Three days of hearing in the Wellington High Court in Lawyers for Climate Action and Environmental Law Initiative v Minister of Climate Change, concluded this afternoon.

The Minister was required by law to have a high level of confidence that New Zealand’s carbon budget would be met. However, the advice from his officials showed the chances of achieving the second emissions budget were not much better than a ‘coin toss’.

A landmark High Court hearing opens today as the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) and Lawyers for Climate Action NZ challenge Climate Change Minister Simon Watts over decisions they say breach the law and endanger Aotearoa New Zealand’s climate goals.

Z Energy has apologised for any confusion caused by aspects of its advertising campaign, which claimed it was moving with the times and in the business of getting out of the petrol business. 

Our submission to the Ministry for the Environment on their proposed changes to provisions for wetlands in the coastal marine area (CMA).

Our submission to Ministry for Environment on the 2022 Exposure drafts of the NPS-FM and NES-F: “Managing our Wetlands” and Technical Amendments.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) is in the process of making targeted amendments to several pieces of conservation legislation, particularly the Conservation Act 1987, the National Parks Act 1980, and the Reserves Act 1977.

In ELI’s view, however, these reforms misdiagnose problems, and overlook the core issues hampering DOC from effectively doing its job. Read our full submission here.

Read our submission on MfE’s consultation to improve environmental reporting.

ELI is concerned at proposals to invoke a special procedure to review the status of public Stewardship Land. As presently set up, the Government’s proposed measures for carrying out this review suffer from a number of shortcomings which could see large swathes of precious public land disposed of to mining interests. Read our full submission to DOC here.

Our submission to MfE on why we must prioritise the restoration and conservation of wetlands and peatlands into our emissions reductions approach.

Why the NBEB must be redrafted to ensure a pivotal role for independent science.

Biodiversity underpins the wellbeing of all life on Earth. Following the failed Aichi targets of 2010, how can we ensure that the targets set out in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework are stronger and more effective?

Biodiverse ecosystems are, quite literally, lifesaving. Here's why we cannot separate ourselves, nor our financial markets, from this fragile equation.