Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback New Zealand Bill of Rights Act Reports

Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill (Consistent) (Section) [2015] NZBORARp 49 (5 October 2015)

Last Updated: 6 February 2019

Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill

5 October 2015

Hon Christopher Finlayson QC, Attorney-General

Consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill

1. We have considered whether the Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill (‘the Bill’) is consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the New Zealand Bill of Rights

Act 1990 (‘the Bill of Rights Act’).

2. The Bill directs public fund managers to divest from companies directly involved in the exploration, mining, and production of fossil fuels. For the purposes of the Bill, public funds are limited to:
   
   • money held in a Crown bank account or a departmental bank account;
   • money received by the Accident Compensation Corporation in respect of any account;
   • the New Zealand Superannuation Fund;
   • the Government Superannuation Fund;
   • funds of the Lotteries Commission; and
   • funds of Public Trust.
     
3. The public funds included are already subject to varying degrees of direction from the government via various Acts, including the Public Finance Act 1989, the Crown Entities Act 2004 and in some cases, their own empowering legislation. If the Bill is enacted it will significantly increase government control over public fund managers’ investment choices.
   
4. The Bill also directs those public fund managers to identify the climate change implications of the investments in the fund, actively manage and report on the identified risks and to reduce their portfolio’s overall exposure to them going forward. It requires

them to divest themselves of any such investments within 5 years and not to make any such investments once the Act commences.

5. We have concluded that the Bill appears to be consistent with the rights and freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act.
   

Jeff Orr

Chief Legal Counsel Office of Legal Counsel

Disclaimer

In addition to the general disclaimer for all documents on this website, please note the following: This advice was prepared to assist the Attorney-General to determine whether a report should be made to Parliament under s 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 in relation to the Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill. It should not be used or acted upon for any other purpose. The advice does no more than assess whether the Bill complies with the minimum guarantees contained in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The release of this advice should not be taken to indicate that the Attorney-General agrees with all aspects of it, nor does its release constitute a general waiver of legal professional privilege in respect of this or any other matter. Whilst care has been taken to ensure that this document is an accurate reproduction of the advice provided to the Attorney-General, neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Crown Law Office accepts any liability for any errors or omissions.