Australia ranks second in the world for climate-related lawsuits, and the threat of climate litigation looms larger than ever for Australian companies across all sectors, a new report has found.
The Full Federal Court was emphatic in its decision that the environment minister does not owe a duty of care to Australian children to shield them from climate change harm, but there is no doubt the law will be put to the test again soon, says Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s Louise Camenzuli, Julia Green and Max Newman.
The WA Supreme Court has thrown out challenges to Woodside Energy’s proposals to expand its Scarborough LNG project, finding there were no errors in the state EPA’s approval.
The Morrison government has rejected class action claims that it owes a duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders to protect them against the negative effects of climate change, claiming the alleged duty cannot apply to high level government policy.
A leading climate change lawyer at Baker McKenzie has made the jump to Gilbert + Tobin, less than a year after the US firm’s renewable energy practice lost its global co-head and two partners to another Big Six firm.
The Morrison government has denied that it has any obligation to disclose climate change risks to investors of its sovereign bonds as it defends a world first class action alleging global warming is a material risk to the bond market.
Woodside Energy has been sued over its $16.5 billion Scarborough gas field development, with an environmental group alleging the project’s approval was invalid because the government of Western Australia failed to properly account for its impact on climate change.
A judge overseeing a climate change class action against the government will be invited to visit the Torres Strait to see the alleged erosion of sacred sites, but before then the Commonwealth is seeking details on when it allegedly knew of the effects of global warming and the scope of its alleged duty of care.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will have to hand over a preliminary tranche of documents relating to seven large-scale oil and gas projects it is financing in a lawsuit that will test whether the bank has complied with its stated commitments on climate change.
The Morrison government decision’s to enter into a contract with a subsidiary of Empire Energy for gas exploration in the Beetaloo Basin was an effort to “stymie” climate change litigation brought against the federal resources minister, a court has heard.