In a controversial policy shift that has drawn sharp criticism from climate campaigners, New Zealand’s center-right government confirmed plans Tuesday to amend national legislation to block courts from holding private companies legally liable for climate change damage connected to their greenhouse gas emissions.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the change, pointing specifically to an ongoing high-profile lawsuit filed by Indigenous Māori climate activist Michael Smith, which targets six major New Zealand firms, including dairy industry giant Fonterra, over their contribution to climate-related environmental harm. Goldsmith argued that civil tort law—the legal framework under which such compensation claims are filed—is ill-equipped to address a systemic issue like climate change, which intersects with complex environmental, economic, and social priorities. He added that allowing such lawsuits to proceed would create crippling uncertainty that undermines business confidence across the country.
“The courts are not the right venue to resolve claims of climate harm,” Goldsmith said, confirming the amendment will explicitly bar courts from issuing findings of liability for climate damage tied to greenhouse gas emissions.
Smith, the activist leading the pending case, condemned the government’s move as a direct attack on democratic principles. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, he warned that if parliament can intervene to cancel an active court case simply because it has become politically inconvenient, no individual’s legal claims can ever be considered secure. The proposed law change is widely expected to pass parliament, as the ruling national coalition holds a clear majority of legislative seats.
The announcement is the latest in a series of rollbacks of climate-friendly policies by the current administration, which took office in 2023. Since assuming power, the government has scrapped a popular clean car discount designed to boost electric vehicle adoption, reversed a nationwide ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, and implemented a streamlined fast-track approval process for new mining permits.
The government’s 2025 emissions target has also faced separate legal pushback. In January, officials announced a goal to cut carbon emissions 51% below 2005 levels by 2035—an almost negligible adjustment from the previous administration’s target of a 50% cut by 2030. In March, two major environmental legal groups, Lawyers for Climate Action and the Environmental Law Initiative, sued Climate Change Minister Simon Watts, arguing the weak, delayed target fails to meet the government’s legal obligations to cut emissions. New Zealand’s long-term legally binding target remains net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, excluding agricultural and waste methane.
Globally, climate litigation has emerged as a key tactic for activists and affected communities to push for greater accountability from major emitters and governments. From South Korea to Germany, courts around the world have increasingly accepted climate liability cases, pushing both public and private actors to strengthen their climate action. New Zealand’s proposed law change marks one of the most explicit efforts by a national government to block this growing trend of climate accountability.