Climate litigation and African youth: why the courts have become another frontline
By Luvo Mnyobe
Photo by Speak Media Uganda via Pexels
For young people in South Africa, climate change is not something we are preparing for in the distant future. It is already shaping our lives.It determines whether our schools close during floods, whether we can breathe clean air in coal-affected towns, whether jobs exist beyond extractive industries, and whether our futures are sacrificed for short-term profits. Yet decisions about energy, development and climate policy are still made largely without us.
In response, African youth are expanding the terrain of struggle. Alongside marches, organising, research and storytelling, climate litigation has become another tool to confront injustice. When governments and corporations refuse to listen, the courts become a space where young people and frontline communities can demand accountability and defend their right to a livable future.
Climate litigation refers to the use of the law to challenge actions that contribute to climate harm or violate environmental and human rights. These cases are often brought against governments or companies whose projects lock countries into fossil fuel dependence, worsen pollution or deepen inequality. While litigation is not a substitute for people power, it has become increasingly important in contexts where political processes protect profits over people.
South Africa’s development path has placed a heavy burden on young people. We inherited an economy built on coal, one of the most unequal societies in the world, and a climate crisis we did not create. Fossil fuel projects are repeatedly justified in the name of jobs and growth, even when they damage health, undermine long-term employment prospects and block investment in renewable energy.
For youth, climate litigation matters because it intervenes at the point where these harmful decisions are made. Court cases can delay destructive projects, expose failures in environmental governance and force the state to consider climate impacts and community voices. Importantly, they also help reframe the climate crisis as an issue of rights and justice rather than technical policy.
This growing legal momentum is reinforced by the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on climate change, which affirms that states have a duty under international law to protect the climate system for present and future generations. When African youth bring cases to court, we are invoking this duty: that governments must act now, with urgency and justice, to safeguard the futures they are obligated to protect.
When young people support or participate in litigation, they are asserting that our lives, health and futures matter. They are challenging the idea that development must come at the expense of working class communities and future generations.
One of the clearest examples of climate litigation aligned with youth climate justice is the Cancel Coal Campaign. Cancel Coal is a coalition of environmental justice organisations, community groups and activists working to stop new coal fired power stations and expose the real costs of coal.
South Africa is one of the most coal dependent countries in the world, and young people have grown up in communities where coal pollution is normalised. In places like Mpumalanga, children attend school under toxic air, families live with chronic illness, and youth face limited economic opportunities once coal declines.
Cancel Coal turned to the courts to challenge this reality. Legal cases against the proposed Thabametsi and Khanyisa coal fired power stations argued that government approvals ignored climate change, air pollution and community health. In a landmark ruling, the court confirmed that climate change impacts must be considered in environmental decision making.
For youth, this judgment was significant. It meant that the law recognised what young activists had been saying for years: that approving new coal plants in a climate crisis is reckless and unjust. The ruling strengthened the ability of communities and youth movements to resist fossil fuel expansion and demand a just transition.
Cancel Coal is part of a broader wave of climate litigation in South Africa that directly affects young people’s lives.
In the Deadly Air case, communities challenged the government for failing to regulate air pollution in the Mpumalanga Highveld. The court ruled that dirty air violates constitutional rights. For youth growing up in these areas, this case affirmed that breathing clean air is not a privilege but a right.
Another important case involved the challenge to secretive nuclear procurement decisions brought by Earthlife Africa. The court set aside the deal due to lack of public participation. For young people, this shows that energy decisions cannot be made behind closed doors, especially when they shape the economy and climate future we will live with.
Along the coast, young people from fishing and rural communities supported resistance to offshore oil and gas exploration. In the Wild Coast seismic survey case, the court recognised community rights, cultural connections to land and the climate implications of new fossil fuel projects. This case highlighted how youth livelihoods, culture and climate justice are deeply connected.
These cases show that climate litigation works best when it is rooted in movements. Young people have not waited for judges to save us. We organise in communities, mobilise online, build solidarity across regions and pressure decision makers. Litigation becomes powerful when it supports this broader struggle.
Cancel Coal demonstrates this clearly. Court cases were paired with youth mobilisation, public education and media work. Litigation helped slow coal expansion while movements pushed forward alternative visions based on renewable energy, decent work and energy democracy.
Climate litigation is not a cure all. Legal processes are slow, costly and often inaccessible to poor and rural youth. Courts also operate within systems that prioritise economic growth over care and sustainability. But in a country where political leaders continue to approve fossil fuel projects despite clear climate risks, litigation remains an essential line of defence.
For South African youth, climate litigation is about refusing silence. It is about insisting that our futures cannot be negotiated away. From Cancel Coal to the Wild Coast, young people are showing that resistance happens everywhere, including the courtroom.
The climate crisis demands struggle on all fronts. When youth organise across streets, communities and courts, we move closer to a just, fossil free future shaped by the people who will live in it.
Luvo Mnyobe is a multimedia storyteller and digital communications coordinator at African Climate Alliance, a youth-led, movement-based organisation advocating for Afrocentric climate justice.
