California Children Sue EPA Over Climate Change

The lawsuit alleges that the agency's failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions violates the constitutional rights of children, causing them unique harm.

Eighteen children from California have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging that the agency's failure to protect them from the impacts of climate change violates their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit, led by a plaintiff identified as Genesis B., argues that the EPA has knowingly allowed dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change and directly resulting in harms specific to children and their development.
The plaintiffs, represented by the non-profit law firm Our Children’s Trust, claim that the EPA has intentionally allowed the U.S. to become one of the world’s biggest contributors to the climate crisis, despite knowing the harm it poses to children.
The lawsuit seeks to define children as a class that is uniquely harmed by the climate crisis in ways different from, and worse than, adults. Their bodies and minds are still growing, enabling the effects of climate change to imprint themselves on their development.
The lawsuit also alleges that the EPA is acting outside the scope of authority delegated to it by Congress, and seeks a declaratory judgment that the children are members of a constitutionally protected class, that they’re entitled to a heightened level of judicial review over the EPA’s conduct, and that their constitutional rights have been violated.