What we do

law reform

Getting the right laws and policies in place is critical. We advocate for ambitious, meaningful, and smart law and policy reforms to ensure more effective climate action.

Our Mahi

    • First emissions reduction plan:

      • Letter to the Minister of Climate Change on failure to follow legal requirements regarding the First Emissions Reduction Plan in 2024 (1 July 2024)

      • Article LCANZI cited in The Guardian: “New Zealand will fail to meet 2050 net zero targets, data shows, after climate policies scrapped” (18 July 2024)

      • Press releaseGovernment’s Emissions Reduction Plan Consultation, (13 October 2021)

      • Submission Emissions Reduction Plan Consultation (24 November 2021)

    • Second Emissions Reduction Plan:

      • Submission on ERP2 (21 August 2024)

      • Submission: On Climate Change Commission’s draft advice on the second emissions reduction plan, 20 June 2023

    • Submission: Proposed ETS unit and price settings (14 June 2024)

    • Submission: Te Arotake Mahere Hokohoko Tukunga Review of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (discussion document) ( 11 August 2023)

    • Article: “Government ordered to review Emissions Trading Scheme settings following successful Lawyers for Climate Action legal challenge” (14 July 2023)

    • Submission: Annual updates to the NZ ETS limits and price control settings for units 2023 (consultation paper) (16 June 2023)

    • Submission: Climate Change Response (Late Payment Penalties and Industrial Allocation) Amendment Bill (6 April 2023)

    • Submission: He waka eke noa, pricing agricultural emissions (18 November 2022)

    • Submission: National direction for plantation and exotic carbon afforestation (NESPF) (18 November 2022)

    • Submission: Proposed changes to NZ ETS limit and price control settings for units for 2022 (6 October 2022)

    • Submission: Managing exotic afforestation incentives in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (22 April 2022)

    • Submission: Reforming industrial allocation in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (17 September 2021)

    • Submission: Designing a governance framework for the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (17 September 2021)

    • Submission: Reforming the NZ ETS: Proposed Settings (28 February 2020)

    • Article: Emissions Trading Scheme won’t achieve needed cut in emissions (4 March 2020)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission on proposed amendments to Climate Related Disclosures Regime (4 December 2025)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission to External Reporting Board on international alignment of climate-related disclosures (13 June 2025)

    • Letter: LCANZI letter to the new Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs addressing issues with proposed reforms and suggesting alternatives (25 February 2025)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission on proposed amendments to the climate-related disclosures regime (14 February 2025)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission to the External Reporting Board opposing proposed rollbacks to the Climate-Related Disclosures regime (30 October 2024)

    • Letter: LCANZI letter to Minister Andrew Bayly regarding proposed changes to Climate-Related Disclosures Regime (23 September 2024)

    • Letter to FMA about the “1.5 degree scenario” analysis used by many reporting entities, 22 July 2024

    • Submission: LCANZI submission to XRB final consultation on climate-related disclosures (27 September 2022)

    • Stuff article: Explained: Why The Warehouse will have to reveal its climate position but Farmers won't (LCANZI interview, 9 July 2022)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission on XRB strategy and metrics consultation document (2 May 2022)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission to XRB on the Climate-related Disclosures Governance and Risk Management Consultation Document (22 November 2021)

    • Press release: LCANZI calls on government to better fund FMA climate role (5 November 2021)

    • Submission: LCANZI submission to MBIE to better fund FMA climate role (5 November 2021)

    • Submission to the Select Committee on the Bill that introduces the Climate-Related Financial Disclosures regime (28 May 2021)

    • Factsheet on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, 9 March 2021 (updated 19 April 2021)

    • Submission: Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Discussion document (13 December 2019)

    • Endorsement: LCANZI endorsement of Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (8 August 2019)

    • Submission on the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment (Duty to Provide Financial Services) Amendment Bill [Woke Banks Bill], arguing that banks should be allowed to take climate change into account when making lending decisions without added red tape and justifications based on “commercial” arguments.

    • Article and Presentation: “Is New Zealand’s Companies Act ready for the future?” (19 December 2024)

    • Letter: Letter to Minister Andrew Bayly on Companies Act reforms, against proposed repeal of directors’ duties provision (23 September 2024)

    • Submission: Submission on Companies (Directors Duties) Amendment Bill (17 January 2023)

    • Submission: Submission to NZX on corporate governance code (1 February 2022)

    • Article: The Directors Duties Member's Bill – another distraction from real climate action? Emma Geard (3 November 2021)

    • All Aboard! submission on the Auckland Council draft Regional Land Transport Plan (2 May 2021)

    • Radio interview by Corin Dann from Morning Report of LCANZI President, Jenny Cooper QC and Dewy Sacayan (Generation Zero campaigner and lawyer) regarding our submission, (5 May 2021)

