What we do
MCERT helps New Zealand make better long-term decisions about the places people live, move, build, grow and protect.
Our work
MCERT helps make decisions that shape everyday life in New Zealand, where homes are built, how people move around, how infrastructure is planned, how communities grow, and how the natural environment is protected.
We bring together work on housing, transport, the environment, regional development and local government so these decisions are better connected.
That means helping government and communities plan for growth, invest in the right infrastructure, manage environmental limits, reduce long-term risks and support places where people can live well now and in the future.
Our work helps enable:
- more homes in the right places;
- transport and infrastructure that support how people live and work;
- healthier natural systems and clearer environmental limits;
- better planning for floods, coastal change and other natural hazards;
- stronger regional and local decision-making;
- more transparent choices about costs, benefits and trade-offs.
Who we are
The Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport is a government ministry that brings together work across housing, transport, the environment, regional development and local government.
MCERT was established to help these connected systems work better together. Its role is to support more coherent decision-making about the places that shape New Zealanders’ everyday lives, including where homes are built, how people move around, how infrastructure is planned, how communities grow, and how the natural environment is protected.
MCERT brings together functions previously carried out by the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and local government functions from the Department of Internal Affairs.