While discussing the regional council's submission on the Government's Zero Carbon Bill at a committee meeting last week, Cr Lloyd McCallum said he was unsure what the council's role would be, and asked for clarity to be able to lead the community to make positive change.
He said people would seek advice from the council but felt it wasn't clear at present what the council could provide for people, or what its responsibilities would be.
Environment Southland planning manager Lucy Hicks said in terms of moral obligation and local government requirements it might be down to individual choice.
"The emissions reduction requirement doesn't sit at a regional council level in New Zealand but that isn't to say we haven't got a moral obligation to share with the community ways they can minimise their own."
Adaptation would be a responsibility - including providing resilient infrastructure.
There was also transition planning, and she said it was one of the things they submitted on - the urgent need for clarity on what responsibilities belong to who.
Council chief executive Rob Phillips said the issue was that it was all still being shaped at a national level, and clarity was still lacking in some areas - "but it is clear we're going to be have to build resilience into our infrastructure, our flood control and those sort of things."
Council chairman Nicol Horrell agreed adaptation was part of the council's role and said once the Lidar technology was available, it would be useful for advising on areas that shouldn't be built on, as well as being useful in assessing floodbank systems.
