How young climate activists took Montana to court. And won.
More and more often the battle to save our planet is fought in the court room. The most recent example is Held v Montana – the historic climate trial in which 16 young plaintiffs took the state of Montana to trial for violating their constitutional rights to a ‘clean and healthful environment’.
The youth argued that Bill No. 971 the Montana Environmental Policy Act, which bars the state from considering the environmental impact of new energy projects, is incompatible with Montana’s constitution. And they won. Though there have been other climate lawsuits in the U.S., such as Julianna v United States, this is the first to become a constitutional trial in the country.
Held v Montana joins other historic climate litigation cases across the world, such as the one at the European Court of Human Rights in which thousands of elderly women sued the Swiss government for violating their human rights through climate inaction.