Climate adaptation webinar highlights council leadership

More than 200 local government leaders, councillors and staff attended ALGA’s climate adaptation webinar on 30 July to discuss the significant contributions and investment in climate adaptation being made by councils.

ALGA President Mayor Matt Burnett provided the opening welcome. CEO Amy Crawford gave an overview of the important climate adaptation projects councils are delivering and the climate-resilient investments being made to support communities.

Ms Crawford also highlighted the importance of councils managing the impacts of climate change and their financial and organisational sustainability.

Kieran Power, Senior Principal at Nation Partners and lead consultant for the research, presented the findings of ALGA’s ground-breaking Adapting Together report, released at the National General Assembly last month.

Mr Power highlighted the diverse examples of adaptation initiatives from councils across Australia, and recognised the significant national economic, social and environmental contributions by local government.

As part of the second session, Greta Bartels from Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) outlined the free guides, tools, templates and learning and development modules available to councils as part of the Climate Risk and Opportunity Management Program (CROMP).

The Department’s Climate Risk digital tool was also highlighted, showcasing its features and how it can be used to conduct comprehensive climate risk and opportunity assessments.  For more information click here.

There was strong engagement from participants, who asked a range of questions, including:

• How the outcomes or effectiveness of adaptation initiatives can be measured?
• How can councils identify adaptation expenditure when much adaptation occurs within normal budget items?
• Have the impacts of climate change on council financial viability been measured?

Attendees also shared examples of leadership by councils to model the costs and benefits of adapting assets and services to climate impacts.

The webinar underscored the importance of more federal support to enhance these initiatives, paving the way for a more resilient and sustainable future for Australia.

Next steps

Councils can access DCCEEW’s Climate Risk Tools for free. Email climaterisk@dcceew.gov.au to be added to their community of practice.

Read ALGA’s Adapting Together: Local Government Leadership in a Changing Climate report.