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RNZ News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Lawyers sue government over emissions, claiming plan misses the mark
A lawyer says hardly anyone thinks the government's plan to plant around 700,000 hectares of trees, mostly pines, is a good idea. Photo: RNZ / Kate Newton A group of lawyers is suing the government over what they say are glaring holes in the country's emissions reduction plan. Lobby group Lawyers for Climate Action NZ has launched the action against Climate Minister Simon Watts. It alleges the government is failing to fulfil the basic legal requirements needed to meet its climate targets. Lawyer Jessica Palairet who is the group's executive director said the main thrust was that the government was not meeting its obligations under the Zero Carbon Act. It had obligations to make emissions remission plans every five years with "legal guardrails and requirements" that the Act imposed. It was a precedent-setting case, she told Morning Report , because the legal guardrails would be scrutinised in court. "This is the first time an emissions reductions plan like this has ever been challenged under New Zealand law. "We ultimately think the plan the government has made is risky, unlawful and misses the mark," Palairet said. The lawyers disputed the way the government had devised the plan, including that it had scrapped about 35 private policies without following the Act's policy. Pine tree. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King The government was also relying heavily on tree planting, with around 700,000 hectares to be planted by 2050, mostly of pine trees. "And it's pretty hard to find anyone who thinks that a good idea, including the government's own experts. "So we're also taking issue with the way the government reached that decision but also whether or not such a tree-heavy strategy is consistent with the government's obligations." The government's plan was failing to set the country up to meet future emissions targets "which we think is a pretty remarkable position". Side-stepping advice from the independent Climate Change Commission, the government last year appointed its own scientific panel to tell it what level of cuts would be consistent with a goal of creating "no additional warming" from farming. Both the commission and the lawyers believed the government was not making enough reforms to its centrepiece Emissions Trading Scheme, Palairet said. The commission had also been critical of the reliance of tree planting. "So this certainly forms part of the fabric of the case that we're going to be bringing." RNZ has approached Watts for comment. Last week Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called international scientists "worthies" for criticising the government's approach to methane . Luxon received a letter from 26 international climate change scientists accusing the government of "ignoring scientific evidence" over plans to lower its methane target. New Zealand has one of the highest per-capita methane rates in the world because of its farming exports and the current target is reducing methane by between 24 and 47 percent by 2050. Luxon denied he was dismissing science or deflecting attention from this country's farming emissions. "What a load of rubbish, my point was very clear, those scientists can write to leaders of 194 countries before they send it to me," he said.
RNZ News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Lawyers sue govt over emissions reduction plan
environment 27 minutes ago Lawyers for Climate Action NZ have launched action against Climate Minister Simon Watts over country's emissions reduction plan. The group's executive director Jessica Palairet spoke to Corin Dann.
E&E News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
New Zealand greens sue government over climate plan
A coalition of climate attorneys is suing New Zealand's climate minister in what is being billed as the first case in the world to challenge a government's reliance on tree planting to achieve climate targets. Lawyers for Climate Action NZ and the Environmental Law Initiative filed suit Tuesday in the High Court of New Zealand, alleging that the country's emissions reduction plan isn't aggressive enough to meet the requirements of a 2002 climate law. 'The world's leading scientists have made clear that this is the critical decade for climate action — but the New Zealand government has been quietly cutting climate policies, and relying on planting pine trees as an alternative,' Lawyers for Climate Action NZ said in a statement. Advertisement The groups argue that since taking office in 2023, the government led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has canceled 35 climate policies and actions which were part of a recent emissions reduction plan — without consulting the public, as required by law.
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
New Zealand government sued over ‘dangerously inadequate' emissions reduction plan
Hundreds of top environment lawyers are suing the New Zealand government over what they say is its 'dangerously inadequate' plan to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. It is the first time the country's emissions reduction plan has faced litigation, and the lawyers believe it is the first case globally that challenges the use of forestry to offset emissions. Lawyers for Climate Action NZ and the Environmental Law Initiative – two groups representing more than 300 lawyers – filed judicial review proceedings against the government in Wellington's high court on Tuesday. The groups have provided the Guardian with first access to the claim, which argues the government has abandoned dozens of tools to tackle emissions, failed to adequately consult the public, and too heavily relies on high-risk carbon capture strategies such as forestry. The government's plan was 'fundamentally unambitious' and a 'dangerous regression' for the country, Jessica Palairet, the president of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ told the Guardian. 'As it stands, the government's emissions reduction plan will carry huge consequences for our country. We don't take this step lightly, but the plan needs to be challenged,' Palairet said. The plan must be robust and transparent, in line with the country's chief climate law – the climate change response (zero carbon) amendment act – she said. In 2019, the Labour government passed that landmark climate legislation committing the nation to reducing its domestic carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and meeting its commitments under the Paris climate accords. Governments are legally required to set an emission reductions plan every five years detailing how New Zealand will meet its greenhouse gas targets. The right-wing coalition government has committed to the 2050 net zero emissions target. Its first emissions reduction plan released in December – shows New Zealand is on track to reach emissions targets up until 2030, but will not meet the targets in five years after. The government said it will address those targets in 2030. The plan also says the country is also on track to meet its long-term emissions goal but climate experts warn the government's methods could end up derailing progress. The legal claim includes two primary challenges. The first argues the government tossed out dozens of credible climate policies – including the clean car discount and a gas transition plan – and did not adequately consult the public over the changes. The lawyers also claim that the government is relying on 'high risk' methods such as planting hundreds of thousands of hectares of introduced pine trees to offset emissions, and capturing carbon underground, with few alternatives to fall back on if something goes wrong. Some experts have warned achieving a net reduction in emissions primarily through planting trees is impossible to sustain in the long term, as forests could be destroyed though fire or extreme weather and do not store carbon for ever. Dr Christina Hood, the head of energy and climate policy consultancy Compass Climate, told the Guardian the government's emissions reduction plan was 'incredibly shortsighted'. Hood said there is an assumption that as long as New Zealand plants trees, it can emit as much as it likes, but warned that was a 'blinkered' approach that ignores the future. 'In our law … there's a responsibility to meet all of the targets, not just the current one.' While New Zealand's total contribution to global emissions is small at 0.17%, its gross emissions per capita are high. The country has also been among the world's worst performers on emission increases. Between 1990 and 2018, its emissions rose 57% – the second-greatest increase of all industrialised countries. Climate scientists and environment groups are worried the government's broader environmental agenda will derail the country's ability to reduce emissions and protect its unique species. Since taking office, the government has promised to restart offshore oil and has set aside $200m of its budget to invest in gas exploration. It plans to boost mineral exports to $3bn by 2035, at the same time it has slashed funding to conservation and climate initiatives. The controversial new fast-track law that is pushing through major infrastructure projects, including mining, has been described as 'egregiously damaging' for the environment and risks a path towards a greener future. The minister of climate change, Simon Watts, would not be commenting on the judicial review, as the matter is now before the courts, his office told the Guardian. The Green Party is backing the claim because the government's plan 'is not worth the paper that it is written on', its co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick told the Guardian. Climate litigation as a form of activism is gaining momentum around the world. In 2024 the high court found the UK government's climate action plan was unlawful, as there was not enough evidence that there were sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Palairet hopes this case will force the government to come up with a new plan. 'The reason why we take a case like this to a court is to scrutinise and question whether the government statements match up with reality.'
