The NSW Government is acting now to adapt to climate change. Acting now will help reduce climate change impacts and risks, help protect what we value and create the knowledge, skills, resources and processes needed for further adaptation.
The NSW Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2025-2029 is the first state-wide adaptation action plan for NSW and will help us achieve greater climate change resilience. It puts key actions in place that lay the foundation for future action, focus on known climate change impacts and risks and help make adaptation part of everyday decision making to ensure we can address climate change risks systematically across many aspects of life.
The plan will help the state move towards achieving the legislated adaptation objective, under the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023, that ‘NSW is more resilient to a changing climate’.
The plan has a total of 46 actions across 7 themes:
- Advance policy
- Build capability
- Improve processes
- Expand knowledge
- Communicate
- Explore new opportunities
- Enhance existing initiatives
This is a whole-of-government plan.
Delivery of actions will be led by a variety of NSW Government agencies including:
- Destination NSW
- NSW Health
- NSW Rural Fire Service
- NSW Treasury
- The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
- The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure
- The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
- Transport for NSW
As adaptation is an issue that cuts across all agencies and almost all areas of life, many actions will be delivered collaboratively and with support from multiple NSW Government agencies. For example, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has significant expertise in adaptation and may collaborate with other agencies to support delivery of a variety of actions under the plan.
Delivering state-wide adaptation action plans at least every 5 years is a commitment under the NSW Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.
This plan is intended to be the first of many. Future plans will build on the foundation created by this plan. We must continue to be agile in our response to the changing climate and its impacts on our communities and environment. Adaptation is an ongoing process and there is always more work to be done.
To remain agile in this fast-changing space, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water will review the plan in 2026 to taking advantage of any new information. The plan will be updated using the review’s findings to ensure it remains effective.
Climate change adaptation is one of the most significant challenges facing our state and this plan is just one part of the NSW Government’s response. Actions in this plan are designed to complement other major government initiatives such as the State Disaster Mitigation Plan.
NSW Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan FAQs
The NSW Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2025-2029 was released in 2024 and identifies 46 actions led by 8 agencies to progress state-wide adaptation over the next 5 years.
The FAQs provide further information on the intent of the plan and how it fits in with broader NSW Government adaptation work and next steps.
Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to the actual or expected impacts of climate change. Adaptation plays a key role in reducing exposure and vulnerability to climate change, and can be proactive, reactive, incremental or transformational. Adaptation can include land-use planning, landscape restoration, managing coastal hazards, water allocation and sharing, strengthening guidance for health organisations and transport projects, and economic decision-making to better-consider, manage and report on climate change risks.
The purpose of the adaptation action plan is to set out concrete actions for NSW to adapt to climate change. This plan is foundational and was developed in collaboration with leading agencies in adaptation across the NSW Government. The plan has a total of 46 actions. The actions are under the 7 themes of advance policy, build capability, improve processes, expand knowledge, communicate, explore new opportunities, and enhance existing initiatives. Mainstreaming adaptation is also a key focus of the plan. Mainstreaming is when climate change risk and adaptation are considered in day-to-day planning and decision-making, instead of as a stand-alone activity.
The plan has a total of 46 actions under the 7 themes of advance policy, build capability, improve processes, expand knowledge, communicate, explore new opportunities, and enhance existing initiatives. As adaptation is an issue that cuts across many portfolios and almost all areas of life, actions in the plan will be delivered by multiple agencies across the NSW Government.
Each action has an expected completion date between 2025-2028 or are ongoing actions.
The actions focus on addressing known risks to prevent avoidable loss and damage across many portfolios. This includes land-use planning, landscape restoration, managing coastal hazards, water allocation and sharing as well as strengthening guidance for health organisations, transport projects and economic decision-making to better consider, manage and report on climate change risks.
Climate change creates impacts and risks for almost all areas of society, the environment, and the economy. This means agencies across the NSW Government are responsible for adaptation. Each action has an identified lead agency. However, many actions in this plan will be delivered with support from multiple agencies.
The plan will be reviewed in 2026 by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. This review will inform an update of the plan, to take advantage of any new information available to help ensure the plan remains effective. The department will also coordinate the end-of-program evaluation. The Net Zero Commission may also have a role in reviewing the plan as part of its responsibility to monitor, review and provide advice and recommendations to the Minister under the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Act 2023.
