Iwi leader takes top carbon emitters to court

An environmental activist and iwi leader has filed court proceedings against New Zealand’s top carbon emitters for failing to protect the country against climate change.

Mike Smith, chairman of the Climate Change Iwi Leaders Group, alleges seven companies have been negligent or breached other legal duties by emitting greenhouse gases, and by not doing enough to reduce those emissions in the face of scientific evidence that their emissions have caused and will continue to cause harm.

Smith filed proceedings at the High Court at Auckland against Fonterra, Genesis Energy, Dairy Holdings, NZ Steel, Z Energy, the NZ Refining Company and BT Mining. ‘‘Ma¯ ori are particularly vulnerable to climate change, being disproportionately represented among the poor, who will be the hardest hit,’’ Smith said. ‘‘Rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding and storm surges will irrevocably damage lowlying coastal communities; and warming oceans and ocean acidification will damage traditional resources, including fisheries.’’

The new court proceedings follow Smith’s attempts to sue the Government in July, saying it had failed to protect New Zealanders against climate change. Despite the Zero Carbon Act, he said steps to tackle climate change did not go far enough. Smith is hoping for an injunction requiring each company to reduce total net greenhouse gases by half by 2030 and to zero by 2050, or to cease emitting activities immediately.