A group of youth plaintiffs appealed an Alaska trial court’s dismissal of their lawsuit that charged that the State of Alaska’s climate and energy policies violated their rights under the Alaska constitution to a stable climate system. In their statement of points on appeal, the plaintiffs asserted that the Alaska Superior Court misconstrued four counts alleging violations of previously recognized constitutional rights as a “single constitutional claim to an unenumerated substantive due process right to a stable climate system” and failed to address other claims. The plaintiffs also said the Superior Court failed “to liberally construe and assume the truth of the facts alleged in their complaint, erred by finding the claims to be nonjusticiable, and erred by finding that reductions in the State’s greenhouse gas emissions would not redress the plaintiffs’ injuries. In addition, the plaintiffs contended that the trial court erred by finding that the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s denial of their rulemaking petition was not arbitrary and by not addressing whether the denial violated the plaintiffs’ due process rights.

Lawsuit contending that Alaska state Climate and Energy Policy violated youth plaintiffs' rights under the state constitution.

Sagoonick v. State

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Youth Plaintiffs Filed Appeal in Alaska Supreme Court of Dismissal of Climate Case Based on State Constitution

Filed

United States of America

Alaska

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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.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

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

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

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.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

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

Youth Plaintiffs Filed Appeal in Alaska Supreme Court of Dismissal of Climate Case Based on State Constitution

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector