Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference for the Nominating Committee for the Climate Change Commission
Context
1. The Government is committed to taking decisive action on climate change, in keeping with New
Zealand’s obligations to limit the rise in global temperatures and transition to a low emissions and
climate resilient future.
2. The Climate Change Commission (the Commission) has been established under the Climate Change
Response Act 2002 (the Act) as an independent Crown entity to provide advice to government on
this transition.
3. The Act also requires the establishment of a Nominating Committee (the Committee) which is
responsible for identifying future suitably qualified candidates to be Commissioners as terms of
current members expire.
4. The Act requires there to be at least five members, comprising:
a. the Chairperson of the Commission; and
b. 4 or more other people who, in the opinion of the Minister, have the relevant skills or
experience to identify suitably qualified candidates.
Purpose of the Committee
5. The Committee is appointed by the Climate Change Minister. The Committee will provide
independent advice to the responsible Minister on suitable candidates for the Commission.
6. The Act requires that the responsible Minister can only recommend a Commissioner to the
Governor General for appointment if the candidate has first been nominated by the Nominating
Committee.
7. The Committee will therefore play a vital role in making sure that appointments to the Commission
are robust and that quality candidates are sought out, guided by criteria set out in legislation.
Requirements of the role
8. On request of the Minister, the Committee must nominate one or more people who, in the opinion
of the Committee, are suitably qualified to be appointed to be members of the Commission.
9. The Committee must collectively understand and be able to assess the skills required by
Commissioners, as set out in the Act and the Crown Entities Act 2004. The box following sets out
the pertinent sections of the Act as they pertain to the appointment of members to the
Commission;
1
5E Process for appointment of members of Commission
(1) The Minister may recommend to the Governor-General that a person be appointed a member
of the Commission if—
(a) the person has been nominated by the nominating committee; and
(b) the Minister has had regard to the matters in
section 5H; and
(c) the Minister has consulted representatives of all political parties in Parliament.
(2) The Minister may, at any time, recommend to the Governor-General that a current member of
the Commission be appointed to the position of Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the
Commission.
5F Establishment and membership of nominating committee
(1) The Minister must establish a committee to nominate candidates to the Minister for
appointment as members of the Commission.
(2) The nominating committee must comprise—
(a) the Chairperson of the Commission; and
(b) 4 or more other people who, in the opinion of the Minister, have the relevant skills or
experience to identify suitably qualified candidates.
(3) If the position of Chairperson is vacant, the nominating committee must comprise 5 or more
people who, in the opinion of the Minister, have the relevant skills or experience to identify suitably
qualified candidates.
5G Role of nominating committee
(1) On request of the Minister, the nominating committee must nominate 1 or more people who,
in the opinion of the committee, are suitably qualified to be appointed to be members of the
Commission.
(2) Before nominating a person for appointment, the nominating committee must-
(a) publicly call for expressions of interest in being appointed; and
(b) consult any person or group who may have an interest in being a member of the
Commission, including—
(i) iwi and Māori representative organisations; and
(ii) any person or group that the Minister has identified as having an interest.
5H Matters Minister must have regard to before recommending appointment of member of
Commission
(1) Before recommending the appointment of a member of the Commission, the Minister must
have regard to the need for the Commission to have members who, collectively, have—
(a) an understanding of climate change mitigation and adaptation, including the likely effects
of any responses to climate change; and
(b) experience working in or with local and central government; and
(c) knowledge of the process by which public and regulatory policy is formed and given effect
to; and
(d) technical and professional skills, experience, and expertise in, and an understanding of
innovative approaches relevant to,—
(i) the environmental, ecological, social, economic, and distributional effects of climate
change and climate change policy interventions; and
(ii) the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) and te ao Māori (including tikanga Māori,
te reo Māori, mātauranga Māori, and Māori economic activity); and
(iii) a range of sectors and industries, at regional and local levels.
2
10. In addition to the ability to evaluate the above, the Committee should also collectively have
experience in recruitment/search at a board or governance level.
11. Once the Committee has provided its nominations to the Minister for Climate Change, the Minister
will consider this advice and the mandatory matters set out in legislation before consulting with
representatives of other political parties (as required under section 5E of the Act) and making a
recommendation to the Governor General.
Role of the Nominating Committee and administrative support
12. The Committee is responsible for deciding on the overall approach to identification of suitable
candidates. Whilst each Committee will have different views on how to best identify candidates,
it must comply with the requirements of the Act, noting in particular the Committee’s responsibility
to nominate suitably qualified persons to be Commissioners. In addition, the Minister expects the
Nominating Committee to act in a way that is consistent with relevant recruitment guidance
(including
SSC / DPMC guidance on appointments) and with
the State Sector Code of Conduct. In
particular, the Minister expects the identification of candidates to occur in a transparent, fair and
robust manner.
13. The role of the Committee will be to:
a. agree the overall recruitment approach (advertising etc.);
b. engage with groups or parties who have an interest in nominating candidates (e.g.
iwi/Māori/industry groups and government agencies) in accordance with section 5G(2)
of the Act;
c. agree the position description for the role/s;
d. agree an evaluation criteria for assessing candidate/s consistent with the requirements
of legislation, particularly section 5H of the Act;
e. directly be involved in interviews with candidates (noting that depending on the size
of the Committee this may require forming sub-Committees); and
f. recommend to the Minister (via a letter copied to the Ministry for the Environment
(MfE)) candidates that are suitable for appointment.
14. For clarity – the Committee will not be responsible for the following:
Task
Person/agency
Notes
responsible
Developing a first draft Monitoring
The Committee will be responsible for the final position
of
the
position agency (MfE)
description, however MfE will provide administrative support.
description
for
the
Committee to consider,
and
drafting
any
changes to the position
description required by
the Committee.
