‘Tis the Season

Hello friends,

Welcome to the final Lawyers for Climate Justice Australia newsletter of the year.

We want to begin by acknowledging the terrible events in Sydney last week. Violence has no place in Australian society and we offer our deepest condolences to all LCJA members impacted by the tragedy.

To round out 2025, in this newsletter we offer a recap of some major environmental law reforms in Australia this year, outline key climate cases and updates to watch out for in 2026, and review what happened at COP30 in Belém.

2025 was a huge year for climate litigation in Australia.

As outlined in our last newsletter, it has been a huge year for Australian climate litigation with major decisions at the international level and domestically, including on individual coal mines, First Nations heritage, and corporate greenwashing allegations. Heading into 2026, we’ll be looking out for:

• Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group (DAMSHEG) are heading to the High Court to defend the landmark decisions of the NSW Court of Appeal in overturning the approval of the Mount Pleasant Coal Mine expansion on climate grounds. The Court found that due to the direct causal link between coal mining and climate impacts on local communities, the consideration of climate impacts is a mandatory relevant consideration for the expansion approval.

• Following the disappointing decision on the ‘Australian Climate Case’ earlier this year, Torres Strait Islanders Paul Kabai and Pabai Pabai have launched an appeal to the full Federal Court to overturn the finding that the Commonwealth does not owe a duty of care to Torres Strait Islander people to protect them from the impacts of climate change.

• Two legal challenges have been launched to overturn Environment Minister Murray Watt’s federal approval of the North West Shelf gas processing plant in WA. The Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of Australian Rock Art are challenging the decision on climate and cultural heritage grounds, respectively.

Image: Friends of Australian Rock Art

Image: Lula Oficial Wikimedia Commons

COP30 & looking ahead to COP31

COP30 achieved some symbolic and outcomes climate justice, especially through a new UNFCCC mechanism to guide “just transition”, a political signal to triple adaptation finance, and an agreed set of indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation. However, these gains are largely non-binding. Major justice gaps persist in the absence of enforceable commitments on fossil fuel phase out, robust adaptation funding, participatory inclusion, and loss and damage redress. For the next COP to meaningfully advance climate justice, the global North must move from political signalling to urgent operationalisation and funding of promised commitments.

Australia’s new Nationally Determined Contribution commits to a 62-70% reduction in emissions on 2005 levels by 2035, signaling stronger ambition ahead of COP31. While Australia missed out on hosting the summit, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will preside over the meeting held in Türkiye next year, following a pre-COP in the Pacific - a critical opportunity to amplify Pasifika voices in global climate negotiations. This leadership role, combined with Australia’s endorsement of the Belém Declaration on transitioning away from fossil fuels, raises important questions about how these commitments will translate into tangible action for climate justice, particularly for communities in the Torres Strait and Pacific who are already contending with climate damage on a daily basis.

EPBC reform misses the mark on climate

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) has been amended, with the first major reforms being made to the Act in decades. While there are some positive changes - such as the establishment of a federal EPA, closing of forestry loopholes including the Regional Forest Agreements, and a framework for National Environmental Standards - the reforms don’t appear to do much for climate.

Proponents will be required to disclose their scope 1 and 2 emissions when applying for assessment and approval under the reformed Act. They will also need to outline strategies for managing those emissions. However, there is no requirement for the Minister to consider emissions information when choosing to approve a project; and scope 3 downstream emissions are not included, which limits the pathways for rejecting a project on the basis of its climate impacts.

For more information about the reforms, we recommend Environmental Defenders Office and Environmental Justice Australia’s helpful explainers.

Recap: Pacific climate justice in the International Court of Justice

In early August, we held an In Conversation webinar with Pasifika (Samoan) barrister Alofipo So’o alo Fleur Ramsay, formerly of Blue Ocean Law who had played an integral role in the groundbreaking ICJ Advisory Opinion. In the webinar, Fleur reflected on the outcome of the case, including implications for climate litigation in the future.

A huge thank you to Fleur for her insightful reflections, to Sean Ryan of Ninox Law for chairing the event, and to everyone who attended. If you missed it, a recording is up on our website. Please take a look and feel free to share with your colleagues and peers.

LCJA events in 2026

We are a small but growing organisation and are always looking for new opportunities to engage with legal practitioners and law students on issues of climate justice. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have ideas, initiatives or updates you would like to share with LCJA membership. We will be publishing our 2026 calendar of events in the New Year.

Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you at a LCJA event or meeting very soon. Don’t forget to share this newsletter, and feel free to follow us on LinkedIn.