new zealand

On November 10, 2015, a New Zealand law student named Sarah Thomson, inspired by the work of Our Children’s Trust, sued the Minister of Climate Change Issues for failing to establish greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets that satisfactorily prevent dangerous levels of human-based climate system interference. The High Court of New Zealand ultimately ruled that the Minister was at fault for not properly reviewing New Zealand’s 2050 GHG emissions reduction target. The court also ruled that it had the authority to review the Minister’s 2030 target under New Zealand’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement, but that the Minister hadn’t made a reviewable error in establishing that target so the court had no grounds to intervene.

This case is different from Juliana v. United States because it challenged New Zealand’s failure to uphold its obligations under the Paris Agreement; this case also objected to New Zealand’s failure to take sufficient action to meet its politically derived targets under the Paris Agreement rather than the scientifically derived targets that scientists say are actually necessary to prevent catastrophic impacts young people experience from climate change.