Submissions of Amicus Curiae by Astrid Puentes Riaño, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

On October 10, 2025, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), represented by Environmental Justice Australia, brought judicial review proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia challenging the Australian Environment Minister’s decision to approve an application to extend the operation of a large gas processing facility until 2070 (the North West Shelf Project Extension). The Minister approved the project following an environmental impact assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Cth) 1999 (EPBC Act). The EPBC Act is Australia’s primary federal environmental legislation.

The ACF proceedings were heard alongside a separate challenge brought by Friends of Australian Rock Art Inc (FARA). While both proceedings challenge the same approval decision, they rely on different legal arguments. 

Both proceedings concern government decision making regarding fossil fuel projects and the proper interpretation of key provisions in the environmental impact assessment process under Australia’s federal environmental laws. Broadly, ACF and FARA argue that the Minister made legal errors when approving the project and that the approval decision should be set aside. 

ACF also challenged the Minister’s refusal of a reconsideration request which called on the Minister to consider the climate impacts of the project. The project is expected to result in approximately 4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in its lifetime. Specifically, ACF challenged the Minister’s finding that the project could not properly be considered to be a substantial cause of climate harms on protected matters. 

The proceedings also concern the project’s impact upon the Dampier Archipelago National Heritage Place, or Murujuga, which is thought to contain more than 1 million rock engravings, and represents one of the most dense and diverse collections of rock engravings in the world. The Murujuga Cultural Landscape was also added to the World Heritage List in 2025.  

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was granted leave to appear as amicus curiae in these proceedings.

The hearing was held on July 21 to 24, 2026. Judgment has been reserved, and the online file can be accessed here https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/services/access-to-files-and-transcripts/online-files/australian-conservation-foundation-inc. 

Australian Conservation Foundation Inc v Minister for the Environment and Water; Friends of Australian Rock Art Inc v Minister for the Environment and Water

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Australian Conservation Foundation Inc v Minister for the Environment and Water; Friends of Australian Rock Art Inc v Minister for the Environment and Water - Other

Filed

Australia

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives