LCANZI in the Court of Appeal

LCANZI’s appeal against the Climate Change Commission and Minister for Climate Change is in the Court of Appeal this week.

In 2021, LCANZI brought judicial review proceedings against the Climate Change Commission. We consider that the level of ambition contained in its advice to the Minister when setting NZ’s NDC and first three emission budgets did not go far enough. Its advice does not put New Zealand on track to reduce domestic net emissions by 2030 in line with the global 1.5 ̊C pathways set out in the IPCC’s 2018 Special Report.

This is really important because the Commission’s advice has a significant impact on NZ’s climate change policies. However, the consequence of the Commission’s advice and the Minister’s decision in this instance will see emissions continuing to rise, and risks NZ portraying a misleading level of ambition.

We’ve written about what our appeal is about before.

The High Court didn’t find in favour of LCANZI , and so we appealed the judgment. We’re now in the Court of Appeal for a three-day hearing, represented by James Every-Palmer KC, Jenny Cooper KC, and Martin Smith of Gilbert Walker.

You can find the key materials we have filed in the proceedings here on our website .