气候正义迈出重要一步：美国首个青年气候案件判决出炉（下）

导语：蒙大拿州一名法官裁定，该州禁止在审查煤炭开采、天然气开采等化石燃料项目时考虑气候变化影响的政策侵犯了年轻人的权利。这一胜利可能在美国范围内影响类似案件。这究竟是怎么回事？快跟着小编一起来看看吧！

Montana Judge Hands Historic Win to Young Plaintiffs in Climate Change Case

蒙大拿州法官在气候变化案判决中支持年轻原告，助其取得历史性胜利

Lead plaintiff Rikki Held, 22, testified that droughts have left "skinny cows and dead cattle" on her family's ranch in eastern Montana and wildfires have made ash fall from the sky.

22岁的首席原告Rikki Held作证说，她家在蒙大拿州东部有一个牧场，但是由于干旱，“那些牛都瘦骨嶙峋，还有些牛去世了”，而且野火也导致漫天的灰烬从天而降。

The state argued that climate policy should not be set by courts and the plaintiffs hadn't proved that the global crisis could be attributed to Montana's relatively small emissions.

蒙大拿州辩称，法院无权制定气候政策，而且蒙大拿州的温室气体排放量较小，原告也没有证明全球危机是因此而造成的。

A spokesperson for the Montana attorney general's office on Monday called the ruling "absurd," and Seeley an "ideological judge who bent over backward to allow the case to move forward." The state plans on appealing, the spokesperson said.

周一，蒙大拿州总检察长办公室的一名发言人称这一裁决“荒谬”，认为Seeley是一名“受意识形态影响的法官，她竭尽全力把案件推进下去”，并称蒙大拿州将会继续上诉。

Julia Olson, an attorney for Our Children's Trust, which represented the young people, called the decision a "huge win for Montana" and said similar decisions were likely to follow in different states.

儿童信托基金会（Our Children's Trust）的创始人兼首席法律顾问Julia Olson代表这些年轻人提起了诉讼，她称这一裁决为“蒙大拿州的巨大胜利”，并表示其他州可能也会做出类似的裁决。

Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, said Seeley's findings, including that climate change is a serious health and environmental threat, could "become an inspiration" for lawsuits in states with similar constitutional provisions and make it more difficult for defendants to wave away climate concerns.

哥伦比亚大学法学院萨宾气候变化法律中心（Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School）的主任Michael Gerrard表示，Seeley在裁决中提到，气候变化是对健康和环境造成了严重威胁。此次裁决结果可能为其他有类似宪法规定的州的诉讼案件提供启发，被告也因而更难以回避气候问题。

It is "the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court," he said.

他表示，这是“有史以来所有法院就气候变化问题做出的裁决中，最为强有力的一次裁决”。

The case was one of several youth-led climate cases in the U.S. A case by young people in Hawaii against the state's Department of Transportation is scheduled to go to trial next year, making it the second in the country to do so. A case against the U.S. government was revived in June after being dismissed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020.

该案件是美国几起由年轻人主导的气候案件之一。夏威夷年轻人起诉该州交通部的案件定于明年开庭审理，这是美国第二起类似的案件。一起起诉美国政府的案件在2020年被美国第九巡回上诉法院驳回后，于今年6月重新开庭。

结语：这次蒙大拿州法官的裁决标志着美国首个由年轻人主导的气候相关案件取得了重大进展，该案的判决成为了有史以来关注气候变化问题最有力的裁决之一。裁决认定蒙大拿州的温室气体排放在造成气候影响方面扮演了重要角色，这对年轻原告们来说是一次胜利，同时也为其他州提起类似诉讼提供了借鉴。虽然蒙大拿州计划上诉，但裁决已经在全国范围内产生了影响，为更加严格的气候保护立法奠定了基础。这次裁决将有可能在未来影响更多类似的案件，推动各地采取更积极的气候保护措施。

参考来源：https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/montana-judge-hands-historic-win-young-plaintiffs-climate-change-case-2023-08-14/

转载来源：法译世界

转载编辑：李倩楠