Young activists lobby for Australian law on climate harm

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A group of young activists lobbied Australian lawmakers on Thursday for legislation that would oblige the government to consider how emissions-intensive projects could harm future generations before approving or funding them.

The legislation would insert a "duty of care" into Australian law, forcing government to consider whether new fossil fuel projects would aggravate global warming and raise the risk of events such as fires or floods.

It grew out of a court battle in which eight schoolchildren argued that the expansion of a coal mine run by Whitehaven Coal would contribute to climate change and endanger their future.

The federal court ruled against the children in 2022.

Australia is a major exporter of coal and natural gas.

Several youth activists, the youngest a 16-year-old from School Strike for Climate, spoke to a senate committee on Thursday.

It was "exhilarating", said Anjali Sharma, a 19-year-old university student who was one of those behind the Whitehaven lawsuit.

"It's so, so amazing to feel as if my perspectives and my thoughts are actually being heard by one of the country's highest institutions," she said.

Independent senator David Pocock, who introduced the bill into parliament last year, said that "as a wealthy country on the global stage, we have a moral obligation to lead."

"This legislation seeks to do that and to ensure that we are for the first time imposing a duty of decision makers to consider young people's futures."

The bill will require the government to assess the future harm of any project that will emit over 100,000 tons of CO2 equivalent in its lifetime.

Sharma said the government appeared to recognise the need to protect future generations.

"What we need to convince them of is that this bill is the way to do it," she said.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson and Stefica Bikes; Editing by Stephen Coates)