Name: Impact Initiative 2024: The Case For Climate Action
Uploaded: 2024-10-09
Duration: 19 min 19 s
Description: Mat dos Santos, General Counsel, Managing Attorney, Our Children's Trust Grace S., Youth Plaintiff, Held v. State of Montana Moderator: Kristin Stoller, Fortune

Mat dos Santos, General Counsel, Managing Attorney, Our Children's Trust Grace S., Youth Plaintiff, Held v. State of Montana Moderator: Kristin Stoller, Fortune

Impact Initiative 2024: The Case For Climate Action

Photography by Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

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It's being called a landmark climate lawsuit and the first of its kind in the United States, a group of young Montanans aged 5 to 22 sued the state arguing that it put fossil fuels over their health. The court agreed ruling that the state's actions violated their constitutional right to a clean environment. One of the young plaintiffs and an attorney on the case is going to join Fortune's editorial director, Kristen Stoller in just a moment. But first, we want to hear, we want you to hear from Elizabeth Stern. She's part of the Swiss female climate elders who also won a case against their government for not doing enough about climate change. It's another example of how private citizens across generations and borders are taking climate matters into their own hands and prevailing climate change is affecting women above the age of 75 very strongly during prolonged heat wave. That is the population group that more likely dies prematurely. We are all women who had been activists all our lives. We knew how to fight for our rights in a peace movement and the environmental movement, the women's movement. So what is, what is my message for young people. First of all, a big thank you that they are putting part of their young life, which is meant for learning, for playing around that they have to work on something that should be a given for them like it was a given for me. So to these young people, I applaud you that you want, you are on the winning side and just keep going on to express the message. Oh, all right, good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us and great message from Elizabeth Stern. I'd like to welcome Matos Santos General counsel and managing attorney from our children's trust, the legal nonprofit group that brought the case on behalf of the plaintiffs and Grace s who is one of the young plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the state of Montana. Now because Grace is a minor. We're withholding her last name for her privacy. So Matt, I wanna start with you. So we just heard from Elizabeth Stern in the Swiss case. Uh Can you talk to me a little bit about how you advise the, the Swiss woman and then how that also relates to your case and give us a brief summary of, of the Montana case. Sure. Um Thanks so much for having us and for allowing us to speak to all of you. It's really a pleasure to be here. Um The, the, the, the case that you just heard about which we colloquially call the Swiss Grannies case is um really remarkable. They said uh a new press in Europe, um looking at human rights from the lens of an incredibly vulnerable population, right, older women who have huge huge um reactions to extreme heat whose bodies may not be able to tolerate um different climate consequences. And that's what we do at our children's trust by representing Children. We're representing one of the most vulnerable populations in the world. Um 2 billion lives, right? 2 billion children's lives are at stake because of climate change. And it's not just because Children born today are going to live with the consequences of our choices, right? For the next 90 years. But it's because for the 1st 26 years of their lives, we know that their brains circulatory systems, lungs are all developing and having climate pollution or extreme heat will have lasting consequences on the rest of their lives. Amazing grace. Why did you decide to get involved? So I first, you know, started thinking about environmentalism early in high school where I was working specifically on like plastics production in my hometown. And during doing research for that project, I read that the US uses fif 50 million plastic straws a day and I was like, that's a little bit more than I can handle on my own. And so I was looking for ways to have a bigger impact. Uh And around that time, I heard about this lawsuit that was happening in Montana and I was like, that's pretty cool. And I talked to my parents and they were like, well, it's probably not gonna go anywhere but it would be a great learning experience. So then I emailed the attorneys and became a plaintiff in this case. Um, and I think that the point here is that I was looking for a way to have a bigger impact. And for me at that time, that meant approaching the government and asking the government to take control to do what they are responsible for in protecting both the environment and their people. You now, do you feel like this case? And I, I guess grace, this is for you too. But do you feel like this case is already creating a, a precedent for, for others? Yeah, sure. And um so I, I think that any time you have a victory like this cases around the world will look at it, right? So even though it's in Montana and it's binding only on the Montana courts. Um Right now, I I know that there are other case cases that are moving forward that are actively citing the held v state of Montana case. And in fact, we had another big victory just this here in Hawaii and part of Hawaii's willingness to come to the settlement table and really reach this like one of its kind um settlement agreement with us where the state of Hawaii has agreed to decarbonize their entire transportation system, not net 00 emissions by 2045 I think is a product of the incredible work. Uh Grace and her co plaintiffs did in Montana and I know we have um some images to illustrate the, the fight that you're going through and, and some of you with Grace as well. But um and here we are which are are great. I love these um Grace. Why do you think it's important to center a case like this on young people? Because we saw with Elizabeth, they centered it on a as Matt calls it the