Climate change

NZ Moves to Block Climate Lawsuits Against Firms

Is this a corporate power grab or a necessary step to keep climate policy out of the courtroom?

Published MAY 13

NZ Moves to Block Climate Lawsuits Against Firms

Story

Above: New Zealand Justice Minister speaks in Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on March 6, 2024. Image credit: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

The Facts

New Zealand's government announced plans to amend the Climate Change Response Act 2002 to block civil lawsuits seeking to hold companies liable for harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions, with the changes applying to both current and future court proceedings.
ESG Today
Daily Telegraph NZ
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the move was intended to provide "legal clarity and certainty" for businesses, citing ongoing High Court litigation against six major companies as "creating uncertainty in business confidence and investment."
The Australian
Daily Telegraph NZ
Maori climate activist Mike Smith was granted permission by the Supreme Court in 2024 to sue dairy giant Fonterra and five other major emitters, which collectively account for roughly a third of New Zealand's emissions. The High Court hearing had been scheduled for April next year.
NZ Herald
RNZ
Lawyers for Climate Action president Jenny Cooper KC said the law change would leave New Zealanders with no avenue to claim damages against emitters, adding that the Climate Change Response Act and the Emissions Trading Scheme contain no mechanism for compensation for climate-related harm.
NZ Herald
RNZ
A separate legal challenge against Climate Change Minister Simon Watts — brought by Lawyers for Climate Action and the Environmental Law Initiative in March — is unaffected by the proposed changes. New Zealand's legally enshrined goal is to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
France 24
The Australian

Sources Split

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The Spin

Climate-concerned narrative

Blocking climate lawsuits mid-case is a blatant power grab that strips New Zealanders of their only real tool to hold major emitters accountable. The Climate Change Response Act and the Emissions Trading Scheme offer zero mechanism for compensation, so pulling the plug on tort claims leaves everyday people footing the bill for corporate pollution. Real business confidence comes from predictable law, not from government interference in active court cases.

RNZ

ESG Today

Climate-skeptic narrative

Tort law is simply not built to handle something as complex as climate change, which involves tangled environmental, economic and social factors that courts aren't equipped to untangle. New Zealand already has a functioning national framework, making piecemeal litigation redundant and damaging to investment. With the zero emissions goal already unlikely, any more changes to climate policy should be made in Parliament, not through activist lawsuits in the courtroom.

Centrist NZ

Daily Telegraph NZ