South Australia

Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Victoria

Queensland

Australian Capital Territory

Western Australia

New South Wales

The South Australian Supreme Court upheld local council decision to refuse development consent on the basis of unacceptable climate change risks to the proposed development.  The court found the proposed development in violation of the goals and objectives of the council’s Development Plan, and that hazardous sea level rise over the next 100 years due to climate change was a sufficient basis to support the refusal of the coastal development application.

An Australian state court upheld a council decision to grant Provisional Development Plan consent to a shed that would house a four megawatt capacity coal-fired boiler.  Local landowners challenged the council’s decision, asserting that the boiler will have detrimental impacts on the local environment by, among other grounds, releasing greenhouse gases.  The court found no evidence in this case of a likely increase in GHG emissions by the proposed development compared with the existing operation.  However, it did recognize that increasing GHG emissions may be inconsistent with the principles of ecological sustainable development, including the principles of intergenerational equity and the precautionary principle. 

South Australia

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