Environment

The federal government has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it failed to take into account the impact on climate change when it awarded an Empire Energy subsidiary a $21 million grant for gas exploration in the Northern Territory, two months after a landmark ruling found the government owes a duty of care to protect children from the risks of climate change.

A green activist who filed a group proceeding alleging the government failed to disclose the impacts of climate change to investors in sovereign bonds does not have a common interest with group members and should have her lawsuit declassed, a court has heard.

A resident group’s last ditch attempt to prevent the NSW government from relocating a locally significant heritage building has been dismissed by the NSW Supreme Court of Appeal, paving the way for the development of a $915 million museum in Parramatta.

The Federal Minister for the Environment has announced plans to appeal a Federal Court judgment that found the government has a duty of care to protect Australian children from the impacts of climate change. 

Class actions are the next battleground following Thursday's Federal Court ruling that the government owes a duty of care to protect children from the risks of climate change, according to a number of legal experts.

Adani's controversial Carmichael coal mine in Queensland has hit another potential snag, with the Federal Court on Tuesday sending the company's moves to pump 12.5 billion litres of water a year from the Suttor River back to square one.

AGL Energy has dragged Greenpeace Australia Pacific to court for using its logo in a campaign that labelled the company "Australia's biggest climate polluter" and accused it of "significant environmental breaches".

Ashurst has lured the global co-head and two partners from Baker McKenzie's renewable energy practice, giving the firm a boost in representing clients in the global transition towards more sustainable forms of energy.

Thousands of Indonesian seaweed farmers have won a class action against PTTEP Australasia over one of Australia's largest oil spills, with a judge finding the oil exploration company breached its duty of care to the farmers and damaged their livelihoods.

The Federal Government has argued a class action against the expansion of a northern NSW mine has "conspicuously failed" to show that the emissions would contribute to "catastrophic harm", but a judge has questioned the Commonwealth's contention that other countries would be responsible for the emissions.