The Institute has completed a major piece of work on New Zealand’s reporting framework – the country’s information infrastructure. The report is now in draft and out for public consultation; it is available to read here and we would appreciate all feedback by 5 pm on Wednesday, 31 October 2018. This date was extended a week by request.
Report 17 – ReportingNZ: Building a Reporting Framework Fit for Purpose is part of our overarching report programme (Project 2058) and brings together our key work in Project ReportingNZ, including the 2017 ReportingNZ Surveys, Working Paper 2018/01 – NZSX-listed Company Tables and other supporting publications. The report aims to undertake the first full review of New Zealand’s reporting framework in 30 years. The framework operates under the surface but influences the way that decisions are made. We hope this report will add to the conversation about how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its function and refine its purpose. Mapping the existing framework proved a complex exercise and for this reason we are seeking feedback before the final report is published later this year. This will give all interested parties an opportunity to provide operational and strategic feedback and review our findings and recommendations.
Please note that supporting New Zealand legislation is collated in Working Paper 2018/04 – Legislation Shaping the Reporting Framework: A compilation, which is now published on our website.
We are especially aware of the urgent need to improve reporting on climate change and this led to a lunchtime discussion event on 8 August 2018 about the landscape of climate change research in New Zealand. The event brought together a range of individuals from various organisations who are working in the area of climate change research. The discussion covered the current work programmes research intentions of key groups in the sector on climate change so as to illustrate the landscape of current and future research on climate change in New Zealand.
Those present came from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Science Ltd, Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner, Treasury, NIWA, MOTU Economic Policy and Public Policy Research, Ministry for the Environment, Generation Zero and AECOM. Attendees were invited to share their current work, as well as the relevance of climate change both within their place of work and as part of a wider New Zealand narrative with the aim of identifying gaps, informing future priorities and strategising around often limited research resources. This lunchtime event also acted as an opportunity for the Institute to share Working Paper 2018/03 – Analysis of Climate Change Reporting in the Public and Private Sectors.
The discussion covered three specific key issues:
- The need for a framework to which all climate change initiatives could link and which could provide a cohesive and comprehensible view of current work along with the costs and benefits associated with it.
- The need for leadership in planning for adaptation and change, particularly in the policy sector, rurally among local government and community involvement, and in industries such as farming and forestry. Overseas initiatives can provide examples in these areas.
- Questions of funding, carbon emissions and a possible ‘green investment fund’.
Given the feedback and insights from the discussion, we developed a package of recommendations that relate directly to climate change reporting; these are outlined in Section 7 of the draft report. The overview of the draft report is summarised in the following diagram.
