Open letter to the NZ Government: Climate tort law prohibition
This morning, leading environmental NGOs, lawyers, climate scientists and legal academics from across Aotearoa and internationally have written to the Government urging it to abandon proposed amendments to the Climate Change Response Act to limit legal liability for damage caused by climate change impacts.
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ delivered the joint letter to Ministers this morning. The letter is signed by 118 New Zealand and international civil society organisations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, and organisations from across Europe, the US and Asia.* It has also been signed by a large number of prominent academics, both from New Zealand and abroad, including Oxford, Chicago, Melbourne, Imperial College London, and many more.
The breadth and weight of support behind this letter speaks for itself. It is heartening to see this level of unified opposition from civil society, student groups, leading international organisations and senior academics from New Zealand and across the world - and it is a measure of how serious this decision is.
reasons for the open letter
The Government’s proposal would undermine New Zealand’s international legal obligations and cut across basic principles of the rule of law, such as the principle against removing rights retrospectively and the right to have disputes determined by the courts.
“Different governments will always have different priorities and policies when it comes to climate change - that is the prerogative of an elected Parliament. But this decision is different. It affects the rules that we all rely on to ensure our rights are recognised and to hold decision-makers to account. This is not just about the climate - it’s about protecting a fundamental aspect of our democracy.”
Laura MacKay - Senior Lawyer - Climate & Energy Transition | Acting Executive Director
The Supreme Court recognised that Mr Smith’s claim will face obstacles, however it was unanimous in its decision that he should have his day in court. Instead of allowing for that to proceed, the Government has instead announced its intention to cut the case off at the knees, removing Mr Smith’s right to have his case heard on the law as it stood at the time it was filed.
It is a widely recognised convention in New Zealand that the law should have a prospective, not retrospective effect. Retrospective laws can only be justified on the basis of strong public interest. This is clearly not the case here. Instead the proposed amendment will act to shield a small number of companies from the risk of liability at the expense of the public interest in being able to hold large polluters to account for the harm they cause.
The reason this announcement has generated so much international attention is because a strong rule of law is a common requirement across all democracies. Backsliding on this by a country such as New Zealand - traditionally recognised as having a strong rule of law - is bound to raise significant global concern. In addition, New Zealand has in the past enjoyed a good reputation on environmental issues - that is increasingly at risk in light of the ongoing weakening of our climate response.
*Notes: There were 118 signatures at the 8:00am Tuesday 19 May.
If you would like to add your signature to the open letter, please email Laura MacKay (Senior Energy Lawyer and acting Executive Director): laura@lawyersforclimateaction.nz
We will upload a new version of the letter every few hours to reflect additional signatures.
For media enquiries please also contact Laura MacKay at the above email.
