Guest Blog: First Youth Climate Lawsuit brought in Japan

  Japan holds a peace ceremony every August 6, to mark the day on which the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. This year, local elementary school students issued a message: “peace will not come from prayers alone.” On the same day, 16 young people aged between 15 and 29 filed a lawsuit […]   Japan holds a peace ceremony every August 6, to mark the day on which the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. This year, local elementary school students issued a message: “peace will not come from prayers alone.” On the same day, 16 young people aged between 15 and 29 filed a lawsuit —the Youth Climate Case—against 10 major thermal power companies in the electric power sector in Japan. The suit alleges that the companies, through their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, contribute to climate change and thus infringe upon the rights of the plaintiffs, rendering them liable under the Civil Code 709 and 719. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction, requiring the companies to reduce their CO2 emission by 48% by 2030 and 65% by 2035 (compared to 2019). Those percentages were chosen as they align with the reductions the Intergovernmental Panel