CLIMATE GOVERNANCE / COUNCIL EMISSIONS / COMMUNITIES / ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Local government is on the frontline of dealing with the impacts of climate change.
- The metropolitan Victorian Greenhouse Alliances, coordinated by NAGA, delivered a scoping study investigating the costs and benefits of climate change adaptation options for councils managing community assets. This project was designed to assist councils across the Greater Melbourne region, and was supported by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) through the Supporting our Regions to Adapt program.
- In 2021 NAGA completed Exploring Vulnerabilities, a research and capacity-building project exploring the specific impacts and needs of at-risk communities and business sectors in the Port Philip (Greater Melbourne) region. This project was supported by DELWP and has fed into the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for Greater Melbourne. This project built on a 2018 gap analysis developed by NAGA for DELWP, which identified regional priorities for adaptation based on the climate change impacts, the needs of the community, and work to date.
- The How Well Are We Adapting (HWAWA) network, coordinated by the Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action has developed an Adaptive Capacity Checklist for councils, also supported by DELWP.
- The Eastern Alliance for Greenhouse Action has recently completed the Resilient Emergency Relief Centre project, which assessed the risks and climate vulnerabilities of selected Emergency Relief Centre buildings across Melbourne's East.
- The South East Councils Climate Change Alliance has been working on the Asset Vulnerability Assessment project to create a toolkit for councils to assess the vulnerability of their assets.
- NAGA conducted an integrated regional vulnerability assessment to identify populations, infrastructure and assets at risk from climate change in northern metropolitan Melbourne: Adaptation in the North.
- NAGA designed and delivered a customised training program for council asset and facility managers to embed building vulnerability assessment approaches within asset management practices and capital works programs.
- NAGA produced an Adaptation Guide for developing local adaptation plans. This details some considerations for adaptation planning and a synthesis of typical climate change adaptation actions across council service areas.
- NAGA member Yarra City Council has made tools and a training package from its award-winning Embedding Adaptation project available for all councils to use. Includes case studies, guides for assessing the impact of climate change on projects and buildings, and a quadruple bottom line reporting tool.