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Mejillones Tourist Service Association and others with the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of Antofagasta - decision

Litigation

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Mejillones Tourist Service Association and others with the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of Antofagasta - appeal

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Mejillones Tourist Service Association and others with the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of Antofagasta - petition

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Mejillones Tourist Service Association and others with the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of Antofagasta - judgment

Filing Year For Action

On September 9, 2021, the Mejillones Tourist Services Association and other local community organizations brought a constitutional action before the Court of Appeals of Antofagasta challenging the rejection by the Environmental Assessment Service of Antofagasta to include climate change variables into the exceptional revision of the Environmental Assessment Resolution No 290/2007 of September 7, 2007, of the thermoelectric power plant Angamos of AES Gener company. The plaintiffs claimed that the lack of consideration of climate change violated their constitutional rights to life, equality before the law, the right to live in an environment free of pollution, and property rights. 

On August 31, 2021, the Court of Appeals of Antofagasta rejected the plaintiff's claim on procedural grounds (Case Nº 6930-2021). The Court found that the matter in question was beyond its competence, as it involved the exercise of powers belonging to the executive branch. It added that the controversy is a matter under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Court.  The plaintiffs subsequently appealed the decision. 

On April 19, 2022, the Chilean Supreme Court (Case No. 71.628-2021) overruled the decision of the Court of Appeals and upheld the plaintiff's appeal. The ruling orders the Antofagasta Environmental Assessment Service (EAS) to include environmental variations caused by climate change in the extraordinary review process of the Environmental Authorization for the project. The Supreme Court understood that the article 25 quinquies of Law No 19.300 allows this review, including variables that were not considered when granting the original resolution of environmental qualification. The judgment expressly mentions Chile's obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, considering that this mechanism is applicable to regulate situations that were not previously foreseen, such as the climate change variable. Therefore, the SEA must initiate an analysis of the atmosphere component, considering the elements that have changed in the terrestrial environment caused by climate change.

Mejillones Tourist Service Association and others with the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of Antofagasta

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Any substance with chemical properties that can cause physical harm to people or damage the environment, including ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, chlorine, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, pesticides, dioxins, microplastics, benzene, asbestos, aflatoxins, fluoride, methanol, and toxins from marine sources.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock formed from carbonised plant matter, rich in carbon and hydrocarbons, and occurring in several main types including hard coal and brown coal.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

This sector includes firms and individuals offering specialised expertise in fields such as law, accounting, consulting, science and engineering.

A company that is owned wholly or partially by the state, typically operating in key sectors.

The activities of industries that transforms raw materials into finished goods through industrial processes.

Activities of industries that extract natural resources, such as mining, oil, and gas, for commercial use.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Codes and standards are regulatory instruments that specify minimum standards to protect health and safety. This ranges from performance standards, which prescribe outcomes while allowing flexibility to achieve compliance, to the more prescriptive approach of technology-specific standards.

Activities of government agencies and institutions that provide public services, enforce laws and manage public resources.

This sector involves managing waste treatment, sanitation, pollution control and environmental cleanup.

Mejillones Tourist Service Association and others with the Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) of Antofagasta - decision

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance