The UN's former top environment and human rights diplomat says an international climate decision in favour of Torres Strait Islanders will influence domestic courts and international tribunals.
The Australian Institute of Company Directors says board members will need additional legal protections to comply with new global climate and sustainability reporting standards.
Pacific Island Forum foreign ministers including Penny Wong have backed Vanuatu's proposal to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of climate change.
After winning a key legal battle with the NSW EPA last year, a group known as the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action is taking the state's Independent Planning Commission to court.
The Australian Conservation Foundation is taking Woodside to the Federal Court, seeking an injunction that would halt further work on the company's Scarborough gas project.
There will be important flow-on effects from an appeal court ruling that Environment Minister Sussan Ley doesn't owe a climate change duty of care to young people, according to leading environmental lawyers.
Three judges of the Full Federal Court have today unanimously rejected a lower court finding that Environment Minister Sussan Ley owed a climate change duty of care to young people.