Swiss grannies. What is, what is so important about the youth? Well, you know, I have mixed feelings about this. So I'll give you the full transparent answer here on one hand, I think it's super important to center youth because we are extra vulnerable. We will be around for um many more decades, hopefully. And so that gives us more time to be influenced by climate change, to see our lives changed by this. Um I think it's also I have a resistance to how much conversation we have about centering youth these days because I worry that sometimes we talk so much about giving youth a platform about putting youth, you know, in, in um you know, as part of the, the conversations that we're having that we don't actually listen to what the youth are saying. And I think the message has been very clear from youth for about a decade now, in terms of the changes we want to see, you know, we want to see a mission introductions, we want to see a livable future. And I think that's probably enough to work with for now. I totally agree and I wanna come to the audience for questions in, in just a second. So start thinking of those. Um, but not one for you in the, uh, before that, what are the rami ramifications of lawsuits like this for us energy policy? And what about corporations? How should they be thinking about this? Yeah, sure. So, I mean, in a like a what we're trying to do right through these state cases. And we also have a couple of federal cases here and in Canada and Mexico um is to create a, a clear pathway for green technologies to come in and replace what is a rather entrenched fossil fuel based energy system. So I think that by setting the standard, so we're not. So, I mean, I'm sure folks have heard of the, the cases against the fossil majors that are happening everywhere, both for fraud and other things. Um Our approach is very different. We're trying to enshrine a constitutional right in state and federal constitutions around the world, that is a value, right? That value, meaning like if we prioritize a clean and helpful environment like we did in Montana or a livable climate like we do in Hawaii, that will have consequences on the prices and the priorities that governments and then I think industry make um in developing our energy system. So while it is not a like A to B line, I think it's our, our intention is to create a pathway for any emergent technology to have a viable opportunity as opposed to fighting against just the existing fossil fuel infrastructure. Yeah, if I can jump in here for a second, I think um one of the things I've learned throughout being part of this case, right? Like I said, early high school, I was so confident that policy, that government was the way to have the biggest impact. Uh because, you know, that's what you learn about in high school government classes. But, you know, over the course of this five years that I've been a part of this lawsuit, I've understood firsthand just how slow government processes can be both, you know, bureaucracy and you know, regulation and everything. And also the court system also tends to take a bit. And so I've realized recently, like within the last year, the power of the private sector and especially in terms of your kind of dynamism, how nimble you all can be in your decision making and the the way that you can drive change in our society, whether that's, you know, through public perception of what is, what is right, or whether that's through, you know, working with the government. But I think you have a lot of power or in this, in a way that I didn't understand before. I mean, I thought I was going to go into the government my whole life and within the last six months I'm like, hm, maybe I should take a look at that private sector. So I guess I, I applaud all the work that you're doing and, and I ask that you keep it up and that you set your standards even higher. Yeah. And I can say high school government did not prepare me for, for any of the stuff you learn in the real world. So it's, it's important to get the real life experience. Any, any questions they have here in the audience. Ok. Well, I have a lot more. Um, so I'm gonna ask away. Um, now why do you think tying climate justice to civil liberties is a winning strategy? Why do you think that's so important? Yeah. So you just have to look at the history of our country to understand that, um, like Children and civil liberties and frankly the ability to see sort of what, what is truth, what is justice? Um, all go hand in hand. And a lot of so prior to being at our children's trust, I was at the ac lu where I worked on a lot of issues, um, on behalf of LGBT young people who had been discriminated against, um, immigration rights. Um, and, and one of the things that I think we're sort of seeing is this through line um of all of these various causes going back to, you know, desegregation suffrage where um you know, Children are really at the forefront and often when we are making these decisions, like as a country about our values, we are thinking about our future generations, maybe it's our niece and nephew or grandkid, our, our, our, our newly born daughter. And um and I think that ultimately these that like we should just be listening to them for some of the solutions and some of these intractable problems because folks like Grace, I think have great answers. I see we do have an audience question if you could state your name, title and company too. That'd be great. My name is uh John met with Deloitte. And uh the question I had is, can you talk a little bit about what of what actually was the decision? What, what would be the practical effect? Like what changes in Montana as a, as a result of the decision? Sure. So the district court. So in Montana, there's no middle court of appeals, there's the district court and the Supreme court, the district court in Montana essentially held that the um that their constitute right. Grace's constitutional rights had been violated that the statute that prohibited Montana from evaluating emissions or climate impacts when citing a new power plant um was unconstitutional. So, um the, the very immediate practical effect was the striking down of that statute, which prohibited them from even assessing, um, climate impact