LCANZI Newsletter - March 2022
Kia ora koutou,
This has been a busy and exciting month for LCANZI with the hearing of our Judicial Review of the Climate Change Commission and Minister for Climate Change. Please see our March newsletter below for an update of the last month.
Climate Change Commission Judicial Review
The Judicial Review hearing ran from February 28 to March 4. We were very happy with how the hearing went, but will need to await the Judge’s decision to find out the outcome. We want to express our gratitude to our experts, Gilbert Walker, and others who provided pro bono assistance, we would not have been able to bring these proceedings without their generous assistance.
It’s a big call for a small organisation to take something like this on, but following the hearing we remain firmly of the view it was the right thing to do. We are hopeful of a positive outcome from the Court, but, if nothing else, we have highlighted the gulf between headline apparent ambition and meaningful action that has long undermined Aotearoa’s climate policy.
There was extensive media coverage of the hearing. Links to some of the stories are below:
NZ herald: Lawyers challenge climate change commission’s advice on emissions reduction
Stuff: Climate Commission and Ministry defend slow steady carbon cuts for NZ
Stuff: Why the Climate Change Commission is being taken to court
Stuff: Climate Change Commission fell “well short in carbon-cutting advice, lawyers argue
RNZ: Lawyers challenge Climate Change Commission’s advice on emissions reduction
IPCC 2022 Report released
Last week, the 2022 IPCC report was released. The report found the earth’s climate has now warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius towards the critical 1.5 degrees we need to limit climate change to in order to avoid an environmental disaster. On current projections, this threshold will be crossed not long after 2030. The report concluded humanity’s best options now are rapidly speeding up efforts to keep the planet under 1.5-2 Celsius heating, and getting ready to adapt to the inevitable changes quickly – while abandoning head-in-the-sand development strategies that lock in higher losses.
The report estimated that between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people globally live in vulnerable places, with poor and already-vulnerable people more exposed. Unsustainable development is putting more people at risk all the time. As the Earth warms further, multiple hazards will hit at the same time, and interact with non-climate hazards to worsen the overall danger.
The report summary ended with the following statement from representatives of over 200 governments:
Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted, anticipatory global action... will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.
Eloise Gibson of Stuff has published a summary of the report.
Make your submissions!
As the IPCC report states, the time for climate action is now. Central and local government are currently taking submissions for projects that will impact New Zealand’s response to climate change. Take this opportunity to have your say!
All members:
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has recently commenced consultation on changes to the forestry settings under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). You can read more about this here.
Auckland members:
Auckland Council’s Climate Action Targeted Rate is also currently out for consultation. We need people to show strong support for it to be included in the final budget. If you only have a few seconds to spare, then you can go to the consultation form, click ‘support’ on the first question, scroll down and click ‘save and continue’ and fill in your details. Generation Zero and 350 Aotearoa have made a helpful submission guide if you would like to make a detailed submission.
Christchurch members:
Environment Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) are similarly proposing a future levy to fund action in response to climate change. All you need to do is answer two questions: whether you support the levy and what projects would you like to see funded. You can make your submission as simple or detailed as you like. Visit their website to read more about the levy and find the submission instructions.
Our Carbon Footprint
LCANZI is thoughtful about its carbon footprint and seeks to reduce it where possible. Some of the things we do are meet online rather than in person, and minimise air travel (and buy carbon offsets when we do travel by air). We would encourage all lawyers to do the same.
We have also attempted to quantify our carbon footprint. For more information on how to approach this see the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard which provides a step-by-step guide for companies to use in quantifying and reporting their GHG emissions.
This proved to be a difficult question conceptually, but we decided to adopt a proxy to figure out our footprint. We estimated our footprint by saying conservatively we were responsible for no more than an average New Zealand household worth of emissions. This amounts to 2.0 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-e) per capita or 8.0 tonnes per family of four (inclusive of 1-2 return flights a year between Auckland and Wellington at 124 kg CO2 per round trip).
Overall, we want to demonstrate the importance of understanding your organisation’s carbon footprint. However, we believe that systemic change is the most important way to solve climate change.
Ngā mihi maioha for your support and we will update you again soon.
Kia pai tō rā whakatā!
LCANZI Committee