Lawyers sue government over emissions, claiming plan misses the mark
A lawyer says hardly anyone thinks the government's plan to plant around 700,000 hectares of trees, mostly pines, is a good idea.
Photo:
RNZ / Kate Newton
A group of lawyers is suing the government over what they say are glaring holes in the country's emissions reduction plan.
Lobby group Lawyers for Climate Action NZ has launched the action against Climate Minister Simon Watts.
It alleges the government is failing to fulfil the basic legal requirements needed to meet its climate targets.
Lawyer Jessica Palairet who is the group's executive director said the main thrust was that the government was not meeting its obligations under the Zero Carbon Act.
It had obligations to make emissions remission plans every five years with "legal guardrails and requirements" that the Act imposed.
It was a precedent-setting case, she told
Morning Report
, because the legal guardrails would be scrutinised in court.
"This is the first time an emissions reductions plan like this has ever been challenged under New Zealand law.
"We ultimately think the plan the government has made is risky, unlawful and misses the mark," Palairet said.
The lawyers disputed the way the government had devised the plan, including that it had scrapped about 35 private policies without following the Act's policy.
Pine tree.
Photo:
RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The government was also relying heavily on tree planting, with around 700,000 hectares to be planted by 2050, mostly of pine trees.
"And it's pretty hard to find anyone who thinks that a good idea, including the government's own experts.
"So we're also taking issue with the way the government reached that decision but also whether or not such a tree-heavy strategy is consistent with the government's obligations."
The government's plan was failing to set the country up to meet future emissions targets "which we think is a pretty remarkable position".
Side-stepping advice from the independent Climate Change Commission, the government last year appointed its own scientific panel to tell it what level of cuts would be consistent with a goal of creating "no additional warming" from farming.
Both the commission and the lawyers believed the government was not making enough reforms to its centrepiece Emissions Trading Scheme, Palairet said.
The commission had also been critical of the reliance of tree planting.
"So this certainly forms part of the fabric of the case that we're going to be bringing."
RNZ has approached Watts for comment.
Last week Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called international scientists "worthies" for
criticising the government's approach to methane
.
Luxon received a letter from 26 international climate change scientists
accusing the government of "ignoring scientific evidence"
over plans to lower its methane target.
New Zealand has one of the highest per-capita methane rates in the world because of its farming exports and the current target is reducing methane by between 24 and 47 percent by 2050.
Luxon denied he was dismissing science or deflecting attention from this country's farming emissions.
"What a load of rubbish, my point was very clear, those scientists can write to leaders of 194 countries before they send it to me," he said.
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