A Group of High Schoolers Just Won a Landmark Climate Change Court Case

Greta Thunberg congratulated the students on the ruling.

Climate activists all over Australia are cheering today thanks to a group of eight Aussie high school students, who have successfully set a massive, world-first legal precedent for climate justice.

On Thursday, the Australian Federal Court ruled that Environment Minister Sussan Ley has a duty of care to protect young people and future generations from climate change.

The ruling is all down to a small group of young activists who are continuing their fight for the planet after the launch of their case against the Whitehaven Coal’s Vickery mine in northern NSW last year.

The group launched their case after finding that the expansion of the mine will result in another 100 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

Just in case you missed it, today the federal court ruled in favour of eight teenagers who argued that the federal environment minister has a duty of care not to cause them harm from climate change.

This is HUGE for climate change activism in Australia.

— Elfy Scott (@elfy_scott) May 27, 2021

This new precedent means that the Environment Minister will be expected to do more in policy and action to prevent the expansion of carbon-heavy energy and government actions that lead to the destruction of the climate, to protect young people and future generations.

If you're not entirely sure what we're on about, a 'precedent' is the rule that a legal principle that has been established by a superior court should be followed in other similar cases by that court and other courts. 

While this group of students lost their case of injunction to prevent the Environment Minister from approving the mine extension project, the Federal Court has ruled that the minister must advocate for the the planet and future generations.

Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg found that by following the approval of the Whitehaven Coal plan, Ms Ley failed to provide her duty of reasonable care to not cause the students ‘personal injury’ by approving the project.

Significant ruling today from the Australian #FederalCourt that the Environment Minister owes a duty of care to protect young people from climate change, which it described as 'the greatest inter-generational injustice ever inflicted by one generation of humans upon the next'.

— Mark O'Brien O’Reilly (@markobrien747) May 27, 2021

"In my assessment that (climate change) risk is real—it may be remote but it is not farfetched or fanciful," Justice Bromberg said.

Following the ruling, climate activist Greta Thunberg took to Twitter to congratulate the teens on their action.

She described the case as a “symbolic breaking point that could have huge snowball effects.”

This is a huge win for the whole climate movement. A big congratulations to the brave Australian teenagers who have achieved this. Of course the action needed is still nowhere in sight, but these court cases are symbolic breaking points that could have huge snowball effects. https://t.co/Cjgz2O0fMU

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) May 27, 2021

One of the students, 17-year-old Ava Princi told SBS that the judgement was a relief and called on Ms Ley to do more.

"This is the first time a court of law anywhere in the world has recognised that a government minister has a duty of care to protect young people from the catastrophic harms of climate change," Ms Princi told reporters.

"My future and the future of all young people depends on Australia stepping away from fossil fuel projects and joining the world in taking decisive action.

"This case was about young people stepping up and demanding more from the adults whose actions are determining our future wellbeing."

The news of this landmark decision comes just a week after students all over Australia left their classrooms and marched for climate justice.

Led by students, teachers and allies, attendees demanded more meaningful climate action, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights, secure jobs in renewables and further funding for renewable energy sources.

Their goal is for Australia to have 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

Header Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images