Climate change is expected to impact all NSW sectors and communities. The NSW Government plays an important role in ensuring climate change risks are understood, integrated into decision-making, and addressed. State government agencies must consider how climate change will affect their processes, infrastructure and services.
Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is a key part of the Paris Climate Agreement, to which the NSW Government is committed. This objective has now been legislated through the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023, which enshrines whole-of-government climate action to deliver net zero by 2050. As a signatory to the agreement, Australia is working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, to keep global temperatures below the projected 2°C increase. Australia has committed to help achieve this goal by transitioning to net zero emissions nationally around 2050. NSW’s contribution, including a goal to halve emissions on 2005 levels by 2030, is guided by the Net Zero Plan Stage 1: 2020–2030.
Even with global efforts to reduce temperature rise, climate change is expected to have physical impacts. Through the NSW Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023, the NSW Government has committed to making NSW more resilient to climate change.
The NSW Climate Change Adaptation Strategy sets out an ambitious approach to climate change adaptation. The strategy provides a framework that will strengthen and expand NSW Government action to adapt to climate change now and over the long term.
The strategy sets out key decision-making principles and objectives for adaptation, key priorities and a suite of actions
The NSW Government has set out 46 actions across 8 lead agencies to progress adaptation in the NSW Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2025-2029. As adaptation is an issue that cuts across many portfolios and almost all areas of life, many actions may be delivered collaboratively with support from multiple agencies.
The Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide is the NSW Government’s standard for climate-related risk and opportunity management. It gives clear, step by step guidance to help organisations take a consistent and practical approach, whether you’re just starting out or building on existing work.
This updated edition replaces the original Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide, published in 2021. It reflects advances in climate knowledge and international standards. It also includes lessons learned since the first edition and adds new guidance, including for managing transition risks and identifying opportunities.
The guide is supported by practical resources in an accompanying toolkit available on the AdaptNSW website. Together, these resources help organisations align with the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023, particularly its objectives related to climate risk management and adaptation.
The guide provides a four-step iterative process for state government agencies to follow:
Step 1 - Establish the foundation
Step 2 - Identify, analyse and evaluate climate-related drivers, risks and opportunities
Step 3 - Develop and implement an action plan to respond to climate-related risks and opportunities
Step 4 - Monitor, evaluate, report and improve actions.
More information and resources for these actions can be found on the How state governments can adapt page.
