Civil Law

Smith v Fonterra: A Climate Change Litigation Development

The Supreme Court of New Zealand recently overturned strike-out decisions to allow climate change claims (involving a new climate tort) to proceed to trial.

Background

In 2022, Michael Smith, a Māori tribal elder and the climate change spokesman for the Iwi Chairs Forum, a national forum of tribal leaders, brought proceedings against seven corporate defendants, alleging that they were collectively responsible for one-third of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2020-2021.

Mr Smith sought a declaration that the seven defendants … Read the rest

Civil Law

HKEx Launches Core Climate, Hong Kong’s International Carbon Marketplace

On 28 October 2022, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (“HKEx”) launched Core Climate, an international carbon marketplace designed to allow for the trading of voluntary carbon credits and instruments, which provides a best-in-class, trusted market infrastructure and helps connect capital with climate-related products and opportunities in Hong Kong, Mainland China and globally. Core Climate participants will be able to source, hold, trade, settle and retire voluntary carbon credits through the Core Climate platform.  

According to … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Greenhouse gases and “major questions”: Justices to hear argument on EPA’s power to tackle climate change

Greenhouse gases and “major questions”: Justices to hear argument on EPA’s power to tackle climate change

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Three days after President Joe Biden named Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to succeed the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, Breyer and his colleagues will return to the bench on Monday morning to hear oral argument in a case involving the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Although the case hinges on a highly technical provision of the Clean Air Act, it nonetheless has the potential to be one of the most consequential cases in a … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Climate change and immigration policies headline February argument calendar

Climate change and immigration policies headline February argument calendar

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In an argument calendar released on Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments in seven cases over five days. The justices will tackle a wide range of issues, from the Environmental Protection Authority’s power to regulate greenhouse gases to an effort by a group of states to defend a controversial Trump-era immigration policy known as the “public charge” rule after the Biden administration declined to do so.

The justices will hear oral argument on … Read the rest