Our climate change response

Climate change is a complex issue, which means we can’t solve it with just one solution. We do need to reduce our emissions, but it’s equally important that we prepare for the changes ahead.

We need to ensure that Hamilton Kirikiriroa is resilient and can adapt to the changing climate, so we can minimise the impact on our city and our community.

This is our long-term strategy to address climate change. It sets the vision for Hamilton as a thriving, low-carbon city that responds and adapts to climate change. It outlines the emissions targets we’ve set for our city and Council operations and the three key outcomes we are seeking to achieve:

1. By acting together, our emissions are reducing
2. Our neighbourhoods enable low-carbon living
3. Our city is ready for Hamilton’s climate

Our Climate Statement 2023/24 is Hamilton City Council’s first climate change disclosure. It is the start of our wider, ongoing climate change maturity work which looks at how well we are integrating our climate change response across our organisation. 

Completing climate change disclosure reports represents best practice in understanding, taking responsibility for, and responding to climate change risk. Reporting on this drives a better response to the climate change risks across the organisation. It also provides stakeholders with an update on how well the organisation is prepared for the transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient future. 

Read Our Climate Statement here

This document outlines the steps we will take over this financial year (2022-23), to begin delivering on our vision ‘Hamilton Kirikiriroa is a thriving, low-carbon city that responds and adapts to climate change’ and to build a solid foundation for developing our action plan.

The Climate Change Policy is a commitment to embedding climate change impacts into Council decision-making, projects and business cases. It means that when we start a new piece of work, we’ll assess whether it will increase or decrease our emissions, and whether it could be impacted by our need to adapt to the climate risks ahead.