05 May 2020
Lawyers for Climate Change Action write to Cabinet
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc says that the Government has a legal obligation to use COVID-19 recovery funds to help New Zealand transition to a low-emissions and climate-resilient economy. The Association is seeking assurances from the Government that it will make the impact on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change resilience a core part of its assessment for post-Covid 19 stimulus spending.
The organisation says that this is a legal requirement under the Climate Change Response Act 2002 (as amended in 2019). The Act requires the Government to contribute to the global effort under the Paris Agreement to limit the temperature increase to less than 1.5° and to develop and implement policies for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc says that the Government has a legal obligation to use COVID-19 recovery funds to help New Zealand transition to a low-emissions and climate-resilient economy. The Association is seeking assurances from the Government that it will make the impact on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change resilience a core part of its assessment for post-Covid 19 stimulus spending.
The organisation says that this is a legal requirement under the Climate Change Response Act 2002 (as amended in 2019). The Act requires the Government to contribute to the global effort under the Paris Agreement to limit the temperature increase to less than 1.5° and to develop and implement policies for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Jenny Cooper QC, the organisation's president, says that these climate change commitments are so obviously material to Cabinet decisions on stimulus spending that failure to take them into account could render the decisions made unlawful.
