Government considers sidelining Commission: LCANZI’s Response

Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc is alarmed that the Government is considering removing the Climate Change Commission’s statutory role advising on Emissions Reduction Plans (ERPs), as revealed in media reports on Friday.

Any such move would undermine New Zealand’s climate governance framework.

Under the Climate Change Response Act 2002, the Climate Change Commission provides independent, expert advice on ERPs.

This is a critically important aspect of New Zealand’s climate governance framework. It helps ensure that the Minister is properly advised on how New Zealand can meet its binding climate targets and have a thriving, resilient, and low emissions future.

Removing this function would weaken the Commission’s role. It would reduce scrutiny of government decision-making, reduce the quality of information available to the public, and remove some of New Zealand’s most senior expert voices from being able to advise on critical climate policy decisions.

Any such change could also be viewed as highly cynical. One of the reasons the Climate Change Commission exists is to provide impartial, independent advice free from political interference. In its last ERP advice, the Commission made several recommendations that the Government chose to ignore - from reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme, to expanding the scope of the Equitable Transitions Strategy (which the Government ended up scrapping entirely). 

The Commission has also recently provided strong advice against NZ adopting a ‘no additional warming’ methane target. Meanwhile, the Government established its own so-called ‘independent’ methane science review panel that proposed weakening our methane target, adopting a highly controversial ‘no additional warming’ metric.

The Commission’s role providing independent advice on ERPs, not subject to political influence or interference, is incredibly valuable and should be preserved at all costs.

In addition, one of the biggest strengths of our climate framework law was that it was passed with hard-fought, bipartisan support in 2019. To preserve policy stability and certainty, the Minister must ensure any changes to the Climate Change Response Act 2002 are made with cross-party support - not pushed through without the support of the opposition.

Weakening the Commission’s role would send yet another concerning signal to the international community about New Zealand’s commitment to climate action and its international legal obligations. It also risks undermining investors’ confidence in New Zealand as a stable place to grow their businesses. 

We call on the Government to abandon any proposal to remove or reduce the Climate Change Commission’s advisory role on ERPs, and to commit to maintaining the Commission’s independence and full statutory functions. 

Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc is a registered charity and incorporated society that uses the law to drive action on climate change. They currently have judicial review proceedings with ELI against the Minister for Climate Change, challenging the Second Emissions Reduction Plan.