LCANZI Newsletter - April 2023

Kia ora koutou,

We hope this email finds you well and that you all had some restful long weekends this month, please see below an update from the last month.


LCANZI executive director applications

As you may have seen already, we are looking for an executive director to help us manage our climate action work, and to expand our organisation’s capability and reach! Do you want to help us drive more effective climate action in Aotearoa? Do you have good strategic, organisation, management and relationship building skills? The LCANZI executive director contract might be the perfect fit! You can find the full job description here.

If you are interested, please apply for the contract by sending your CV to admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.

Applications close in one week, 5pm 3 May 2023.


A win for public interest litigation

In our February newsletter we let you know that the Climate Change Commission was seeking $128,492 in costs from us in relation to the High Court Judicial Review proceeding, following the judgment against us. We argued that we should not be liable for costs given the public interest in the issues raised.

On 16 March 2023, Mallon J released the judgment that costs lie where they fall which means we will not have to pay any costs to the Climate Change Commission. This is a huge win for public interest litigation! You can read the full judgment here. It is also on our projects and resources page along with all of our other resources in relation to that case.

We’re also happy to share some good news from Forest and Bird and the New Zealand Climate Action Network who have stopped a coal mine! On 19 April the Environment Court upheld an appeal against the Buller District Council's consent to mine Te Kuha on the west coast for coal. Forest & Bird Chief Executive Nicola Toki said:

“The ruling shows that environmental bottom lines are so important – you can’t offset or compensate your way out of destroying unique landscapes, plants or animals.”

You can read Forest and Bird’s full press release here.


Climate Change Commission draft advice out for consultation

The Climate Change Commission has released its draft advice to inform the strategic direction of the Government’s second emissions reduction plan. The draft advice is open for consultation until 20 June 2023 and LCANZI is starting to think about our submission. We would love to hear our member’s thoughts on this draft advice and will be putting together a submission template for our members to feed into our submission.

You can read the draft advice and how to get involved on the Climate Change Commission’s website here.

If you are interested in contributing to this submission through our submission template or taking a more active role in writing the submission please email admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.


Climate Change Response Amendment submission

The LCANZI ETS subcommittee has made another submission to improve the Emissions Trading Scheme, this time on the Climate Change Response (Late Payment Penalties and Industrial Allocation) Amendment Bill. The Bill amends various provisions in the Climate Change Response Act 2022 relating to the ETS. Our submission of 6 April 2023, opposes the proposal to link the free allocation qualification thresholds to the carbon price.

You can read the submission here, it is also available on our projects and resources page along with our other submissions.


Oral submission on RMA replacement legislation

On 27 February 2023, LCANZI presented its submission on the Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill to the Environment Select Committee.

LCANZI Committee member and chair of our Local Government Subcommittee, Dr Grant Hewison, gave the following summary:

LCANZI welcomed the provisions of the bills that had some focus on climate action. However, in light of the existential threat climate change poses, and the evidence of the scale of the planning challenge graphically demonstrated by the disastrous climate change induced floods over Auckland Anniversary weekend, LCANZI urged the Select Committee to recommend that taking climate action be one of the central goals of the two Bills, rather than being only one of a number of system outcomes. LCANZI also pointed out the urban tree protection as well as growing more trees would be crucial in taking climate action. Given that climate change is here, LCANZI strongly recommended that the power for local councils to implement general tree protection regulations in their plans be reinstated.

You can read our written submission here. If you are interested in volunteering for our Local Government subcommittee, please email admin@lawyersforcilmateaction.nz.


LEANZ SEMINAR POWERPOINT: HOW TO FIX THE EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME

As mentioned in our March newsletter, LCANZI Committee member and ETS subcommittee chair, Dr James Every-Palmer KC, presented at a Law and Economics Australia and New Zealand (LEANZ) seminar last month.

We hope that some LCANZI members were able to join the seminar but if you missed out, here is the slideshow that James presented. If a recording of the seminar becomes available, we will provide it in a subsequent member newsletter.


Climate Litigation in New Zealand and the World: Trends and Issues - NZCEL/LRF conference on 12 May 2023

The New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law (NZCEL) and the Legal Research Foundation invite you to register for a conference on climate litigation at the Northern Club in Auckland on 11-12 May. The conference begins with an in-person only judicial panel on the evening of Thursday 11 May (register early for this as places are limited) followed by a full day hybrid event on Friday 12 May (NZ based and overseas participants are all welcome, we’d love to see you in person and there is also an online option).  

New Zealand is an increasingly active climate litigation jurisdiction and this event aims to promote debate and discussion around climate litigation in international context. Here is a flyer detailing the speakers at the event. You can register for the conference here, if you have any enquiries about registration contact Julia Clancy.


Thank you for your ongoing support of LCANZI, please email admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz if you have any questions or concerns.

Noho ora mai rā 

LCANZI Committee

LCANZI