• NSW state government agencies will be affected by climate change in different ways, with impacts to people and culture, natural and built environments, industries and the economy, policy and planning, as well as overall agency objectives.
• The NSW Government plays an important role in ensuring climate change risks are understood, integrated into decision-making, and acted upon.
• The NSW Climate Change Adaptation Strategy provides a framework that will strengthen and expand NSW Government action to adapt now and over the long term. Strategy action 14 requires all NSW Government agencies to identify their own climate change risks in alignment with the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide and climate change projections.
• The NSW Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan 2025-2029 identifies 46 actions led by 8 agencies across the NSW Government to progress adaptation over the next 5 years. 
• The NSW Government has developed a range of resources, tools and information to help state government agencies address the economic and social impacts of climate risks. These tools are aligned with other relevant NSW Government policies and toolkits. Among these is the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide, which provides a 4-step process and training to help agencies conduct climate risk assessments and adapt to climate change impacts.   

Why state government agencies need to adapt

NSW state government agencies need to adapt to the impact of climate change to support NSW’s people, environments and economy.

State government agencies are required to consider climate risks in their planning, operations and management of assets. These requirements are set out in NSW Government policies, including:

• NSW Treasury’s Internal Audit and Risk Management Policy for the NSW Government sector
• Risk Management Toolkit
• Asset Management Policy for the NSW Public Sector.

State government agencies play a vital role in planning and managing a range of critical infrastructure and essential services for the people of NSW. Because of this, state government agencies need to understand, plan for and build resilience to the impacts that climate change will have on public infrastructure and services.

Every NSW state government agency faces different risks and opportunities from the impacts of climate change. For example:

• state government services such as electricity and public transport may be disrupted by power outages during extreme heatwave events
• existing urban and environmental planning processes and principles may need to be changed to accommodate climate risks such as increased heatwaves
• new policies and procedures may need to be developed to prepare for and respond to the increased risk of extreme weather events, such as evacuation procedures and policies.

The NSW Government has developed the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide to help state government agencies and staff manage risks and opportunities associated with climate change. The guide builds on national and international best-practice climate change risk assessment and adaptation processes.

How state governments can adapt

NSW state government agencies can follow the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide and resources for guidance on how to effectively understand, plan and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The guide provides guidance, practical tools, case studies and a simplified process to help state government agencies to identify and manage climate risks to their public assets, services and objectives. It helps agencies to:

• protect their core functions, by understanding how physical climate risks may affect their core objectives and operations
• prioritise responses to climate change risk, by highlighting areas that warrant further investigation or investment
• enhance services, by increasing their understanding and capacity to respond to climate-related opportunities
• improve integration and enterprise-level oversight of climate change risks, by embedding climate risk management in existing frameworks and procedures
• adapt and build climate resilience, by informing decisions about risk treatments and controls to be implemented over time.

The Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide outlines an iterative 4-step process for state government agencies to follow to become climate risk ready:

1. Establish the context.
2. Identify, analyse and evaluate the risks.
3. Treat the risks.
4. Monitor and review.

The guide demonstrates how to practically conduct these cyclical steps over time.

Practical tools, including templates, instructions and resources to undertake these steps, are provided in the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide.

This is an active and iterative process that works with other state government risk functions and responsibilities. The key to this process is regular monitoring and review to adapt to new information and changing conditions.

Learn more

Download the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide

Download a free copy of the Climate Risk Ready NSW Guide (PDF - 3.8MB)

Appendix B Health Check Tool (XLSX - 156KB)

Appendix C Climate Risk Assessment Tool (XLSX - 74KB)

Training for state government employees

NSW public sector employees can enrol in the online Climate Risk Ready training course, developed by the NSW Government and Western Sydney University. The course helps employees understand the assessment, treatment and monitoring of climate risks. It also helps employees  how to embed these practices into existing management functions and enterprise risk management systems.

Related information

National climate resilience and adaptation strategy

NSW Sustainability Bond Programme – NSW Government

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

Risk Management Toolkit – NSW Treasury

Asset Management Policy – NSW Treasury

Risk Maturity Assessment Tool – NSW Treasury

ISO 31000:2018 Risk management — Guidelines – The International Organization for Standardization