At the Local Government NSW's annual conference this week a motion calling for the association to join 900 governments worldwide in declaring such an emergency was passed.

The motion also called for the association to make effective steps to avert a climate crisis in NSW in a bipartisan manner.

Bega Valley Shire Greens councillor Cathy Griff, who attended the conference, said the vote was very close, passing with 51 per cent.

The motion was extremely significant, she said, as the association lobbied to higher levels of government on behalf of councils.

"That means in their meetings with the environment minister and others they will be raising these issues and saying how they are incredibly important to the majority of their members," she said.

"I think it will be reflected in the agenda and policies in local government areas."

READ MORE: Climate strike in Bega part of global movement: 'They are betraying our future'

She said the association had the capacity to now undertake an educative role in how to boost climate resilience at a council level.

Cr Griff had successfully moved the Bega Valley Shire's own climate emergency motion, which remains approved by council despite a recent attempt by several councillors for it to be rescinded.

"[Local Government NSW's motion] is a vindication that the majority of other councils in NSW recognise the climate emergency, that's very clear," she said.

"There's so much said about those words as if they're ideological or divisive, but they're very clear.

"This is an unprecedented situation we're in - floods, droughts and fires equals an emergency."

But Cr Griff said this was not the only important motion passed at the conference.

In Australia, 64 local government councils have now declared a climate emergency.

In June the national general assembly of the Australian Local Government Association, which represents 537 councils across the country, supported a motion to call on the federal government to declare a climate emergency.

Also, this week the Sydney Morning Herald reported an record-setting e-petition calling for the federal government to declare a climate emergency had been submitted to the Australian Parliament with 370,000 signatures.

This is more than three times the number of signatures on the previous record for parliamentary e-petitions.

But earlier in the week the Greens moved a motion in federal parliament's lower house calling for climate emergency declaration which was supported by Labor, but it was defeated by the Morrison government.