This week, a group of eight Australian teens has brought a groundbreaking new climate change lawsuit against Australia’s Federal Minister for the Environment in an effort to stop a proposed coal mine expansion in the state of New South Wales, roughly 267 miles north of Sydney. Filing a class action lawsuit in federal court , these students are representing not just themselves but young people under age 18 across Australia and around the world, as the generation that is particularly imperiled from the climate crisis and the continued fossil fuel expansion driving climate breakdown. “The climate crisis will disproportionately impact young people as many of us will live into the second half of this century, far beyond many projections of climate catastrophe,” said Laura Kirwan, a 16-year-old plaintiff from Sydney who is active in Australia’s School Strike 4 Climate . The lawsuit is the latest in several climate cases brought by young Australians in recent months. In July a 23-year-old Melbourne law student named Katta O’Donnell filed a class action lawsuit against the Australian government for allegedly failing to disclose to government bondholders the climate-related risks of their investments. In May, a group of young Queenslanders under the name […]
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