Browsing: Climate litigation

• Wong – 'we won't delay'
  
• Focus on big wins from forest protection, urges Hunt
  
• Wong seeks climate change adaptation experts
  
• 'Power companies can be sued' – U.S. Appeals Court overturns emissions ruling
  
• EU proposes list of at-risk industries
  
• NPI primer now available

The threats posed by climate change warrant an 'interventionist approach' by courts and they can have a 'catalytic effect' on legislators, says the Chief Judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court, Brian Preston.

The peak body representing the upstream oil and gas industry has warned that expanding the EPBC Act's ability to consider the indirect impacts of a project could lead to courts becoming de facto regulators of greenhouse gas emissions.

The NSW Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that the state's planning minister doesn't have to consider principles of ecologically sustainable development in granting approvals, overturning a lower court ruling that quashed approval for a coastal residential development plan due to the minister's failure to consider climate change-related flood risk.

• Garrett canvasses views on Anvil Hill coal mine decision
  
• Water diversions under EPBC Act scrutiny, says Wong
  
• Senate considers carbon sink forest tax concession
  
• Queensland proposes new housing standards
  
• Odour complaints lead to $25,000 fine
  
• NZ ministry issues summary of NZ trading bill changes
  
• Department of Climate Change offers graduate intake

In a decision that includes an extensive history of how Australian legislators and courts have applied principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD), a judge has quashed NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor's approval of a coastal developer's concept plan because the minister failed to consider climate change-related flood risks. Meanwhile, a man who unsuccessfully challenged approval of another developer's concept plan has lost a bid to stave off a cost order.

The Queensland Court of Appeal today unanimously found the Queensland Conservation Council was denied natural justice by a tribunal that rejected its bid to require an Xstrata mine to offset indirect emissions from the end-use of its coal.