Monitoring progress on adaptation

Planning for adaptation now will help us respond to the impacts of climate change, He Pou a Rangi Chair Dr Rod Carr says.

The Government has released its first draft National Adaptation Plan for consultation. The plan is required to set out the direction for how Aotearoa New Zealand will adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. It outlines strategies, policies, and proposals to adapt to risks from climate change over the next six years.

Our monitoring role

He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission is responsible for independently monitoring how the plan is implemented and its effectiveness. Every two years we will provide the Minister of Climate Change with an assessment of the Government’s progress against its plan.

With our first assessment due in 2024, we are scoping how we will monitor the Government’s progress on adaptation, including what our monitoring framework and criteria will look like.

"We know the climate is already changing and we need to adapt. We are already seeing the impacts of more extreme weather, and these damaging weather events will only become more frequent," says Dr Carr. "Building resilience to our changing climate will mean we can better take care of our communities, homes, and livelihoods."

"Climate change mitigation and adaptation are two sides of the same coin – the slower the world is at reducing emissions, the greater the adaptation burden becomes," Dr Carr says.

"How we adapt to the changing climate interacts with how we reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases and equally how we reduce our emissions can impact on adaptation.

"The promise of a thriving, low emissions and climate resilient Aotearoa can be realised if we act now and act together."

Consultation on the Government’s draft National Adaptation Plan closes on 3 June.