Climate Change and the Role of the Courts: Litigation and Mitigation in Aotearoa - New Zealand

• Date: 01 January 2023

231

Canterbury Law Review Student Prize 2022

CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ROLE OF THE

COURTS: LITIGATION AND MITIGATION IN

AOTEAROA – NEW ZEALAND



Mō tātou, ā , mo kā uri a muri ake nei

For us and for those who c ome after us



is paper addre sses the role of the cour ts in climate cha nge governance an d considers

possible ave nues for involving the cour ts to compel Government to wards climate change

action in Aotearo a New Zealand. e u se of tort arguments in climat e change litigation

and its applica bility in the New Zealand cour ts is argued as placing unte nable strain on

longstanding doctrines. Finally, the largely unexplored potential for administrative law

as a mechanis m for compelling the New Zeala nd Government to t ake climate action i s

explored, sug gesting that a public law a pproach is best placed to ac commodate the legally

disruptiv e nature of climate change.

I. Introduction

Global ant hropogenic cl imate chan ge poses a signi ficant risk t o the stabil ity

and life-s upporting ca pacity of natu ral syst ems and habitat s on Earth . Human

activit y has driven a s teep increa se of greenhouse ga s (GHG) emissions, res ulting

in accelerate d and unprecedent ed warmi ng of earth’s cli mate. This wa rming h as

led to many i rreversible and r apid changes in t he atmosphere,1 ocean, cr yosphere

1 Intergover nmental Panel on C limate Chang e (IPCC) Climate Chang e 2021: e Physical Scien ce

Base (Subject to F inal Editing) ( IPCC AR6 WGI 202 1) at 27.

* LLB(Hons)/BSC, L aw Clerk, Wynn Wi lliams. This a rticle is based on a d issertation su bmitted

in 2022 in pa rtial fu lfilment of the L LB Honours degree a t University of Ca nterbury. A short er

version of th is article is publ ished in (2023) 27 NZJE L (forthcoming) . The author is indebted t o

Associat e Professor El izabeth Mac pherson for her super vision. Em ail: Georg ina.lyes @gmail.

com.

232 [Vol 30, 2023]

and biosphere.2 The wa rming clima te is causing increa sed frequency and int ensity

of severe weather events,3 food insecur ity,4 the spread of di sease,5 destr uction of

habitat s, and displ acement of peoples.6 The se verity of t hese events and con sequences

is anticipat ed to increa se as the clim ate continues to w arm.7 These issue s are

cumulat ively contribut ing to grow ing globa l and local , social, a nd politica l tensions.8

The predicte d consequences of cli mate change h ave led to a slow real isation,

both inter nationally and domes tically, that le gal fra meworks and policies mu st be

put in place to m itigate, ad apt and build resi lience to the eects of ant hropogenic

climat e change. The slug gish progress ion from the discover y of climate change a s

an issue to t he development of specific target ed international a nd domestic policy

demonstrat es the slowness of thi s realisation .9

Despite the g rowth of int ernational c ommitments a nd national law s and policies

to address cl imate cha nge, there is st rong scientific ev idence that globa l action

to limi t GHG emissions is i nsucient.10 Cu rrent emission re duction targe ts will

likely resu lt in a global mean tem perature of 3 °C by 2100, r ather than “well below

2 degrees” as pr escribed by the Pa ris Agreement.11 Emi ssion reduction ta rgets are

not ambitious enou gh;12 current mea sures will n ot meet commitment s for emissions

reduction an d will not be enough t o prevent catastroph ic warming.13

2 At 7 and 9.

3 Peter Stot t “How climat e change aec ts extreme wea ther events” (2016) 352 S cience 1517.

4 Quirin S chiermeier “Que st for climate- proof farms” (2 015) 523 Nature 39 6.

5 Bernadet te Ramirez a nd others “Support for re search toward s understandi ng the population

health v ulnerabi lities to vec tor-borne di seases: incr easing res ilience under c limate cha nge

condition s in Africa” (2 017)6 Infectiou s Diseases of Pover ty 164.

6 Benoit Mayer “Who are “cl imate refugees”? ” in Simon Behrma n and Avidan Kent (ed) Climate

refugees: beyond the legal impasse? (Routledge , London, 2018) 89; C olin Sinda ll, Sel ina Lo and Tony

Capon “Gover nance for the wel l-being of f uture gener ations” (2021) 5 7 Journal of P aediatr ics and

Child Hea lth 1749; and S imon Behrm an and Avida n Kent “Who a re “climate r efugees”? ” in Simon

Behrma n and Avidan Ke nt (eds) Climate Refugees: Beyond the Legal Impasse? (Routledge, London,

2018) 89.

7 IPCC, a bove n 1.

8 Alice Blonde l Climate Change Fuelling Resource-Bases Conflicts in the Asia-Pacific (United Nat ions

Development Pr ogram 2012); a nd Jon Barnett a nd Neil Adger “Cli mate change , human secur ity

and violent c onflict” (200 7) 26 Politica l Geography 639 .

9 Oliver Milman “ Ex-Nasa scientist: 3 0 years on, world is fai ling ‘misera bly’ to address cli mate

change” (19 Ju ne 2018) the Gua rdian <ww w.theguard ian.com>.

10 Global Climate Litigation: 2020 Status Review (DEL/2333/ NA United Natio ns Environ ment

Progra m and Sabin Cen ter for Climat e Change Law 20 20) at 6.

