A NSW Government website

Effects on state government

Effects on state government

Key points

  • The impacts of climate change need to be considered by NSW state government agencies for state-level planning, and policies. 
  • Agencies need to critically assess and plan to avoid costly damages to property, infrastructure, the environment, livelihoods, and the health and wellbeing of NSW people. 
  • NSW Government agencies need to consider climate risks in order to meet their obligations under existing and revised NSW Government policies. Climate risks such as drought, storms and flooding, heatwaves, sea level rise and bushfires may impact the ability of state government agencies to meet statutory mandates.  
  • NSW state government agencies can help build the state’s resilience by preparing for future disruptions from climate change. Agencies can lead the way by understanding the risks that climate change poses to their assets and services and taking action now to prepare for the future. 

Impacts of climate change on NSW state government

Our climate in NSW is changing with extreme weather events becoming more frequent and intense, and long-term changes to weather patterns. These changes can make existing risks more severe and create new risks for state government agencies – as well as new opportunities.

Some of the major risks that climate change poses to state government agencies include damages to infrastructure, services and organisational objectives. For example:

  • loss of public and private assets due to more extreme weather events such as bushfire, floods and storms
  • reduced ability to manage and deliver essential services
  • reduced investment in NSW government, industry and property
  • impacts of climate extremes on vulnerable citizens
  • loss of productivity due to more extreme weather events such as bushfire, floods and storms
  • extreme weather disrupting critical services, leading to financial losses to agencies, businesses and communities.

Climate change has the potential to impact how state government plans and delivers the critical services and infrastructure we depend upon. Policies and services need to be reviewed to consider climate risks to make sure they are effective under changing conditions.

How state government is affected by climate change

To better understand how climate change will affect state government agencies, each agency needs to consider:

  • what the future might look like due to climate change
  • how future climate conditions may impact on the agency’s objectives, services and assets
  • how exposed or vulnerable the agency’s services, objectives and assets are to future climate conditions.

If no action is taken to reduce climate change, it is estimated that the Australian economy will be reduced by 6.3% by 2070, and lead to a net reduction of 880,000 jobs.

Modelling by a global group of 66 central banks, including the Reserve Bank of Australia, warns that global domestic product (GDP) could fall by 25% by 2100 if no action is taken to limit climate change.

For NSW state government agencies, some of the major climate change impacts to consider are:

Related information

NSW Government’s SEED portal

Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the NSW Government sector – NSW Treasury