Lawyers for Climate Action Newsletter - January 2024
Kia ora koutou,
Happy New Year! We hope you had a relaxing summer break and are settling into the New Year nicely.
We don’t normally send out a newsletter in January, but we have had a busy start to the year and wanted to keep you all updated.
Reigniting the campaign for a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment
As many of you will remember, in 2019, we campaigned for a proposal to amend the NZ Bill of Rights Act to include “the right to a sustainable environment that is protected for the benefit of present and future generations”. As part of this, we presented James Shaw with a letter from around 60 (then) Queen’s Counsel supporting the proposal.
James Shaw then submitted a Members’ Bill calling for this amendment- the NZ Bill of Rights (Right to a Sustainable Environment) Amendment Bill. Just before Christmas, the Bill was drawn from the ballot and introduced to the House.
Although getting the Bill through Parliament will be no mean feat, it’s a fantastic result from Lawyers for Climate Action’s advocacy on the issue a few years ago.
If it passes, we think that this would be an important and meaningful change to our legal framework. Human rights can be a powerful catalyst for change, and NZ is among a shrinking minority of countries that do not yet recognise the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment in law. It would promote Government action consistent with a sustainable environment, and facilitate our transition to a low-emissions economy.
If you are interested in being involved in any of our work advocating for the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment moving forward, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Executive Director, Jessica at jessica@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.
Ongoing advocacy in Kaipara
In October 2023, we wrote to the Kaipara District Council raising issues with their decision in September to cancel Kaipara’s climate policy and its climate accounting contract. In response to our letter, the Council reconsidered their decision on the climate policy and accounting contract in December. Unfortunately, they reconfirmed their decision.
At the end of November, the Council also made another decision, this time cancelling a critical adaptation pilot that was half-way through being completed in Ruawai. Around 800 community members signed a petition against the Council’s decision, but to no avail. Adaptation work is particularly important in Ruawai as parts of Ruawai are below sea-level, and it was among the regions most affected by Cyclone Gabrielle last year.
And so earlier this month, we wrote another letter to the Council - this time, also addressing the cancellation of the Ruawai Adaptive Pathways Pilot.
We think there are serious issues with the Kaipara District Council’s decisions, which appear to be part of a wider effort to unwind almost all of its climate work programs. Putting aside procedural issues with the decision, we’re concerned that it flies in the face of the commitments made by the Council in the Local Government Leaders’ Climate Change Declaration.
We continue to engage with the Council and concerned community members on these issues, and will keep you updated on our progress. Thanks particularly to Grant Hewison, chair of the Local Government Subcommittee, for his work on this.
Z Energy Litigation
Last week, Z Energy filed its statement of defence in our greenwashing litigation, which continues full steam ahead. They are denying our allegations - you can see the tenor of their response in this article from the Newsroom over the weekend, in which we gave comment about why we’re bringing the case.
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ’s new logo
Late last year, we engaged Sandi Wilson, a graphic designer, to redesign our logo so that it prominently features Aotearoa. Sandi hand-painted a new globe with Aotearoa in the centre. We are thrilled with what Sandi has done, and want to share it with our members first:
You will see our new branding as we roll it out across our platforms and materials.
Volunteers
With the government making lots of decisions that take us further off the path to decarbonising transport, we are on the lookout for some more volunteers to sit on our transport subcommittee and support Lawyers for Climate Action’s work on transport.
Lawyers for Climate Action has been active in the transport space over the last few years. For instance, we have made submissions on transport policy, written to Auckland Transport about their climate obligations, and supported All Aboard to bring judicial review proceedings against Auckland Transport back in 2022.
If you would be interested in contributing to our work on transport, please email Jess at jessica@lawyersforclimateaction.nz
Donate Today
We rely on donations for our work. Increasing our income is critical for us to ensure we have the foundations to grow as an organisation, and ultimately make a bigger impact for the climate. If you are in a position to donate, we would be so grateful - it enables us to continue working to ensure a better future for people and our planet. Thank you for your support!
Thank you for your ongoing support, we’ll be back next month with another update.
Mā te wā,
Lawyers for Climate Action Committee