    • Stuff article: Lawyers say Auckland plan is 'unlawful' and emissions-boosting, by Todd Niall (5 May 2021)

    • Letter to the Board of Auckland Transport about the draft Regional Land Transport Plan (18 May 2021)

    • Spinoff article where we note the unlawfulness of the plan (29 May 2021)

    • Press release: Climate advocacy groups call on Government to dump Mill Road and give effect to Zero Carbon Act (25 March 2021)

    • Press release: Transport decision-makers unwilling to walk the talk on climate (12 March 2021)

    • Letter to Auckland Transport: Highlighting their legal obligations in relation to climate change (16 June 2020)

    • Open letter to de-carbonise Auckland Transport by 2030 (in support of Generation Zero) (23 September 2020)

    • Stuff article (by the All Aboard! Campaign): Transforming transport or climate is key to reducing emissions in Auckland (18 December 2020)

    • Submission on Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill (13 February 2026)

    • Submission on proposed National Direction and RMA reform (27 July 2025)

    • Submission: Opposing Fast-Track Approvals Bill on climate grounds, calling for integration of climate considerations (19 April 2024)

    • Submission: Consenting improvements for renewable electricity generation and transmission (1 June 2023)

    • Submission: Natural and Build Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill (5 February 2023)

    • Letter to Minister: Call for urgent amendments to RMA to enable effect on climate to be considered (9 October 2019)

    • Submission: LCANZI Submission on COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-Track Consenting) Bill 2020 (21 June 2020)

    • Letter: LCANZI letter to Minister David Parker on issues relating to judicial processes and environmental protection under the proposed Covid-19 recovery (Fast Track Consenting) Bill (22 May 2020)

    • Submission: Transforming the Resource Management System (3 February 2020)

    • Submission: Encouraging measures to address climate change as part of freshwater management (31 October 2019)

    • Letter Joint ENGOs letter to the Minister for Climate Change regarding methane target review

    • Report: We commissioned a report from Kapiti Climate Insights outlining the issues if the Government follows through with weakening New Zealand’s split-gas biogenic methane target in line with a highly controversial “no additional warming”. The report shows how this is out of step with the rest of the world, could be contrary to the Paris Agreement, and would allow New Zealand to continue emitting high levels of methane.

    • Article: Interview with LCANZI, “Self-Serving Methane Change Could Mix Science with Political Views” (3 December 2024)

    • Press Release on Proposed Weakening of Methane Target (28 November 2024)

    • Letter: Responding to DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb NZ and Federated Farmers, writing to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment highlighting potential legal issues were New Zealand to adopt a GWP*/no additional warming based methane target

    • Submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill (30 June 2025)

    • Submission on Proposed Regulatory Standards Bill (13 January 2025)

    • Letter on LNG Import Facility (11 February 2026)

    • Submission on Government Procurement Rule Changes (8 April 2025)

The Right to a Sustainable Environment

Everyone has the right to a sustainable environment that is protected for the benefit of present and future generations.

We support the recognition of the right to a sustainable environment within the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

NZBORA provides significant protection for human rights in New Zealand. The right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society, and we must expressly recognise this right. This would be an important change to our legal framework that would promote Government action consistent with a sustainable environment and facilitate New Zealand’s transition to a low-emissions economy. 

We have been advocating for the right to a sustainable environment since we first formed in 2019. We gave the proposal and an open letter signed by 60 Queen’s Counsel to the Minster for Climate Change. Our advocacy efforts resulted in a members’ bill being debated into Parliament in early 2024.

  • Read our full proposal for a new right to be introduced into the New Zealand Bill of Rights here.

  • Including the right to a sustainable environment in NZBORA would embed protection of the natural environment alongside other fundamental rights and freedoms. It would mean: 

    • Existing legislation would be interpreted in line with the right to a sustainable environment

    • Decisions by Government agencies that affect the right to a sustainable environment would be subject to greater scrutiny

    • Any new legislation would have to comply with the right to a sustainable environment

  • Climate change poses a significant, validated and urgent threat to the rights and freedoms of individuals in New Zealand. Globally, there is an increased awareness of the impact humans are having on the planet, and the long-term devastating risks of climate change. 149 countries include explicit references to environmental rights and/or environmental responsibilities in their constitutional documents, with the International Court of Justice describing this right as “a vital part of contemporary human rights doctrine”. We must take stronger action now to align with New Zealand’s obligations under the Paris Agreement, and protect our environment for future generations.  

  • You can read the open letter signed by 60 Queen’s Counsel here.

  • On 9 April 2024, ahead of the proposal being debated in Parliament, we worked with 16 other NGOs to sign a letter in support of our proposal for new right to a sustainable environment being introduced into the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, which you can read here.

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