11 Shaik h Eskander, Sa m Fankhau ser and Joana S etzer “Global L essons from Cl imate Cha nge

Legisl ation and Lit igation” (2021) 2 En vironment al and Energy Po licy and the Ec onomy 44 at 45.

12 Yann Robiou du Pont and M alte Meins hausen “War ming asses sment of the bott om-up Paris

Agreement e missions pledg es” (2018) 9 Nature Com munication s 4810.

13 IPCC Climate Cha nge 2022: Mitigati on of Climate Chan ge (IPCC AR6 WG II I 2022).

Climate Change and the Role of the Courts : Litigation and Mitigation

233

The inadequac y of climate ch ange action is re flected at the nat ional scale i n

Aotearoa New Zealand (Aote aroa).14 For over 30 years, Aotea roa has portraye d itself

as “clean, g reen” and “100% Pure” in ma rketing and adver tising.15 Fa ilure to comm it

in an eect ive way to address cl imate cha nge undermine s this “clean g reen” image,16

and the appea rance of Aotear oa as a leader of social a nd environmenta l change.17

Climat e commentators a rgue that climate act ion in Aotearoa is inadeq uate for

addressin g the globa l climat e crisis a nd will not mee t obligation s under inter national

commitm ents. Climat e Action Tracker r ates Aotear oa’s targets, pol icies, and fina nce

for climate ac tion as “highl y insucient” and st ates that action i n Aotearoa wi ll not

limit wa rming to 1.5 °C ,18 but put s the world on track for 3 °C of warm ing.19 The New

Zeala nd Climate Cha nge Commission con firmed thi s finding in thei r final advic e to

the Governm ent in 2021, where they con firmed that cu rrent Government pol icies do

not place the count ry on track for meeti ng 2050 targets .20

There is also g rowing publ ic consensus tha t government action on cl imate

change is wa nting. Th is consensus ca n be seen in the ever-i ncreasing pr evalence

and voracit y of climate activ ism, particu larly driven by youn g people, both global ly

14 Between 1 990 and 2019, gr oss emissions i n New Zealand i ncreased by 26 per c ent and between

2018 and 2019 by 2 p er cent, see: Mini stry for the Envi ronment “Key findi ngs of the 1990-2 019

Inventor y” (1 April 2021) <ht tps://environ ment.govt .nz>; New Zeal and is the six th-highe st

per capita em itter of CO2 a mong the Kyoto an nex 1 countrie s. As of 2015, the S ustain ability

Council of Ne w Zealand es timated a 4 2 per cent increa se of emissions a bove 1990 levels b y 2030,

compared w ith the Gover nment’s gross em ission ta rget of 10 per cent below 1 990 levels by 203 0.

The emission t rading sc heme is only est imated to r esult in a 0. 4 per cent reduct ion in emission s

by 2030 and t he agricu ltura l sector, despit e contribut ing 77 per c ent of emissions g rowth i n New

Zeala nd, are not par t of the emission t rading sc heme, see: Brya n R Jenkins “Bio physical Sys tem

Failur e Pathways at the R egional Sc ale” in Water Mana gement in New Zealan d’s Canterbury

Region: A Sustainability Framework (Springer Netherla nds, Dordre cht, 2018) 205 at 216 .

15 Floria n Kaefer “Credi bility at St ake? News Representati ons and Discu rsive Constr uctions of

National E nvironmen tal Reputa tion and Place Br and Image: The C ase of Clean, G reen New

Zeala nd” (PhD Thesis, Un iversity of Wai kato, 2014) at 150 .

16 Avri l Bell and other s A Land of Milk and Hon ey? (Auckland Un iversity P ress, 2017).

17 A otearoa was t he first independent c ountry to gi ve all adult women t he vote, the first Wes tern

Allie d country to b ecome nuclear f ree, the first c ountry to le gally gr ant a legal p ersonhood

to a river, recen tly banned all f urther petrole um exploration, and w as considered a leader in

the hand ling of the COVI D-19 pandemic. See “ World surage ti meline” (10 November 202 1) NZ

Histor y <https://nzhist ory.govt.nz>; “Nuc lear Free New Zeal and” Museum of New Zea land Te

Papa Tonga rewa <https://colle ctions.tepa pa.govt. nz>; Eleanor A inge “New Zea land bans a ll

new oshore oi l exploration as p art of ‘carbon-neutr al future’” (12 Apr il 2018) The Guardia n

<www.the guardia n.com>; and Suze W ilson “Pandem ic leadership: L essons from New Z ealand’s

approach to COV ID-19” (2020) 16 Leadersh ip 279; Matthias K ramm “When a Rive r Becomes a

Person” (2020) 21 Jou rnal of Hum an Development and C apabiliti es 307.

18 1.5 °C is a ta rget in the Pa ris Agreeme nt which is descr ibed in more deta il in secti on II.

19 Cl imate T racker is an NG O comprised o f three res earch org anisat ions that co nduct indepen dent

scientific a nalysis to com pare countries’ c arbon emissions w ith what is requ ired to reach the

1.5 °C or 2 °C targe ts: “Climate Ac tion Tracker: New Ze aland” Clim ate Action Tracker <ht tps://

climateac tiontracker.org>.

20 Zane Small a nd Amel ia Wade “Clim ate Cha nge Commi ssion’s fina l advice” Newshub (6 September

2021) <ww w.newshub.co.n z>.