"Hawaii Supreme Court Ruling Bolsters Rights-Based Climate Cases"

"Hawaii’s top court issued a ruling this week recognizing a human right to a stable climate, a decision that could reverberate in other rights-based climate cases in the US and beyond.

The basis for the decision, that citizens have an affirmative right “to a life-sustaining climate system,” is the first of its kind related to climate litigation in the US, and it could be of use in other decisions, according to Maria Antonia Tigre, a Sabin Center global climate litigation fellow.

“We do see a lot of that cross-fertilization in climate litigation nowadays, and just having that interpretation of the right to a safe climate within the rights for healthy environment and connected to other human rights, it’s usually significant,” Tigre said in an interview."

Jennifer Hijazi reports for Bloomberg Environment March 17, 2023.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 03/20/2023