Climate Change Suits Against The Government: Mathur v. Ontario Appeal Decision

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has released its appeal decision in Mathur v. Ontario involving a lawsuit by youth applicants challenging as inadequate Ontario's legislated targets and plans for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although it allowed the appeal in favour of the applicants, the Court of Appeal declined to decide the constitutional issues, instead sending the matter back to the court of first instance to determine them afresh.

As we wrote last year, the youth applicants sought a court order requiring the Ontario government to set a "science-based [GHG] reduction target that is consistent with Ontario's share of the minimum level of [GHG] reductions necessary to limit global warming to below 1.5 [degree Celsius] above pre-industrial temperatures". The application judge held that the application was an impermissible "positive rights" case, and dismissed it. The Court of Appeal disagreed, holding that the "application does not seek to impose