Victorian Climate Resilient Councils

The Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action (WAGA) is leading the establishment of the ‘Victorian Climate Resilient Councils’ (VCRC) program which will guide councils through a clear step-by-step process to manage climate change risks and implement actions to manage the impacts to operations, assets and local communities.

** The VCRC Team has teamed up with Climate Emergency Australia to host an online forum - Adaptation in Action: council projects and collaboration across Australia - on 23 April 1 - 3.15pm AEST. Please follow this link for more information and to register for this free online event **

The program will build capacity across the sector to implement sustained and coordinated responses to climate change risks and provide flexibility to meet the needs and local contexts of individual councils.

The key information on this page includes:

Latest news about the program development
The VCRC program development project 2023-2024
The climate change impacts the program would help councils respond to
A summary of the program
Details of the proposed Victorian Climate Resilient Councils program
Reports and outputs informing program development

Latest news

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The VCRC program development project 2023-2024

WAGA is leading the development of the Victorian Climate Resilient Councils program over 2023-2024 in partnership with the Victorian Greenhouse Alliances and Victorian local governments. The VCRC is supported by the Victorian Government.

You can download a summary of the program development as an infographic [JPG - 119kb]

Program Pilots

As part of the program development, we are running two pilot projects:

The Adaptive Capacity Checklist pilot

This pilot project will:

Develop the first step, "Goal Setting and Securing Support" of the Victorian Climate Resilient Councils program.
Identify benchmarking, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting options for the VCRC program.
Identify effective methods for engaging council leadership.
Pilot updated Adaptive Capacity Checklist with councils that will benefit from gaining a greater understanding of how to design an adaptation response that works with their council organisation's strengths and capacities.

For more information about the Adaptive Capacity Checklist pilot and how to join, please download the Adaptive Capacity Checklist pilot brief [PDF 368.8kb]

The Community Emergency Risk Assessment (CERA) Pilot

This pilot project will:

Collate and summarise evidence about how and why climate change risks and impacts should and can influence municipal emergency management planning and response.
Collaborate with partners and key stakeholders to develop an approach which enables consideration of climate change in the existing CERA tool's framework.
Pilot updated approach with councils undergoing CERA review process
Inform the development of the fourth step "Implement priority responses" of the Victorian Climate Resilient Councils program.

For more information about the CERA pilot and how to join, please download the CERA review pilot summary [PDF 349.2kb]

What impacts would the VCRC program respond to?

Climate change is causing more frequent and severe climate hazards and impacts which are already affecting council assets and operations and local communities.

Climate impacts include, but aren’t limited to:

Impacts on residents from more frequent heat waves
Disruption to council services from more frequent and severe storm, heat, flood or fire events
Maintenance and future design of assets such as local parks, drains, buildings and roads facing increased temperatures, flash flooding, drought, sea level rise.
Increasing bush and grass fire risks associated with urban fringe development
Decline in natural environment due to drought, increased average temperatures and extreme events.
Associated impacts such as bushfire smoke, power outages, food supply impacts, disruptions to local businesses, tourism and jobs.

As the climate continues to change, these impacts will grow, and costs will rise, but councils can minimise impacts by adapting their operations to better manage these risks.

What will the program include?

The program aims to support the local government sector to respond to, and plan for the impacts of climate change on council operations, assets and local communities.

You can download the above image of the program summary, here. [PDF - 482.7kb]

Details of the proposed Victorian Climate Resilient Councils program:

The program would help Victorian local governments by providing:

Assistance to overcome barriers to developing an embedded and effective adaptation response
Support to strengthen knowledge, skills and capacity to plan for and respond to climate change impacts across their services
A clear, structured process of practical steps to accelerate best-practice climate change adaptation for the direct benefit of their communities.

The project team supporting the development of this program prepared two reports to inform the design of the VCRC program:

Needs analysis

A needs analysis report scoped the key needs and opportunities of Victorian local government organisations to embed and build capacity for climate change adaptation to inform the development of the Victorian Climate Resilient Councils Program.

The report summarises the findings from multiple reviews and inquiries assessing climate change response in the local government sector. It also examined industry reports, academic literature, and confirmed the key findings with preliminary interviews.

Key needs:

The sector is not responding to climate change adaptation in a way that reflects the level of impact and urgency of climate risks
At the local government level in Victoria, funding and guidance for climate adaptation is fragmented
There is uneven progress across the sector and inequitable distribution of resources and capacity between metro, regional and rural areas
There is low adaptive capacity across the sector

Key opportunities:

Leverage high levels of community support into action that is proportional to the risks
Amplify the innovation and knowledge sharing practices of the sector
Provide dedicated guidance and resourcing to enable councils to respond to growing regulatory responsibilities
Coordinate, share and sequence existing knowledge, tools and resources fostered by the support of state government and a range of organisations working with the local government sector
Develop a strategic and cohesive framework around programs and projects

Program model

A program model report compared similar programs operating in other parts of Australia and overseas identifying common features, and what challenges and achievements such programs had experienced through implementation.

The three main types of program models have been summarised in this Program model options document [PDF - 485.8kb]

The key point of difference between the program models were the type of assessment process that was used.

The three different assessment types can be explored in more detail here: Summary of assessment types [PDF - 395.9kb]

Program Steps

The draft program model for the VCRC includes five steps that councils can work their way through, drawing on the reviewed program models.

VCRC Program Steps

You can download the above image of the Proposed program structure, here. [PDF - 72.6kb]

Reports and outputs informing program development

Consultation on program design

With funding from ‘Supporting our Regions to Adapt’ to implement the Regional Adaptation Strategies, WAGA consulted with the local government sector on key needs and preferences of councils during April - June 2022 to produce recommendations for the design and core components for the Victorian Climate Resilient Councils program.

Responses from this consultation period has confirmed a program model as the basis for future development the Victorian Climate Resilient Councils.

A report on the findings of the consultation has informed the program design [PDF - 2Mb]

Climate risk assessment literature review

the VCRC team engaged Nation Partners to conduct a desktop review of existing climate risk assessment tools and standards that are available for use by the local government sector. The aim of this review was to identify weaknesses and strengths of existing guidance on climate change risk assessments and recommend approaches for Victorian local goverments’ consideration and use.

The VCRC team will incorporate the findings and recommendations as part of the program development.

You can view the full literature review report here [PDF - 1.2Mb]

If you would like further information about the VCRC, please contact: VCRCprogram@gmail.com