Montana Supreme Court’s Held Decision: A Loss for Climate Realism and Common Sense

Sixteen youth plaintiffs, backed by the well-heeled advocacy group Our Children’s Trust, convinced the court that their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment” was being violated by the state’s support for fossil fuel projects. -Charles Rotter 

The court’s 6-1 decision declared that this constitutional right extends to a “stable climate system.”...

• The crux of the court’s ruling was the claim that Montana’s greenhouse gas emissions are a “substantial factor” causing harm to the plaintiffs. 
• Really? Montana contributes a meager 0.09% to global emissions, an amount so small that it accounts for just 0.0018°C of warming under even the most extreme emissions scenarios​​...