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Hawaii reaches pathbreaking climate settlement with children

Youth-led lawsuits over climate change are rising around the world. A case in Hawaii stands out, as the state agrees to a settlement with plaintiffs. 

In a groundbreaking legal agreement, Hawaii鈥檚 government yesterday acknowledged young people鈥檚 right to a stable climate and agreed to eliminate emissions from its transportation sector by 2045.听

The lawsuit by 13 young people from across the Hawaiian Islands was the world鈥檚 first youth-led case that mounted a constitutional challenge to climate impacts in the transportation sector.

According to Our Children鈥檚 Trust, the nonprofit law firm representing the youths, the settlement marks the first time U.S. government defendants have decided to resolve a constitution-based climate case in partnership with young plaintiffs.

Officials drew on the islands鈥� cultural heritage in describing the settlement of the 2022 case, Navahine v. Hawai驶i Department of Transportation.

鈥淐limate change is indisputable. Burying our heads in the sand and making it the next generation鈥檚 problem is not听pono,鈥� said Ed Sniffen, Hawaii鈥檚 Director of Transportation, using the Hawaiian term that means 鈥渞ighteous.鈥�

Youth efforts to tackle climate change go beyond the courtroom. The Monitor鈥檚 鈥�Climate Generation鈥� series highlights how this is playing out globally, through听innovation,听community building,听arctic science,听adaptation, as well as lawsuits 补苍诲听more.

In Hawaii, the new听agreement says that the Hawaii Department of Transportation will take several immediate and ongoing steps to create a climate-friendly sea, air, and road transportation system, including establishing a greenhouse gas reduction plan within a year. The goal: decarbonizing Hawaii鈥檚 transportation system within the next 20 years.听

Other steps include creating positions within the transportation department to coordinate climate change mitigation and adaptation, changing the budgeting process to analyze and disclose transportation projects鈥� greenhouse gas impacts, and establishing a youth council to advise the department.

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The state also agreed to dedicate at least $40 million to expanding its public electric vehicle charging network by 2030 and completing bicycle and pedestrian transit networks within five years.

All of this, says Julia Olson, founder and chief legal counsel of Our Children鈥檚 Trust, the nonprofit law firm representing the youths, shows how young plaintiffs have 鈥渁ctivated the courts and inspired true democracy in action.鈥�

Young people 鈥渁cross the country and around the world will follow in their footsteps, carrying the same values of care, defense, and love of the land to action,鈥� she said in a written statement.听

For years, young people around the world have been suing governments and demanding action by policymakers to address what scientists agree is an environmental crisis directly caused by human behavior. By 2022 there had been 34 global climate cases brought on behalf of plaintiffs ages 25 and younger 鈥� part of a global climate litigation explosion, according to Columbia University鈥檚 Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

Last summer, young plaintiffs in Montana won the first youth climate case to go to trial in the U.S., with the judge ruling that Montana policymakers had violated the young people鈥檚 rights under the state鈥檚 constitution by ignoring the climate impacts of their energy decisions.听听

Oral arguments in the state鈥檚 appeal are scheduled for next month in the Montana Supreme Court.

Young plaintiffs have filed climate cases in a handful of other U.S. states, including Virginia, Utah, and Alaska.