Climate change litigation as a tool for climate change education

As the climate crisis worsens, climate change education (CCE) in schools faces growing pressure to become more rigorous, justice-oriented and holistic. Simultaneously, students and youth are increasingly involved in climate litigation, bringing suits against governments and corporations to compel enhanced mitigation and adaptation efforts. Recognising these parallel developments, this article explores the potential contributions of climate litigation to CCE in schools. To demonstrate such contributions, we apply Hargis and McKenzie’s CCE learning dimensions framework from 2020 to three case studies of youth-led climate litigation: Mathur v Ontario, Sharma & Others v Minister for the Environment and Students for Climate Solutions Inc v Minister of Energy and Resources. We then discuss the interactions between climate litigation and CCE more broadly, highlighting the pedagogical benefits and issues associated with incorporating climate litigation into CCE. Finally, to support effective use of climate litigation in CCE in the classroom, we propose a ‘mock trial’ activity and outline areas for future research.