ESG Weekly Update – May 18, 2022

Australia: Intermediate Appellate Court Overturns Duty of Care Right in Climate Change Litigation

On March 15, 2022, the Full Federal Court of Australia overturned a primary judge's decision in Sharma and Others v. Minister for the Environment to impose a duty of care on the Minister for the Environment to take reasonable care in exercising duties and functions under the Australian environmental protection act, to avoid causing personal injury or death to Australian children arising from carbon dioxide emissions. The Full Court ruled that such a duty should not be imposed on the Minister.

The duty of care to prevent climate change theory had initial success in 2021, when the primary judge found that the plaintiffs had successfully established that the Minister owed a "duty to take reasonable care, in the exercise of her powers under s 130 and s 133 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 ... to avoid causing personal injury or death