Rachael Goddard
on Climate Resilience
For Rachael Goddard, sustainability has always been rooted in the land. When her family arrived in Aotearoa in the 1970s, they immediately lived off it - growing vegetables, fishing, collecting seaweed from the beach, keeping ducks and chickens, making bread and preserves. Her mother bought second-hand and repaired what she had. "This was definitely the grounding for my passion and mahi in later life," Rachael reflects, "and the way I live now."
Almost three decades in the sustainability and environmental sector later, Rachael works as Climate Resilience Programme Lead at Go Eco and through her own ECOES Consultancy. Her work spans education, behaviour change, reporting, and hands-on climate action — driven by a deep connection to Papatūānuku and a conviction that collective effort is what moves the dial.
If sustainability were a flower in her life, it would be kōwhai — and the tui that dart from flower to flower, feeding on the nectar. It's an image that captures something essential about how Rachael sees change: interdependent, alive, and sustained by things as fundamental as water pulling up through plant cells.
The biggest obstacles she faces are funding and politics. But they don't stop her. "Community-led mobilisation and building resilience at grass roots level can and will occur without those things," she says. For Rachael, the moral case for climate action doesn't depend on government direction. Organisations still need to understand climate risk, build resilience, and be accountable — because it's the right thing to do, and increasingly what customers and communities expect.
She finds deep alignment between environmental science and Mātauranga Māori, seeing the two not as separate systems but as complementary ones — each strengthening the other's understanding of the natural world.
Keeping hope, she believes, is not optional — it's imperative. And nature is what sustains it. Her advice to rising change-makers is to stay connected to the living world around them, and to think beyond themselves to the bigger picture of how it all connects.
If Rachael could plant one seed of change, it would be this: inspiring people to take action. No matter how small, collectively those actions add up.
Read Rachael's answers to Blooming Sustainability to explore how grassroots climate resilience, mātauranga, and a lifetime of living close to the land are shaping her vision for Aotearoa's future.
BLOOMING Sustainability Questionnaire
Name: Rachael Goddard
Company & Title: Go Eco- Climate Resilience Programme Lead and ECOES Consultancy
Website & LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaellouisegoddard/
* Guiding Values | Kaupapa
If sustainability were a flower blooming in your life, what would it look like? What nurtures it?
Kowhai springs to mind first and the tui that shrill, click and warble, and dart from flower to flower and feed from the nectar. And the bees. We’d be lost without them. Water nurtures everything. Think of the fascinating process of the positive negative polarity clinging to the cellulose inside the plants cells and pulling that water up.
A quote, personal motto or whakataukī that reflects your vision:
“You are never too small to make a difference” Greta Thunberg.
And "Together we can, together we will, together we must change the world." Jane Goodall
If you could mentor a rising change-maker in Aotearoa, what advice would you share?
Keeping hope is imperative and being connected to nature supports that and reminds us why we are here. Thinking of the bigger picture beyond yourself and how it all connects.
* Leading Change | Arataki
A key moment in your journey that shaped your path:
When my parents and I came to Aotearoa in the 1970’s, we immediately lived off the land. My Dad grew everything from peas to spuds to tomatoes, we fished, went floundering at night, we collected seaweed from the beach, we had fruit trees, ducks, chickens and a goat. My mum made bread, cakes, biscuits, beer, preserves, jams and chutney. She made and repaired my clothes. She bought second hand. This was definitely the grounding for my passion and mahi in later life, and the way I live now.
What’s the main challenge you face in driving sustainability within your sector?
Funding and politics. However, community led, mobilisation and building resilience at grass roots level can and will occur without those things.
An area you need more support with:
Time! And learning more.
An Indigenous perspective you admire and want people to be mindful of:
Mātauranga Māori. As an environmental scientist I see the marriage between the two. They complement each other.’
Your best approach for engaging stakeholders in meaningful dialogue about ESG:
Regardless of government priorities or direction, as organisations, we still need to understand climate risk, we still need to identify opportunities and efficiencies, build resilience, comprehend our environmental impact, be accountable, and have a responsibility and a moral obligation, which in some sectors/customers is an expectation.
What do you think is Aotearoa’s superpower in creating a sustainable future?
Renewable energy. We have it all here, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal. We need more resilience in this area, and it needs to be more affordable. The new Government should look at subsidizing solar power. So many people would benefit as power will just keep going up and up.
* Surfing the Green Wave | Kakariki
Books, podcasts, courses or other resources that profoundly shaped your approach to sustainability:
Rachel Carson- Silent Spring
Kate Raworth- Donut Economics
Johnathon Porrit- Hope in Hell
David McWilliams - Irish economist, writer, and journalist. Podcast.
Events in Aotearoa or globally that you think are must-attend:
Local Resilience Hui.
A sustainable initiative or project in Aotearoa that deserves more attention:
https://www.goeco.org.nz/climate-resilience
If your work could plant one seed of change for the future, what would it be?
Inspiring people to take action. No matter what, collectively they add up.
The leader(s) you endorse for a future edition of Blooming Sustainability:
Jo Wrigley- Manager Go Eco
Cheryl Reynolds- Wellbeing Economy and Climate Change Adviser- Otorohanga District Council
* One actionable takeaway for our readers to make a change today for a brighter tomorrow:
Lobby and vote with environment in mind.
Get out in nature and deeply connect.
