Prioritising our climate actions

We have a key role to play in climate action. We already support communities to reduce and adapt to climate risk, as well as managing flood protection, providing public transport, and helping protect and restore our region’s environment.

We need your feedback on where we should focus our climate actions in the coming years. The feedback you give us now will directly influence what actions will be included in the climate action plans. We are working on two plans to help address climate change in the region.

Our Climate Action Plan aims to identify climate actions that are either part of our statutory requirements or are good risk management, related to our responsibilities. We are collaborating with you, the community, and other stakeholders to create this plan. Our plan will outline the actions we need to take as a regional council and will inform a variety of council documents, including Long-Term Plans.

We are also working with local councils across Waitaha/Canterbury to develop a Canterbury Climate Partnership Plan. This plan will lay out how councils in Canterbury intend to work together to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change within the region. The challenge of climate change response means that we will only be successful if we all work together.

Key community concerns we heard from you in the previous engagement were:

• Health and wellbeing
• Air quality, healthy soils and abundant freshwater
• Flooding and other climate risks to people and infrastructure in high-hazard zones
• Healthy ecosystem-s to build climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Good public transport and cycleways.

What we can influence:

• Setting clear regional goals to adapt and respond to climate hazards and risks, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• Directing what should be done to achieve those goals, and by whom
• Direction in the Regional Policy Statement to help mitigate and adapt to climate change, or to enable climate action.