3
Candidate
and Monitoring
The Committee will agree the overall approach (including what
stakeholder
agency (MfE)
information (if any) to seek from candidates to assess their
management
during
expertise), but day to day management of candidate interest
the
will be managed by MfE.
advertising/expressions
of interest process.
Including
collection/collation of
material
from
candidates.
Arranging
the Monitoring
The Committee will agree the overall approach, but MfE will
advertising
for agency (MfE)
arrange and pay for advertising.
expressions of interest.
Sorting
and
initial Monitoring
The Committee will have access to all raw material provided
screen of candidates agency (MfE)
by candidates, but MfE will undertake an initial sort/screen to
against any evaluation
assist the Committee in their deliberations. Noting that any
criteria agreed by the
screen/sort would be using criteria agreed by the Committee.
Nominating
Committee.
Screening of candidates Monitoring
Once the Minister has formed initial preferences about who
once the Minister has agency (MfE)
will be recommended for appointment, screening of
formed
initial
candidates to check background, education, expertise,
preferences about who
references etc. will be undertaken by MfE.
will be recommended
for appointment.
Final advice to the Minister
– In accordance with the Act the Minister is solely responsible
Governor General.
Supported by the for any advice to the Governor General on appointments to
Monitoring
the CCC.
agency (MfE)
15. As outlined above – the Committee needs to consult with groups or parties interested in
nominating candidates for the Commission (such as iwi/Māori, industry groups, government
agencies etc). The time requirement for each recruitment round, including consultation, is
estimated to be six days per member. However, if consultation takes much longer than anticipated,
the Committee is to advise the Minister to inform Committee planning and budgeting purposes.
Membership
16. The Committee will consist of a Chairperson (the Chair), and at least four other Committee
members (the Members) appointed by, and accountable to, the Minister for Climate Change.
4
17. Members will be appointed because of their personal expertise, understanding of the requirements
of Commissioners, ability to provide independent evaluations of potential candidates, and
credibility.
18. The Chairperson will be appointed by the Minister for Climate Change. The Chairperson can be
removed at any time by the Minister for Climate Change.
Relationship with Ministers and officials
19. To ensure independence, the work of the Committee will be conducted in accordance with this
Terms of Reference, and it will not be directed by the Minister other than as provided in the Act.
The Committee is expected to meet with the responsible Minister before starting its work to clarify
any matters within this Terms of Reference. The Committee may also meet with relevant Ministers
to provide information as its work progresses, and act in accordance with the “no surprises”
approach. For example, the Committee should alert the Minister before advertising for
Commissioner roles.
Operations
20. The Nominating Committee’s commitments are based on the expiring terms of the Commissioners,
and will meet as required. The first Commissioners were appointed in December 2019 and the first
term is due to expire on 16 December 2021. Therefore no recruitment of Commissioners is planned
for 2020 however, the Nominating Committee members will meet to discuss and design their
approach to recruitment going forward.
21. The expected time commitment for Committee Members is expected to be approximately six days
per recruitment round per member. One recruitment round per annum would be expected.
However, the Committee may be requested to undertake additional recruitment rounds/days.
22. Administrative support for the Committee will be provided by the Monitoring Agency for the
Commission, the Ministry for the Environment. The Meetings of the Committee will be hosted by
the Ministry for the Environment.
23. All information relating to the Commission and its deliberations held by MfE will be treated as
confidential and will be inaccessible to anyone outside the Commission monitoring team.
24. The Committee will not be permitted to undertake any public statements/communications without
the prior approval of the Minister.
25. The Commission Chairperson is authorised to inform the Commission of process and progress in
making appointments. However, the Commission Chairperson is required to keep confidential the
names of individuals under consideration/discussion.
26. The Committee members will each be responsible for ensuring that any devices and email accounts
used to conduct Nominating Committee business are secure.
Timeframes
27. The Committee will be established on or before 18 May 2020.
5
Fees and reimbursements
28. Letters of appointment will detail the remuneration and reimbursement arrangements for the
Chairperson and members.
Consensus
29. The Committee will operate on the basis of consensus and, where it is not possible to achieve a
consensus, on the basis of majority vote with the Chairperson having the final casting vote.
30. In the event the Commission Chairperson disagrees with the majority vote, then the views of the
Commission Chair are to be noted in any advice provided to the Minister from the Nominating
Committee.
31. Additionally, if the Committee as a whole fails to reach consensus on its nominations, then the
views of the minority will be noted in any advice provided to the Minister.
32. The Chairperson will determine the meeting processes.
Media
33. The Chairperson will be responsible for any public statements on behalf of the Committee. As noted
above, the Committee will not be permitted to make any public communications / statements
without the prior approval of the Minister.
Attendance and substitutions
34. Members who are unable to attend a meeting of the Committee cannot be represented by a
substitute or proxy. The only member of the Committee who can be represented by a substitute
or proxy is the Commission Chairperson. In the event the Commission Chairperson is vacant or
unavailable for whatever reason, the Deputy Chairperson is authorised to attend in their place.
Declarations of conflict
35. Members must declare any real, potential, or perceived conflict of interest to the Chairperson and
the other members of the Committee, as soon as the conflict arises. Any real, potential, or
perceived conflict of interest must be documented for transparency.
General confidentiality requirements
36. In order for the Committee to operate effectively, members must maintain the confidence of the
Committee, including maintaining confidentiality of matters discussed at meetings, and any
information or documents (not otherwise publicly available) provided to the Committee. This
includes candidate information which must be treated in accordance with the
Privacy Act as well
as th
e Official information Act.
Removal of members
37. The Minister may at any time remove a member of the Committee at his or her sole discretion.
6
