Kia ora koutou,

It’s been a big month in the climate action space! Please see our November newsletter below.

More New Zealand climate litigation!

A group of University students from Students for Climate Solutions have filed a law suit this week against the Minister of Energy’s June 2021 decision to grant onshore fossil fuel permits in Taranaki. The case was also worked on with Taranaki Energy Watch and Climate Justice Taranaki.

Spokesperson Ri Comer said, “we are using the law to challenge the government’s lack of consideration of the science, that it is completely unreasonable to keep drilling for oil for another ten years.” Phoebe Nikolaou, whāngai to Ngā Ruahine and Ngā Rauru, Law student and a founding member of Students for Climate Solutions said “Aotearoa New Zealand has an active obligation to protect its Indigenous Peoples and Pacific neighbours. If the government says that it is meeting this obligation, it is delusional at best, and lying at worst. These permits are a testament to that.” You can read their full media release here. You can read more about Students for Climate Solutions on their website.

This climate litigation follows LCANZI’s ongoing judicial review of the Climate Change Commission’s advice earlier this year. We hope to see this climate litigation continue to keep pushing the New Zealand government to do better.

New Zealand awarded fossil of the day at COP26

COP26 started at the beginning of this month in Glasgow. This event is the conference of the parties who signed the 2015 Paris Agreement coming together to decide what the specific rules should be in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees. Meeting this goal is essential in order to avoid catastrophic climate change and COP26 is crucial to determine how each country will do their part to achieve it. It is well known that New Zealand has been drastically underperforming in terms of our climate action to meet the 1.5 degree target, we have been rated as ‘highly insufficient’ by the Climate Action Tracker.

Today is the last day of COP26 and the Climate Action Network (CAN) gave New Zealand the second place fossil of the day award when James Shaw (NZ’s Climate Minister) stated that just because a refreshing of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) has been asked of countries “it doesn’t mean we have to.” New Zealand has also been a roadblock in setting limits on carbon offsetting in Article 6 showing that our government is clearly not taking their domestic emissions reduction role seriously. Expectations were understandably high at this crucial COP and New Zealand’s contribution has been disappointing.

Creative accounting makes NDC look better than it is

One of the requirements under the Paris Agreement is for each country to outline their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The NDC states the country’s emissions reduction commitment. New Zealand released its updated NDC the day before COP26. It states that our 2030 net emissions will be 50% below 2005 gross emissions, this is a significant improvement on our previous NDC but it is not as good as it sounds. There is a disconnect between the headline figure of 50% and the actual effect on New Zealand’s emissions because we have chosen two accounting methodologies to express our NDC to make it sound more ambitious than it is. LCANZI Committee Member, James Every-Palmer QC, has summarised this creative accounting in our press release which you can read here.

Climate Change Commission Judicial Review update

Earlier this month, in light of the latest NDC, LCANZI filed an amended Statement of Claim in our judicial review proceedings against the Climate Change Commission (the ‘Commission’) and the Minister for Climate Change. This amendment also challenges the new NDC to the extent that it relies on the Commission’s NDC advice. LCANZI believes that the Commission’s NDC advice contains a mathematical error which means that the NDC is based on an error. You can read more about this error in our press release. You can also read our amended statement of claim here.

Whether the Commission’s approach makes its advice, and the new NDC, unlawful is a matter for determination by the Court. The judicial review application is scheduled for hearing starting on 28 February 2022.

Director’s Duties members bill - another distraction from real climate action?

The Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill (the ‘Bill’) was introduced to Parliament last month seeking to amend the statutory duty to act in good faith and what the director believes to be the best interests of the company. The intention of the Bill is to clarify that directors may take into account a broader range of matters than economic interests of shareholders in determining the best interests of the company. Emma Geard, a member of LCANZI’s Director’s Duties Sub-committee, has written in depth about whether this Bill will empower boards to take the climate action that is so desperately needed. You can read this article here.

The LCANZI Director’s Duties Sub-committee is currently working on a submission for the Director’s Duties Bill. If you would like to volunteer for this Sub-committee please email admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz.

LCANZI calls government to better fund FMA’s climate role

This month LCANZI made a submission to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in response to MBIE’s consultation on funding options for the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in relation to its responsibilities under the new climate related disclosures (CRD) regime. LCANZI rejected both of the two potential funding options proposed by MBIE for the CRD role and called for Crown funding at least equivalent to that being proposed for the Financial Markets Conduct of Institutions regime under the same consultation. The FMA will be responsible for monitoring and enforcing the new CRD regime, more information about the FMA’s role can be found here.

You can read LCANZI’s press release which further summarises our submission here.
You can read the submission written by LCANZI’s Climate Related Disclosures Sub-committee here.
If you would like to join our Climate Related Disclosures Sub-committee please email admin@lawyersforclimateaction.nz

Professional Bodies Climate Action Charter

LCANZI has recently signed the Professional Bodies Climate Action Charter as a supporter. Professionals have a duty to protect the public interest in honouring the Paris Agreement to limit global temperatures below 1.5 degrees. This charter aims to create more collective climate ambition through interdisciplinary coordination. LCANZI supports the pledge for professional bodies to chart the path of sustainability for their members, speak with a unified voice and empower and inspire their members to drive sustainable growth.

You can read more about the Professional Bodies Climate Action Charter here.

LCANZI SGM to amend our Rules

The LCANZI Committee have been considering some amendments to our Rules to reflect how our purpose and focus has evolved since we were incorporated in 2019. The Society will need to vote on these amendments at an SGM. Formal notification of the SGM date and proposed rule changes will be circulated to members shortly.

Ngā mihi maioha for your support and we will update you again soon.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā!

LCANZI Committee

LCANZI Newsletter - November 2021