Iwi Leaders Group climate change chair Mike Smith is making climate change personal for the head of one of the world’s largest producers of carbon emissions.
He wants to sue Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV, in the International Criminal Court.
OMV bought Shell’s New Zealand Taranaki assets and also wants to prospect off Otago.
Mr Smith, who is in Vienna for a conference, says the prospect of taking on one of that country’s business magnates is getting a lot of attention.
"The OMV officials know the harm they are doing and they are willfully putting their profits before the safety of millions of people all over the world.
That's a crime of global proportions and company executives making these decisions deserve to stand trial for genocide and ecocide and other climate crimes," he says.
Mike Smith says he has been traveling to world in recent months to gather support for his action from other indigenous peoples affected by climate change.
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