LCANZI Newsletter - June 2023
Kia ora koutou,
We hope this email finds you well, please see below an update from the last month including details about our 2023 AGM, an LCANZI webinar, more climate litigation updates and submissions!
Notice of 2023 AGM and call for Board nominations
What: LCANZI AGM and Board election
When: Thursday 3 August 2023, 5.30-6.30pm. In-person attendees can stay for drinks and nibbles from 6.30-7.30pm.
Where:
Auckland in-person: Ellen Melville Centre, 2 Freyberg Place, Auckland Central
Wellington: Barristers Comm, Level 7 Legal House, 101 Lambton Quay, Wellington
Online on zoom
RSVP: Sign up for your free ticket here so that we know whether you will be attending online or in-person. Online attendees will receive the zoom link with their ticket.
The AGM will include reports from LCANZI officers, approval of financial statements, and the Board election. We will also be holding a debate: "Should the cab rank rule be amended to enable lawyers to refuse to act for emitters". This is a hot topic in the climate law space - we want to air the different perspectives to help inform our members' views on this issue.
The annual election for the LCANZI Board will be held at the AGM. If you want to nominate yourself to be elected to the Board, you must send this form to secretary@lawyersforclimateaction.nz by 5pm 29 July 2023.
Please note that only full members can vote but associate members are welcome. We look forward to seeing you there and connecting with some of you in person!
LCANZI Webinar: Climate Change Clause Bank with Ian MacKenzie
We’re excited to announce that we are hosting another webinar! The webinar will be held online via zoom at 12:00pm on Wednesday 12 July. You can register for the webinar here.
This webinar introduces the New Zealand Climate Clause Bank, - a practical tool for climate action by lawyers and their clients. Those who draft, negotiate or enforce contracts will find it particularly useful although the webinar is relevant to anyone interested in promoting climate-conscious legal practice.
Our presenter is Ian MacKenzie Head of Legal at New Zealand Green Investment Finance. Ian initiated the creation of the New Zealand clause templates. Through his initiative, and building on the work undertaken by the Chancery Lane Project, 11 New Zealand law firms contributed to producing the collection. These clauses address the priority areas of boilerplate provisions, supply chain emissions, Net Zero pledges and driving sustainable behaviour.
Ian will introduce us to the clauses, to how they can be used to improve sustainability characteristics of a contract, and their acceptability in the marketplace.
We encourage all lawyers whose work involves the negotiation or enforcement of contracts to attend.
Ian's presentation should take about 30 minutes followed by a Q&A session facilitated by LCANZI member, Debra Dorrington.
Students for Climate Solutions JR appeal
Last year, Students for Climate Solutions judicially reviewed energy Minister Megan Woods’ decision to grant two permits to look for new oil and gas fields in Taranaki. They appealed the judgment that the decision was lawful and this appeal was heard on 28 April in the Court of Appeal. LCANZI Committee member, Dr James Every-Palmer KC, appeared pro bono as Counsel for the students and has reported that the hearing went well. We will update you when the judgment is published and in the meantime, here is the roadmap of arguments and here are the appellant’s submissions.
LCANZI submissions
This month our LCANZI subcommittees made a couple of submissions.
The first submission was by our Local Government subcommittee. On June 1st we submitted to the Electricity RMA project team on Consenting improvements for renewable energy generation and transmission. Here is an excerpt:
LCANZI agrees that if New Zealand is to meet its emission reduction targets, this will require a rapid expansion of renewable electricity generation and transmission infrastructure, which is vital for Aotearoa New Zealand’s shift to a low-emissions economy. LCANZI also agrees that New Zealand is fortunate to have access to significant renewable energy sources, but our current planning settings are not fit for purpose to meet the challenge faced.
You can read our full submission here.
The second submission was by our ETS subcommittee. On June 16th we submitted to the Ministry for the Environment on Annual updates to the NZ ETS limits and price control settings for units 2023 (consultation paper). The submission considers the requirement for the ETS settings to be in accordance with New Zealand’s NDC and the treatment of removals via forestry. You can read the submission here.
All of our submissions are available on our projects and resources page. If you are interested in joining any of our subcommittees please email admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.
LCANZI international issues subcommittee
We have a new chair for our international issues subcommittee, Bjørn-Oliver Magsig, who is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at the Law Faculty at Victoria University of Wellington. Bjørn-Oliver is keen to refresh the subcommittee and get some LCANZI work going in this area.
If you are interested in joining this subcommittee please contact admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.
Email issue
We had an issue with our domain and did not receive any emails to our lawyersforclimateaction email addresses on June 5th. The issue was quickly resolved but if you tried to contact us on June 5th please follow up with us.
Thank you for your ongoing support of LCANZI, we couldn’t do this mahi without our amazing members! We will check in again next month with another update.
LCANZI Committee