when they were doing, uh, you know, citing a new power, um, facility. Um, but they're sort of broader impacts. I think that are, we'll have to see, I think a little bit what the Supreme Court says in Montana. But, um, the broader impact is that, like the judge said, every additional ton of carbon emissions, um, is a constitutional violation at this point because we have already put the dial way past 100 so, um what does that mean for the future? I think that likely means that now every new power facility will have this much higher threshold standard to satisfy before being cited. And children's constitutional rights will be have to be part of the equation when they're making these decisions. And now I think the audience may have also heard of another big case that our children's trust worked on, which was um Giuliana versus the United States. So that was a climate case that spanned a nearly a decade and three presidential administrations. Um which I think is, is absolutely wild. What did you learn from that case that you took into the Montana one? Yeah, I mean, so Juliana is a big federal case that's looking at the, you know, substantive due process clause. Like many of us in this room myself included have rights today that did not exist when I was born, right? I can marry my um partner um who is of, you know, was born the same sex as I was, um which was emerged as a right from the federal constitution in 2015 after the obergefell decision, um Juliana seeks to enshrine this a similar um substantive due process, right? But a right to a livable future, right to a stable climate in our constitution. Um It is, it, you know, one of the things that I think we learned through Juliana was that um you like the federal courts are going to take a long time and that having an effective state by state case strategy. Um And really, we looked at the sort of same sex marriage cases when thinking about this was really something that um we needed to be investing in because in order to move, I think the federal courts, there needs to be a groundswell of movement from the States first grace, what's next week? Because eventually you're no longer going to be a youth activist. Um Where, where are you going to take this and, and your case next? And how are you gonna work to support climate change? Great question. Um Trying to graduate first. Yeah. So that's my plan. Uh my interest now um is kind of almost in reaction to our lawsuit. I've realized, uh you know, the impact that this will have on Montana that I think generally are awesome. But I think a lot of the resistance in the state comes from the fact that our state is traditionally a fossil fuel estate, we are still massive coal producers. Um And of course, I think that needs to change for the climate, but I also see the impact that that will have on our communities. Right. And so my interest now is how do we uh go about these energy transitions in coal communities and ensure that these places will still be around afterwards? Right? Because we have this mine in Montana in Butte Montana, which you may have heard of that massive copper mine and when the mine shut down, the city was just decimated. And so I want to make sure that that doesn't happen for these Montana communities. And so now I'm looking at, you know, this concept of a just transition. Um but particularly for rural, um native communities, places that are often not considered in this uh utility driven uh transition. And that for you, we're, as we all very much know, we're in the midst of a another election. Um How are you looking at, uh what could happen next month and how that could affect your, your future cases and the one that you have going on right now? Yeah. Um, the panel this morning was interesting. Um And sorry, uh I, I, you know, I look, we're gonna be one of the things that's true about our children's trust is that we've litigated no matter who's in office, right? Because governments today have basically invested in this fossil fuel infrastructure that had, you know, for the last 50 plus years, while many of them very actively knowing about the consequences. And so, um in some ways, it is uh not important to us, um who's in office because our cases are really about these, you know, like, how do we change the future of what is, um, you know, about our, like our constitutional values, how do we, how do we use our values to change our future decisions? Um But at the same time, of course, it's important, right? Like the, the person who holds the, um I think somebody said yesterday that, you know, people take their cues from the government, um which I, I think it was the mayor of Atlanta actually said that, that people can take their cues, their government. And I think it's so true. And so if you have somebody in office who's an active climate denier, um I, I think that's a problem. I think that's a setback for us and it makes it harder to have these conversations, whether we're having them around, uh you know, a conference like this or at the dinner table with our, our friends and neighbors, um or in the policy arena. And so, you know, of course, um uh you know, I, I have my, my hopes and dreams about the outcomes of the election um that I can't talk about because I run a 501 C three. and, but, uh, but yeah, that's, um, but I, but I think that, but it really does matter. It does matter quite a bit. And I would like to add that it shouldn't. Um, because I'm from a state that, you know, now is, is solidly read. But historically has been able to blend this idea of conservatism and conservation which you might notice, have the same root word there. And so I, I think it's um important to recognize that climate has been politicized. Obviously, I'm hoping you all have thought about this before. Climate has been politicized. But, but it, it does doesn't have to be right. It doesn't have to be a political issue. It's about rights, it's about economic progress. It's about how we're gonna come out of this challenge ahead of where we are now. Um And I'm, I just want to acknowledge how sad it is that it's been taken into that political arena with such um venom attached to, to that conversation. Well, very well said and thank you both so much for joining me. I appreciate it. Yes.