About Us
Equity Generation Lawyers are specialists in Australian climate change law.
We combine expertise in climate change risk and a flair for innovative legal action that has international reach.
We have in-depth knowledge of climate science, policy and regulation. We are experts in understanding the physical and transition impacts of climate change on investors, governments, people and the environment.
Sharma v Minister for the Environment
We represented 8 students from around Australia who brought a class action against the Federal Environment Minister to protect young people from the climate change impacts of the proposed Vickery Extension Coal Project.
Human rights grievance complaints
We assisted six Tiwi Islands Traditional Owners and a Larrakia Traditional Owner and superfund members to file human rights complaints against banks and superfunds.
McVeigh v Rest
We represented, Mark McVeigh, who brought world-leading litigation against the trustee of a $60 billion superannuation fund, Rest. The superfund agreed to settle, stating ‘that climate change is a material, direct and current financial risk to the superannuation fund,’ and ‘that Rest, as a superannuation trustee, considers that it is important to actively identify and manage these issues.’
Re AGL Energy Limited
We represented AGL shareholder Joshua Ross, in relation to an intervention in the New South Wales Supreme Court proceedings on the application by the company to approve scheme materials for a proposed demerger.
O’Donnell v Commonwealth and Ors
We represent Katta O’Donnell, a 23 year old student from Victoria, in a world-first action against the Commonwealth of Australia for failing to disclose climate change risks to sovereign bond investors.
Vanderstock v State of Victoria
We represent, Christopher Vanderstock and Kathleen Davis, who are electric vehicle drivers that are challenging the State of Victoria’s tax on electric vehicles in the High Court of Australia.
Abrahams v CBA (2021)
We represented Guy and Kim Abrahams, shareholders in the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, who filed an application in the Federal Court of Australia seeking access to internal company documents. The Court ordered that the Abrahams may use certain documents received for the purpose of further litigation and for forwarding documents to regulators APRA and ASIC.
Photo credit: Bruce Gordon, SkyTruth / EcoFlight
Jubilee v EFA and NAIF
Equity Generation Lawyers represents Jubilee Australia, a human rights and environmental organisation, in a Federal Court of Australia action seeking to compel Federal government agencies that subsidise fossil fuel projects to disclose the full environmental effects of those activities.
AP4CA v Energy Australia (Offsets Greenwashing)
We represent Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) in a landmark action against EnergyAustralia for misleading customers about the “carbon neutrality” of its products.
Our Commitment to Recognition and Reconciliation
Equity Generation Lawyers acknowledges and respects the Australian First Nations traditional custodians of the lands upon which our offices are located. We extend our respect to First Nations Elders – past, present and emerging – and to all First Nations people.
We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of First Nations peoples on this land. In particular, we acknowledge and pay our respect to the Gadigal people who are the traditional custodians of the lands upon which our Sydney office is located and the Woiworung people who are the traditional custodians of the lands upon which our Melbourne office is located.
We acknowledge Australia’s First Nations peoples never ceded sovereignty of their lands, seas and waters. To us this means that land was taken by force and has been retained by force, and, as was stated in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, unceded First Nations’ sovereignty coexists with the Crown’s sovereignty today, and that sovereignty comes from a different source to the sovereignty claimed by the Crown – from the ancestral ties between the land and its people.
We stand by the right of First Nations peoples to self-determination and wholeheartedly support the constitutional recognition of First Nations peoples in Australia and the establishment of a Voice to Parliament.
Allowing the voices of First Nations peoples to be heard on policies and legislation that impacts them is a natural and necessary first step towards advancing the measures outlined in the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which we also fully support.
In addition to supporting the establishment of a Voice to Parliament, it remains critically important for governments and businesses to engage in robust consultation with First Nations peoples from all over Australia in all matters which impact them, in accordance with international human rights principles.
To play a more active role in reconciliation, in line with our values, in 2023 we introduced our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), endorsed by Reconciliation Australia and available to view on their website here.
We look forward to continued learning and progress throughout our commitment to rolling out the initiatives we have detailed in our RAP and continuing to serve our First Nations clients.
