The Rocky Hill decision: a watershed for climate change action?

A ruling by the New South Wales Land and Environment Court to refuse consent to a proposed coal mine has been hailed as a landmark in the fight to limit dangerous climate change. The judgment rested heavily on scientific expert testimony, especially with regard to the carbon budget concept, taking both direct and indirect (or downstream) emissions into account with regard to their impact on both the local environment and global climate change. While the case does not set a formal legal precedent, the central arguments used are likely to have broad applicability to other cases, and represent a significant milestone in the growing field of climate change litigation.