This is the first time an Australian court has allowed evidence on climate change to be heard in a case. The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), acting for the advocacy group, said that the EPA should use its powers and functions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels, in line with the science behind climate change.

Elaine Johnson, director of legal strategy for the EDO, said that the survivors group now await judgement as the hearing concluded this week.

“Our client is made up of people who have survived some of the most horrific impacts of climate change in recent history – being the devastating bushfires of 2019/20,” she said.

“[They] see greenhouse gases as the most dangerous form of pollution, given the gravity of the impacts of climate change on people and the environment, and want to see real and substantive action for the urgent and rapid reduction of emissions by our lead regulator.”

The hearing took place over three days this week, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releasing its Sixth Assessment Report on the evening of the first day of the hearing and the report being placed into evidence the following day.

On Monday, former chief scientist Professor Penny Sackett gave evidence on the nature and the gravity of the threat of climate change to the environment and the people of NSW. 

“We know we’re in a dangerous situation now. I personally don’t want it to be any more dangerous,” she told the court.

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“1.5 (degrees warming) is not a magical temperature…however, the thing that distinguishes it is that this is still a target that we can meet. When I say we, I mean globally, the world.” 

Ms Johnson said that the hearing is of particular interest to lawyers across the country as it “looks at how statutory duties by a government agency should be carried out, in the context of one of the greatest threats to our environment.”

“Climate change is increasingly being recognised as posing an existential threat to our lives, our society, and the environment on which we depend to maintain our health and safety,” she said.

“With the release of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report on climate change highlighting the urgency of the need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels within the next 10 years, as lawyers we can expect to see an increase in the number of cases being brought in Australia and overseas by those seeking appropriate action on climate change by governments and corporations. 

“As the impacts of climate change, like the horrific Australian bushfires of 2019/2020, and the current wildfires threatening the other side of the globe in places like Greece, we can also expect those impacted by climate change to increasingly turn to the courts seeking justice for climate harms.”

“These proceedings sit somewhere in the middle – the bushfire survivors are victims of unabated greenhouse gas emissions and climate change – and they are also seeking urgent action by the government to reduce emissions to protect others from suffering in the future,” she said.

Additionally, Ms Johnson said that not only does this case raise important questions around the duty owed by the EPA, but how the lead environmental regulator responds to what the survivors group say is the most significant threat to both the environment and the people of NSW.

“The outcome of the case could have implications for other cases that may be brought by lawyers in the future,” she said.