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With a historic agreement, made public on June 20, 2024, a group of young people in Hawaii succeeded in having the rights of youth and children to a safe climate for life recognized and, consequently, the Department of Transportation committed to planning and implementing changes in order to achieve zero emissions in all land, sea and air transportation between the Hawaiian Islands by 2045.

The agreement, recognized by the court, concluded the constitutional lawsuit filed in 2022 by 13 young people—with the support of Our Children's Trust and Earthjustice—against the state of Hawaii and the Department of Transportation for the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the islands' transportation system, which violated their right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The court will be responsible for enforcing the agreement for the next 21 years.

This is the first constitutional climate litigation led by young people and aimed at stopping climate pollution from transportation, which could be inspiring for the rest of the world as it relates to one of the sectors that most aggravates the climate crisis.

Read more here and here :

In a decision made public in April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights responded to the lawsuit filed by the Swiss Association of Older Women for Climate Protection and ruled that the Swiss state is violating the rights to private and family life of that sector of the population by not taking the necessary measures to combat the climate crisis.

This is the first time this court has ruled on the inaction of state authorities regarding global warming. The judgment establishes that the State of Switzerland has failed to meet its obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with respect to its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Therefore, the country must adjust its climate targets.

The ruling is binding and could set a precedent for the 46 member states of the Council of Europe. According to the judgment, the defendant state will determine precisely the measures it must adopt with the assistance of the Committee of Ministers. The decision includes a list of specific requirements for states to establish effective measures to guarantee human rights in the context of the climate crisis.

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Residents of Tocopilla —accompanied by the organizations Chile Sustentable, Greenpeace and the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA)— filed a protection action on March 20 before the Santiago Court of Appeals requesting the immediate cessation of the forced and accelerated burning of the excess coal from the Norgener 1 and 2 units of the company AES Andes SA, which amounts to 94,000 tons.

The burning in Tocopilla began on February 18 and was authorized by the National Electric Coordinator without legal or environmental justification and without an assessment of potential harm to third parties or to market equilibrium. AES argues that it is the only viable alternative to meet its environmental obligations after the early closure of its Norgener 1 and 2 units was confirmed.

The appeal also requests that the authorization granted to the company be revoked, that the economic dispatch order governing the national electricity system be respected, and that the company be ordered to comply with its obligation to prepare the corresponding Abandonment Plans for these units.

More information about the case here

On January 31, 2024, the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico decided to declare the reform of the Electricity Industry Law (LIE) unconstitutional, considering that it would be violating the principle of sustainable development by discouraging the production of solar and wind energy in the country.

With this decision, the Supreme Court dismissed all lawsuits filed against the reform decree, which argued issues of economic competition, violations of the right to a healthy environment, and disregard for the Mexican State's climate commitments. Some of these lawsuits were filed by Greenpeace Mexico and Mexican youth groups.

More information here and here .

On October 18, 2023, the Council of State, Colombia's highest court, issued its final ruling on the compliance action filed by civil society organizations, academics, and researchers. In it, the Council ordered the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to issue—within one year—specific regulations related to climate change management, greenhouse gas measurement, and the valuation of nature-based solutions, among other things.

The decision closes the legal chapter regarding Colombia's non-compliance with several regulations related to climate change management. The implementation of this ruling could set a precedent for the creation of appropriate and effective regulations to reduce the climate impact of projects associated with the mining and energy sector. Furthermore, it represents a milestone for climate litigation in the region.

More information about the case here .

An Austrian court found Austrian Airlines guilty of greenwashing for misleading customers with advertising that falsely claimed the flights were carbon neutral. The airline charged 50% more for flights between Vienna and Venice, arguing that the journeys were 100% sustainable .

The case was brought by the Austrian Consumer Information Association, and the company was forced to publicly retract its misleading advertising. The European Consumer Organisation filed a complaint against 17 airlines in the European Union, including the Austrian airline, for misleading weather-related claims.

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In late November, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the inclusion of the North American wolverine ( Gulo gulo luscus )—a mammal in the weasel family that lives in the Arctic, subarctic, and mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere—on the National List of Threatened and Endangered Species. This marks a victory in the long legal battle initiated by numerous environmental groups in the 1990s.

Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, wolverines now enjoy protection that includes the geographic area that constitutes their habitat, which will broaden the possibilities of conserving the species against the impacts of the climate crisis.

More information here

Photography: Steven Gnam / National Geographic

For the first time in U.S. history, a judge declared unconstitutional a law that promoted fossil fuels while ignoring their negative effects on the environment and on people's right to live in a clean and healthy environment. This occurred in the state of Montana as a result of a lawsuit filed by a group of 16 people, aged between 5 and 22, whose victory demonstrates the courage of their generation against climate inaction.

Although other young people have filed similar cases, this is the first to go to trial. The case led the judge to rule that the state of Montana violated the plaintiffs' right to a clean and healthy environment, guaranteed by the state constitution. By striking down the state law that prohibits considering climate effects during environmental reviews as unconstitutional, the judge set an important precedent for climate litigation.

Link for more information here

On September 27, six young people from Portugal, aged between 11 and 24, sued 32 European Union states—the 27 that make up the European Union plus Turkey, Russia, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland—before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for not acting adequately to face the climate crisis, which means a violation of their human rights.

The trigger was the wildfires that ravaged Portugal in 2017, an event the young plaintiffs experienced firsthand. This led them to file a lawsuit alleging a lack of political action regarding the control of greenhouse gas emissions, which lead to more fires and other disasters associated with climate change.

The goal is to obtain a binding ruling from the Court that compels States to take concrete steps towards the energy transition, thereby curbing the excess of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) generated by the current economy and which endangers human life on the planet.

More information:

https://www.es.amnesty.org/en-que-estamos/noticias/noticia/articulo/jovenes-portugueses-demandan-tribunal-derechos-humanos-cambio-climatico/

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the Global Climate Litigation Report: Status Review 2023, an update to the reports released in 2017 and 2020. The publication provides an overview of the current state of climate litigation and outlines global trends, including the key issues that courts have faced in developing cases.

The report reveals that climate litigation has doubled in recent years. For its first report (2017), UNEP analyzed 884 cases, while in its 2023 report, it examined 1,550. This demonstrates that this type of litigation is becoming a key and increasingly used tool in combating the climate crisis. Children, youth, women's groups, local communities, and Indigenous Peoples—among other actors—are taking a leading role in bringing these actions.

Read the full report here (in English)