Oceana Gold New Zealand Ltd v Otago Regional Council

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

Environment Court of New Zealand

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

01/10/2016

LITIGATION TYPE

Corporate Accountability

SUBJECT MATTER

Carbon credits and offsets

REVIEW TYPE

Judicial review

SUMMARY

This case related to the issue “when is it appropriate to provide environmental offsetting or compensation for the removal or destruction of indigenous flora and fauna (and when not)”? The proposed Otago Regional Policy Statement policy 5.4.6 set out circumstances when indigenous biological diversity offsetting could be considered. Oceana Gold (New Zealand) Limited was concerned with one of the proposed criteria that “the offset ensures there is no loss of rare or vulnerable species”. The Court directed that the statement should be amended to say: “The offset ensures there is no loss of individuals of Threatened taxa, other than kānuka (Kunzea robusta and Kunzea serotina), and no reasonably measurable loss within the ecological district to an At Risk-Declining taxon, other than mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium), under the New Zealand Threat Classification System (“NZTCS”)”.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Oceana Gold New Zealand Ltd v Otago Regional Council [2020] NZEnvC 137