This is the latest in our series on the thought process behind updates to our course on stepping up climate action. For more, check out our introduction to the series and posts on climate impacts and adaptation.
Yes, really: One person can make a meaningful difference for the climate.
You might not expect that takeaway from our politics class in 2025, given how easy it is to feel tiny and powerless in the context of glacially slow international climate negotiations and public officials swayed by billion-dollar fossil interests. But in updating our section on climate litigation, we found numerous encouraging cases of the climate scoring wins in court.
A quick disclaimer: This is far from a comprehensive look at what’s going on. And we’re not hopium peddlers. Alarming court rulings abound, like a $660 million verdict against Greenpeace earlier this year. (Calling the lawsuit “meritless,” Greenpeace says that fight is not over.) Okay, enough prologue—let’s unpack some wins for climate accountability.
Held vs. Montana
This recent case is a landmark example of a legal strategy centering young plaintiffs. At issue was a line in Montana’s constitution saying the state “shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”
With this in mind, the case contended that the state’s approach to fossil fuel permitting was unconstitutional, because it barred considering emissions. Plaintiffs from ages 5 to 22 argued global heating from CO2 emissions was “harming their mental and physical health, with wildfire smoke choking the air they breathe and drought drying out rivers that sustain agriculture, fish, wildlife and recreation. Native Americans testifying for the plaintiffs said climate change affects their ceremonies and traditional food sources,” per NPR.
In 2023, a judge sided with the kids, and in late 2024, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the ruling. Following the historic win, one of the lawyers on the case, Melissa Hornbein of the Western Environmental Law Center, has since appeared as a Terra.do keynote speaker.
Other legal actions moving forward
Numerous other lawsuits are also moving forward, like one from Hawaii seeking damages from oil and gas companies "for costs associated with worsening climate-related hazards such as severe storms, sea level rise and wildfires like the deadly blazes that devastated Maui in 2023."
Meanwhile:
- In Washingston state, oil companies are also facing a wrongful death lawsuit after a woman died during a heat wave a few years ago.
- Some U.S. lawmakers have also considered state climate superfund legislation to hold fossil giants accountable.
- In Australia, the government agreed in 2023 to acknowledge the climate risk to bonds, following a case by a Melbourne university student.
- France's TotalEnergies is headed to civil court over false advertisements about its climate pledges. This follows a 2021 French climate win.
- A ruling by a German court in a case brought by a Peruvian farmer has, as of this year, set a precedent "that proportional liability for climate harm is legally possible, even across national borders."
- New fossil fuel projects in Europe must assess their global impacts—including when those fuels are eventually burned—with major ramifications for oil producers like Norway, another 2025 court ruling says.
Bottom line
If you’re worried about climate change, worsening impacts, and the legal system, we get it. But all hope is not lost.
For a more comprehensive overview of climate litigation in the U.S. and abroad, check out these databases from the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. And for more on how you can apply your talents and interests to averting the worst of climate change, check out Terra.do’s 12-week Learning for Action course.