Submissions on the Climate Change Commission's draft advice

Yesterday we filed our submissions on the Climate Change Commission’s draft advice.

In making these submissions, we are fully supportive of the objectives of the Commission. The Commission’s draft advice contains many excellent policy suggestions and we strongly support urgent action to put these into practice.  We also acknowledge the openness of the Commission and its willingness to engage with us on multiple occasions on the issues discussed in our submissions.  While we take a different view to the Commission on some issues, we greatly appreciated the opportunity to discuss these differences with them in an open and constructive manner.

However, as you will see, the main focus of our submission is on whether the Commission’s draft advice complies with the applicable legal frame. We have the following concerns:

  • In our view, the Commission’s draft advice does not comply with the legal requirements.  The main reason for this is that the advice is not consistent with what is required to keep global warming to less than 1.5° Celsius.  This is a fundamental error that must be fixed before the advice is finalised.  Failing this, the advice will be unlawful, in our opinion.  Further, Aotearoa New Zealand’s international reputation and brand will be at risk if we fail to adopt budgets and policies consistent with doing our fair share to keep global warming to less than 1.5° Celsius.

  • The methods for accounting for Aotearoa New Zealand’s emissions and presentation chosen by the Commission have the effect of obscuring our lack of progress to date and of making the budgets appear more ambitious than they really are.

  • The Commission’s recommendation that Aotearoa New Zealand should use offshore mitigation to bridge the gap between our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and our domestic emissions reductions, is, in our view, at odds with the Act and with the Paris Agreement itself.  It would leave Aotearoa New Zealand exposed to international criticism and a high level of uncertainty about the cost and availability of international credits.

If you have any questions about our submissions, please contact admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.

LCANZIClimate Change Commission, Submission, NDC