This morning, climate activists erected a washing line outside Wellington’s High Court, with laundry items representing the dozens of climate and environmental policies scrapped by Luxon’s government.

The visually striking protest coincided with the first day of a major High Court case, where the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) and Lawyers for Climate Action (LCANZ) will challenge Climate Minister Simon Watts on the legality of the government’s emissions reduction plan.

“New Zealanders are facing floods, storms and rising costs driven by climate inaction. A transition away from fossil fuels would have shielded New Zealanders from this month’s war-driven oil spikes. This government is looking after their corporate mates, while our communities are paying the price,” says Rachael Andrews from Climate Liberation Aotearoa. “Instead of cutting pollution at the source, the government has scrapped over 30 climate policies and is now trying to prop up its climate plan with pine offsets.”

350 Aotearoa campaigner Adam Currie adds, “The Ministers’ lawyers have been given an impossible job defending an undefendable climate record. The Government’s climate strategy is about as credible as trying to hold up the sky with a broomstick. Pine trees get chopped, burnt, and toppled. You can’t cheat physics. It shouldn’t have to be said, but the only reliable way to lower emissions is to reduce high-emitting activities.”

Today, ELI and LCANZ will open the case by arguing that the government unlawfully dismantled parts of New Zealand’s first Emissions Reduction Plan, replacing them with a second plan that relies heavily on forestry offsets instead of cutting emissions at the source. A key issue in the case is the ERP’s ‘questionable’ claims of equivalence between carbon offsets and emissions reductions at source.

The activists argue the government’s climate position is a ‘u-turn’, referencing a 2019 quote from Minister Nicola Grigg: "The National Party position is that we are concerned about the level of planting required and what that will mean for dirty polluters to actually change their behaviour and not just continue to offset that with planting."

“Frankly, it’s embarrassing for the Luxon’s government to be forced into court defending the very position the National Party campaigned against in opposition. How are New Zealanders supposed to figure out which National Party statements to ignore, and which we should believe?” said Currie.

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