NEW ZEALAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Graeme Quigley, Ashton Goatley and Erin Hickey, Webb Henderson
that the claim under public nuisance was not “bound to fail” and should not be struck out, meaning that the matter may now proceed to a substantive hearing. The causes of action in negligence and “climate system damage” were consequently also not struck out on the basis that to do so would not achieve a “material saving in hearing time or other court resources”. The litigation is ongoing. The CGC features a recommendation that issuers annually provide non-financial disclosures (includ - ing in relation to “environmental, social sustainabil - ity and governance factors and practices”) and the ESG Guidance Note provides practical guidance on the scope and content of ESG reporting, encouraging issuers to align their reporting with recognised global sustainability and ESG reporting frameworks (where appropriate). In addition, the FMCA includes a climate disclosure regime that requires large financial institutions to pro - duce annual climate statements disclosing informa - tion about the impacts of climate change on their busi - nesses, emissions governance, risk management and related metrics and targets. The current government has announced an intention to raise the threshold for this regime to apply, such that it will in future apply only to approximately 200 particularly large financial institutions. Legislation to this effect is currently before Parliament at the time of writing. A range of regulatory inquiries in New Zealand and Australia over recent years have emphasised the importance of institutional culture in mitigating the risk of misconduct or undesirable outcomes for consum - ers, including that boards of directors are expected to take ownership of organisational culture and set the “tone from the top”, as part of their wider responsibil - ity for risk management. The Listing Rules require listed issuers to report the gender balance of their directors and officers, along with a performance review of the issuer’s diversity policy. 7.2 ESG Developments As with many overseas jurisdictions, ESG featured less prominently in New Zealand’s political discourse
in 2025 than in preceding years, reflecting instead a focus on cost of living pressures and geopolitical uncertainty. This is consistent with the current gov - ernment’s narrowing of the mandatory climate-related disclosure regime (see 7.1 ESG Requirements ). However, there has been no wholesale retreat from ESG considerations in corporate governance practice. Directors’ duties continue to require consideration of material environmental and social risks where relevant to the company’s interests, and stakeholder expec - tations, investor scrutiny and soft law instruments remain significant drivers of corporate behaviour. New Zealand has no AI-specific legislation or regula - tion, nor does the current government have plans to introduce any. The government has consistently sig - nalled that a “light-touch” regulatory approach will be taken to AI economy-wide. AI use, compliance and oversight is therefore governed by a combination of existing statutory frameworks, voluntary government guidance, and sector-specific regulation, including the Companies Act, the FMCA, the Privacy Act 2020, the Fair Trading Act 1986 (FTA), and the Commerce Act 1986. New Zealand’s “Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: Investing with confidence” (“Strategy”) (launched in July 2025) together with the “Responsible AI Guid - ance for Businesses” (“AI Guidance”) detail a range of matters that businesses should consider when using, developing or deploying AI, including cybersecurity, privacy, workplace, and intellectual property consid - erations. While the Strategy and AI Guidance impose no legal obligations, they represent the government’s expectation of responsible AI governance and are instructive to AI use-related risks for businesses. See 8.2 AI Use-Related Risks for further detail on a board’s role in respect of AI. 8. Artificial Intelligence 8.1 Board Oversight of AI
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