Young environmental activists in Australia consoled themselves in a courtroom in Sydney on Tuesday as the nation’s Federal Court overturned a landmark ruling on climate change.
The decision reversed the original ruling by the Australian Supreme Court that the Environment Minister had a “duty of care” to the younger generation in approving new fossil fuel projects.
The federal tribunal was unanimous in finding in favor of Environment Minister Sussan Ley’s appeal against a judge’s ruling that she had a duty of care not to damage children in the deliberation on whether to approve a coal project.
Mordy Bromberg, the judge in the case, ruled then that the government had a responsibility to protect the young generation from their imminent harm.
The original case was filed by eight school children and a nun, who asked Australia’s environment minister to protect the children from the future damage of climate change.
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