The Local Government Climate Strategy Panel (CSP) has been set up to help lead, support and give strategic overview to decarbonisation work in local government. As part of this work, there are five CSP strategic work groups: Adaptation and four decarbonisation groups (Buildings, Land Use, Procurement, Transport).
The Welsh Government Climate Adaptation Strategy was published following input from this sub-group: Climate Adaptation Strategy for Wales 2024
Following this, the Adaptation group has now developed Local Government Adaptation Commitments with the key aim of supporting councils in delivering these commitments:
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Collaboration and Partnership
Councils will play a leading role in driving climate resilience by providing ongoing support to Public Services Boards in the development of Climate Change Risk Assessments and evidence-based climate action plans. They will also work with Local Resilience Fora to integrate climate adaptation into local emergency planning and ensure coordinated, place-based responses to climate risks.
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Service Resilience
Councils commit to embedding climate change into organisational risk management by systematically assessing the capability and capacity of the organisation to respond to climate-related emergencies and disruptions. This includes identifying and addressing service-level risks, ensuring that critical services remain resilient under a range of climate scenarios.
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Community Resilience
Councils commit to strengthening the resilience of communities by working in partnership to build local capacity and integrate climate adaptation into place-based planning, ensuring that all communities are better prepared for, able to respond to, and recover from the impacts of climate change.
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Leadership
Councils’ Leaders commit to placing climate adaptation at the heart of strategic decision-making by championing resilience as a corporate priority and embedding climate risk into governance and performance frameworks.
The Welsh Government funds the WLGA to run the Climate Change Support Programme, providing essential capacity and resource to support councils in responding to the climate emergency. The Adaptation group also collaborates with the Climate Support Programme’s adaptation work.