climate Change Reform and ETS updates

o Emergency Management modernisation

o Waste minimisation strategy

o Health and Disability Reforms

Modernising the Emergency Management Framework

The Civil Defence Emergency Management Act (CDEM) 2002 has been in place for the last 20 years. Through learning from several emergency responses in New Zealand over the last five years and recommendations from an independent Technical Advisory Group regarding reforms of the wider emergency management sector, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) are undertaking a review of the CDEM Act 2002, National CDEM Plan and the National Disaster Resilience Strategy under the trifecta programme.

The timing of the trifecta review has been extended beyond the timeframe outlined in Attachment 1 due to feedback from the wider emergency management sector. Additional time to adequately contribute to the consultation is required as workloads are still high under current emergency responses especially the long response to COVID, floods and wildfires. The Minister of Emergency Management has delayed the draft Emergency Management (EM) Bill introduction to the House until late 2022. Key changes indicated are to the participation of Tangata whenua in the EM sector, and clarity of EM roles and responsibilities, managing risk and enabling and empowering and supporting community resilience.

There are implications for critical infrastructure, Māori engagement and hazard reduction programmes from these reforms into the climate change work programmes.

Other legislation and national policy is moving at a fast pace, hence Tom FitzGerald, Manager Climate Change will provide verbal update at the meeting to avoid a written update being inaccurate.

Ngā tapirihanga / Attachments

Attachment 1: Central Government Reforms and Impacting on Local Government ⇩

Climate Change Working Party item: 4.5

31 August 2022

TITLE:	Progress of Ngā Taumata o Te Moana Implementation Plan
From:	Tom FitzGerald, Climate Change Manager
Authorised by Group Manager/s:	Victoria Harwood, Pou Tiaki Hapori - GM Community Resilience, on 22 August 2022

Whakarāpopototanga / Executive summary

With Nga Taumata o Te Moana now over one year old, we have the opportunity to report on progress made against the actions in the Strategy. The Background section provides a snippet of the broader climate change context and identifies some of the achievements over the last year. Much of this is also set out in the Annual Report.

Operationally, Attachment 1 gives current progress updates of actions within the Implementation Plan of Ngā Taumata o Te Moana: our strategy for tackling climate change.

Ngā mahi tūtohutia / Recommended actions

1. Note the progress report.

Background/Tuhinga

The climate crisis is our generation’s biggest challenge, and it’s already an issue in Te Taitokerau. We must respond by transforming how our society and economy operate. 

Northland Regional Council acknowledges the urgent need to respond to the climate change crisis. We are living in te ao hurihuri, the ever-changing world, where the historic and ongoing release of greenhouse gases is already altering the environment that supports us, threatening to cause severe social and environmental disruption. In the interests of unborn generations, our communities and our precious taonga, we must act now.

Northland Regional Councils Ngā Taumata o te Moana

Here at council, we’ve developed Ngā Taumata o te Moana: our strategy for tackling climate change, which was adopted in July 2021 along with the implementation plan for this strategy. Both documents guide councils work in this area and we’ve divided our work programme up into the three pou of the climate change crisis: adaptation, emissions reduction, and carbon removal. During the recent process of developing the Long-Term Plan 2021-2031, while climate change was identified as one of the key issues driving our work programme, we were explicit about the need for community values to drive place-based adaptation actions.

The Te Tai Tokerau Climate Adaptation Strategy

Te Taitokerau councils celebrated a unique milestone in April 2022 after the adoption of New Zealand’s first region-wide climate adaptation strategy, one that is at the heart of our efforts to increase Northland’s resilience and works alongside our own climate change strategy above.   

The Te Tai Tokerau Climate Adaptation Strategy was developed by Climate Adaptation Te Tai Tokerau (CATT), a joint council working group under the governance of the Joint Climate Change Adaptation Committee. The strategy was formally adopted in April 2022 by the Northland Regional Council, Whangarei District Council, Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council, in a move that will allow the alignment of climate adaptation work across Northland. It will also drive the delivery of place-based community adaptation plans.

The strategy is the culmination of four years of collaborative mahi with iwi and hapū representatives, elected members and council staff from across Northland.

Looking ahead

Northland communities are particularly exposed to climate change with many of our settlements, town centres, and roads sitting on coastal floodplains, exposed to sea level rise, and increased flooding. With coastal erosion and inundation becoming more prevalent along our region’s coastline, difficult but important discussions about how to deal with those challenges are needed. Those discussions will need to canvas all options to manage risk, from holding the line through to moving away from hazardous areas.

We are working with communities, whanau and partner organisations to undertake adaptive planning processes that recognise and allow for the uncertainty inherent in our shared climate future.

Councils newly formed Climate Change team has recently begun work on project planning and tracking the progress of Ngā Taumata o te Moana and Te Tai Tokerau Climate Adaptation Strategy and determining exactly how we’re going to achieve what we’ve set out to so that we can start to see our progress, and importantly, report on this.

Over the past year, we’ve also worked on a range of projects including:

· Partnering with Kaipara District Council on the region’s first community adaptation planning project in Raupō and Ruawai, where work has commenced, and the first community events have been undertaken.

· Engaging Toitū to measure and verify our climate impact. This will provide us with a verified emissions baseline and drive emissions reduction action across council and its operations with a focus on priority areas.

· Funding two community housing projects under the Water Resilience Grant Fund Programme. Following on from the 2020 drought, this programme allows vulnerable communities to apply for funding to install new drinking water infrastructure to ensure greater resilience during times of need.

· Completing a climate risk assessment for our lifeline utilities. This work identifies current and future threats to the critical pieces of infrastructure that provide water, power, and transport connectivity. Council have also contributed to a risk assessment and adaptation planning work with the Northland District Health Board.

· Sending submissions on several key policy changes, including proposed changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme, the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity, the Emissions Reduction Plan, and the National Adaptation Plan. Staff also wrote a submission in support of Renewable Energy Zones for Northland.

· Continuing work on the CoastCare programme with our coastal communities to encourage greater coastal resilience.

· Releasing updated coastal and riverine flood hazard maps, which are beginning to be incorporated into district council planning regimes.

· Continuing to invest in low or zero emissions technology to support our operations, including additional solar panels on the Water St office and an increase in the number of electric vehicles for operations.

· Changing our procurement policy, council reports, and business case planning to encourage alignment with climate goals.

· Providing funding to Whangārei, Kaipara, and Far North district councils towards planning for adaptation pilot projects.

Ngā tapirihanga / Attachments

Attachment 1: Climate Change Strategy Implementation - August 2022 ⇩

Climate Change Working Party ITEM: 4.5

31 August 2022Attachment 1

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