Young people worldwide, represented by organizations like Our Children's Trust, are increasingly using litigation to force governments to take climate action. This trend is illustrated by notable cases like Juliana v. United States and Held v. Montana. For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/climate-change-litigation-on-behalf-of-young-people-with-julia-olson/
Youth-Led Climate Litigation
Worldwide, litigants are turning to the courts as a forum for fighting climate change, filing lawsuits against governments in an attempt to force climate action. Plaintiffs in these lawsuits are often children and young adults, who represent those most affected by government climate inaction. A notable early example of youth-led litigation related to climate change was in the Philippines in the 1990s, where forty-three students sued the Philippine government to protect their village’s forest. Though the case was initially dismissed in lower courts on the ground that the students were children and did not have legal standing to sue, the students ultimately won their case and deforestation was halted.
In the United States in 2015, twenty-one young people, the organization Earth Guardians, and climate scientist James Hansen (collectively, “plaintiffs”), represented by lawyers from the organization Our Children’s Trust, sued the U.S. government in a case called Juliana v. United States of America. The plaintiffs alleged that the U.S. government, in not taking sufficient action to fight climate change, knowingly violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights to life, liberty and property, and knowingly violated its commitment to protect public lands. In 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the case on the ground that the legislative and executive branches have the power to address climate change, not the judicial system. Still, despite the ruling, Juliana v. United States catalyzed a climate litigation movement across the country and world, and a documentary film about the case increased its impact. The Ninth Circuit’s ruling did not end the case, which was sent back to the district court for further proceedings. In June 2023, the district court granted the plaintiffs’ motion for leave to amend their complaint. Plaintiffs are hoping to survive additional motions to dismiss so that the case can proceed to trial.
Our Children’s Trust has sued state governments on behalf of young people in all fifty states. Although most of those cases have been dismissed, the first of these cases to go to trial was Held v. Montana in June 2023. Additionally, in September 2023, Navahine F. v. Hawaii Department of Transportation is set to go to trial. These trials are the first in the United States involving youth-led constitutional climate cases, with the plaintiffs both using language from Montana’s and Hawaii’s constitutions to make their case.
This is an ongoing debate. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Juliana v. United States case in 2020, with the majority opinion concluding that climate change is an issue for Congress and the Executive Branch to handle, rather than the judicial system. But Hawaii’s First Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree argued, in response to lawyers for the Hawaii Department of Transportation who made a similar argument, that Navahine F. v. Hawaii Department of Transportation should be allowed to go to trial. Judge Crabtree wrote that “the courts unequivocally have an important and long-recognized role in interpreting and defending constitutional guarantees.” A separate and difficult legal question concerns the nature and extent of the public trust doctrine and what duty might apply to the government. The courts will need to wrestle with that set of issues if the cases reach the trial stage.
Julia Olson is Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel of Our Children’s Trust, the organization representing the youth plaintiffs in the climate change litigation discussed in this article. She earned her law degree (JD) from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco (then known as UC Hastings) in 1997 and began her legal career representing grassroots conservation groups working to protect the environment, organic agriculture, and human health. Since becoming a mother, Julia has focused her advocacy on youth climate action and founded Our Children’s Trust to further this mission.
Watch Youth v Gov | Netflix
Meet the Youth Plaintiffs, Our Children's Trust
Juliana v. United States, Harvard Law Review (2021)
It's Kids vs. the World in a Landmark Climate Complaint, Gizmodo (2019)
Trump admin again asks Supreme Court to stop youth climate lawsuit, The Hill (2018)
For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/climate-change-litigation-on-behalf-of-young-people-with-julia-olson/
Ethan: I'm Ethan Elkind, and you're listening to Climate Break: climate solutions in a hurry. Today's proposal: using litigation to force climate action. Julia Olson, Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel for the nonprofit Our Children's Trust explains.
Julia Olson: Juliana v. the United States is a case brought by 21 young Americans who are suing the federal government of the United States for the actions taken that cause the climate crisis. They've brought their case under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to protect their rights to life, liberty, property, and equal protection of the law. They've helped spread the word through their work on a documentary film, to the hundreds and thousands of interviews they've done collectively, and speaking at conferences, all across the globe. They've really helped catalyze more people to take action—including in the courts.
Ethan: Ultimately, the case hit a roadblock in the Ninth Circuit court of appeal, where the court found the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. But the decision still provided helpful language for this movement.
Julia Olson: That ruling set off a tidal wave across the world and led to a lot of climate litigation abroad. We have a case up in Montana that will go to trial in June, and it will be the first constitutional climate trial ever in the history of the United States.
Ethan: To learn more about how Our Children's Trust is defending children's rights in climate court cases like its current lawsuits in Montana and Hawaii, visit climatebreak.org.